Here’s what all the riders (except Hector Barbera who was 15th) had to say about today’s qualifying session at Motegi which will see only sixteen riders on the grid in tomorrow’s race with Dani Pedrosa out of the contention after breaking his collarbone in yesterday’s free practice.
Pedrosa has already undergone surgery at USP Dexeus in Barcelona where Dr.
Victor Marlet and Dr.
Ignacio Ginebreda have plated his fracture.
Andrea Dovizioso – 1st“I’m really happy to be on pole position and also surprised because I didn’t expect to get so close to going under a 1m 47s lap here.
This is like my second home race because it’s the home of the team, which makes it even more special to get my first pole position here.
I’m also so happy about the performance of the RC212V.
We’ve got the electronics working really well here – the anti-wheelie system in particular – and also the power is very strong which helps a lot.
We’re looking good for the race because my style is usually not to go at my absolute maximum pace in practice and qualifying, so I’m hopeful for tomorrow.
I’d like to say thanks a lot to the team because they are working really well for me.
It’s the race tomorrow that really counts though, so we’ll be concentrating hard to make sure we have a strong race.
” Valentino Rossi – 2nd“It is a good feeling to be back on the front row after so long, the last time was at Le Mans, before the Mugello crash! We have improved in every area here, firstly we have made a big step with our setting, then we have the new engine from Yamaha which is enabling us to push more and be faster on the straights, plus we also have slightly harder Bridgestone tyres here than in Aragon and they are working better for me.
As I said yesterday I expected to suffer more with the shoulder but I am feeling quite good and when I brake in a straight line here I don’t have too much pain.
I am so happy about all of this.
This front row is going to be very important for tomorrow, we really hope for good weather and let’s see what we can do.
”Casey Stoner – 3rd“We started out yesterday with a very similar setting to Aragon, with a similar geometry, but we had to drop the bike quite a lot because we were having a lot of problems under braking and in the exit from the corners the front was coming up.
So we dropped it down to try and get some more stability but then found that we had lost grip.
The track was getting better and I was riding harder but we were getting slower! We had to lift the bike a little to get more weight over the rear and decided to put up with the wheelies.
Immediately we found an improvement and the lap times started to tumble.
From there we threw a soft tyre in and we escaped the clutches of the third row so we’re happy.
” Jorge Lorenzo – 4th“I am a little disappointed because this wasn’t the result we were expecting.
I would have really liked to be on the front row here in Japan, Yamaha’s home, after signing with them for two more years this morning.
However it’s only qualifying and the most important thing is that we’re ready for the race, we have a good pace and we only have one or two more small things still to work on.
This afternoon I tried the new engine for the first time and it felt good in the high gears.
This is the first time for me this season on the second row, but I am still close to the front and I will try to make the best start I can.
The forecast for tomorrow isn’t the best so we have to be prepared for rain…let’s hope not though!” Colin Edwards -5th“I’m really happy to be on the second row and in fifth position.
That is my best qualifying result since Mugello, but I’ll admit after this morning’s session I was not expecting to be so high up and as fast as I was.
Yesterday when I ran the soft tyre I didn’t feel like I had enough grip so I hadn’t used it all today.
I was a bit worried for qualifying that I’d find it hard but we’d played around with the weight distribution on the front again and when I put the soft tyre in this afternoon it felt like a different motorcycle.
It did everything I asked it to do and I had a lot more confidence going into the corner.
The lap time wasn’t easy but it was a lot easier than I’d expected.
I think this is probably the happiest I’ve felt with the bike all year.
I’ve been able to ride the bike to its full potential and I’m confident I can get that first top six finish of the season tomorrow.
It is going to be a hard fight but I’m ready for it and I’m determined to get a good result for the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team and Yamaha.
This is a massive race for Yamaha and hopefully Ben and I can put on a good show with Valentino and Jorge.
”Ben Spies – 6th“I am actually really happy to be on the second row again because at the start of the session I was fighting a lot of stuff with the electronics.
The chassis set-up is not so bad but some issues with the electronics made the bike really hard to ride.
If we can figure out the electronics the bike will be a lot easier to ride, so having the feelings I’m having with the bike, I’m super happy to be in the top six.
Considering the way the bike was working, to be just over half-a-second off pole position is a big surprise because I didn’t expect to be so close.
The Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team is working really hard to fix the problems but it hasn’t made the task of learning the track any easier.
