Casey Stoner celebrated his 25th birthday with the 25th pole position of his Grand Prix career today at Phillip Island.
Stoner’s pace was devasting, even if he did his usual brief runs, going under the 1.
31 barrier four times.
With this sort of pace and only Jorge Lorenzo able to get close to the Ducatista, we may end up with another boring processional race, unless the the crazy weather Down Under throws a wrench into the event and mixes things up.
Here’s what riders had to say after today’s qualifying session.
Casey Stoner – 1st“I always seem to celebrate my birthday here at Phillip Island but I guess there are worse places to be! We have had virtually every single condition you could imagine thrown at us this weekend so we’ll have to wait and see what happens tomorrow before we make any decisions on set-up but so far I think we have done the best possible job in every condition.
I’m quite happy with the setting in the wet even though we haven’t had a fully wet session, which made it difficult to get a good reading from the bike.
We have had two good sessions today, making progress in the last half an hour of this morning and another big step again in the last half hour of the afternoon.
With the last two soft tyres I was able to make a substantial improvement to the lap time and we’re in the best possible position for tomorrow so I’m pretty happy so far.
” Jorge Lorenzo – 2nd“These conditions were really risky because it was so cold and also incredibly windy.
It was hard to stay on the bike sometimes! I’m happy with my race pace which is unusual for me here because I’ve never been so strong in MotoGP at this track, but I think we’ve done a good job.
I wanted pole today but the weather and Casey stopped me – he is so quick here.
We have the second best time so it is okay and I am feeling very calm after last weekend.
We hope the weather is like this or better tomorrow, with no rain, and then we will go for it and see what happens in the race.
I am ready for the race; I just want to enjoy it.
” Ben Spies – 3rdI’m really happy to be on the front row again but a little bit surprised.
I was really happy with my pace and the lap times earlier in the session but each time I tried to go quicker in the last part I’d have spots of rain on my visor.
I’d warm up the tyres and see nothing but as soon as I’d push going into the first corner to start a fast lap, I was getting a lot of rain on my visor.
I didn’t want to take a big risk when I knew I was already pretty close to the front row.
My qualifying time is a pace that I can run in the race, so I’m happy with that.
I’m confident because I haven’t finished a session thinking I put in a great session.
So if we can put everything together and ride really well and the bike is working good, maybe I can fight for the podium.
I’ve got the lap time to make the podium but I just want to make the bike better for the last ten laps of the race.
It would be nice to clinch the Rookie of the Year title tomorrow.
It would be another box ticked in what has been a really po sitive season so far.
” Marco Simoncelli – 4th “I am really happy because we have qualified on the third row for the last few races but today I managed it and with a little bit more I could have been on the front row! I’m really pleased with this although being honest I have to admit that Spies is probably a bit faster.
We have made a good step this morning though and now all we have to do is look ahead to the race.
The wind was a bit of a problem today, especially when I was on my fast lap.
I was behind Stoner at that point and I honestly cannot understand how he manages to go so fast!”Colin Edwards – 5th“It was almost my best qualifying result of the season but I’m happy with fifth and being so close to Ben on the front row gives me a lot of confidence for the race.
I have felt really good on the bike today and finishing second this morning gave me a lot of confidence.
I had a fairly good set-up this morning with the bike but I was just missing a little bit of turning performance.
We left the bike for the start of qualifying and I was basically doing the same lap times as this morning.
So we made some changes to the front for my last rear tyre and immediately I was able to go half-a-second faster.
It just felt easy and I gained so much confidence that I could put the bike where I wanted it to be on the track.
I’m happy with my race pace and I’m ready, so hopefully I can get my best result of the year.
We’ll ha ve to see what the weather throws at us but I’m ready for anything.
” Nicky Hayden – 6thWe have had an okay weekend so far in all conditions.
We tried a little something on the second bike this afternoon that didn’t quite work so we went back to the first bike.
My first run with a qualifying set-up on the soft tyre felt decent and I got a good lap time but I was quite confident I could improve.
Then on my second run in turn four I got in hot and let the brake off over the