I have to deal with it and I’m still confident that we can be much stronger in the race.
Sometimes you have a day when things don’t quite work out and it’s nobody’s fault.
I can’t complain because when I look at the guys behind me, they have been around this track a million times.
That gives me a lot of encouragement for tomorrow but we’ll have to see what the weather throws at us.
” Randy de Puniet -7th“It seems we found the right adjustments and I could finally ride as I did in the first part of the season before the bad injury.
The team made the right changes working on chassis set-up especially on hard braking and we have solved the rear grip issues so my race pace is pretty good at the moment.
Probably I could be faster than this on qualifiers, but 7th spot on the grid is positive and in my opinion it’s more important to be consistent on race trim.
We still have to choose the rear tyre for tomorrow’s race but I am pleased with the bike overall set-up.
The weather is the only uncertainty, but I am always quick in the wet.
”Marco Simoncelli -8th“I managed to do a quick lap at the end.
It was a shame the flag came out because I could have taken another couple of tenths off and moved up to the second row, but in any case we’re in good shape for tomorrow’s race and all we have left to decide is the tyre choice.
To be honest we still have to work out why I am losing so much time in the final section – maybe we need to look at the electronics and see if we can get a little extra acceleration out of the corner and I also need to check my approach to the three corners in that section.
”Álvaro Bautista – 9th“The qualifying was not too bad; because we needed to do a good time to get the best position to make a good start on Sunday and we achieved that – although we would have liked to be a bit further up the grid.
Today we started qualifying with a used tyre from this morning’s session and I did a constant rhythm and the feeling was good.
We made a small change which didn’t work so we went back to this morning’s set up and straight away it felt better.
I tried to find someone to follow, but it felt like I was alone on the track, so I concentrated on my own riding to make sure I did my best.
The position is ok, but I think we can run further towards the front.
The weather tomorrow could be wet so it will be important to get a good start and stay with the front group.
I feel positive for tomorrow, even if it rains, because we have a good bike for the wet.
I will give it full gas and push to the maximum to get a good result for Suzuki in its home Grand Prix.
”Loris Capirossi – 10th“I am a little bit upset by my mistake, because I started with the harder tyre and the rhythm was so good and I felt really confident on the bike.
I fell off on turn one, there is one big bump there and I hit that and lost the front.
I also lost a bit of confidence after that when I jumped on the other bike, I tried to keep my rhythm, but I just didn’t have the same feeling with that machine.
I struggled with a bit of feeling at the front and I didn’t feel I could push as much as I wanted because I didn’t want to risk crashing again.
The potential for us is good here and the bike is working well – I am very optimistic for the race and I think we can get a very positive result.
”Nicky Hayden – 11th“It hasn’t been a good day for us really.
The team has worked really hard but we have been dancing around problems.
I’m suffering a lot of pumping on corner exit and the front is quite harsh over the bumps – it’s closing a lot.
Eleventh place on the grid is never good and my race pace isn’t too hot either.
It’s unfortunate and I’m not real happy right now but we’ll come back tomorrow and try to make it right.
”Marco Melandri – 12th“Another difficult session with the same problems as the whole season.
We haven’t found a solution and we need help from Honda if we are going to get over this.
I also had a little bit of a fever this morning but thankfully the doctors at the Clinica Mobile made sure I was fit to take part in qualifying.
My big hope for tomorrow is that we get some bad weather, which should shuffle the pack.
”Aleix Espargarò – 13th “We tried it.
This morning the situation was acceptable, but this afternoon when the session was really important, we cannot improve the lap time as we expected.
It’s a pity.
I prefer tracks with fast corners and not with hard braking and acceleration, as here, but I still hope to be able to get a good start tomorrow and try to stay with the fastest riders and win as many points as possible for the riders and Teams standings.
”Hiroshi Aoyama – 14th“We lost some positions and I am not happy about that.
Nevertheless we could improve our lap time in the afternoon and that is something positive.
As you know the qualifying is different to the race and the race still can be a good one, but I am definitely not happy with the result of the qualifying.
”Mika Kallio – 16th “Just cannot find the feeling with the bike.
I cannot get the right confidence to push hard, as I always do.
Being in the last position with a gap of nearly a second from the rider ahead of me is really frustrating.
I’m sorry also for the guys of my Team who work with so much passion and dedication.
I do not think to be a last position rider and tomorrow I will try to prove it for all my technical staff.
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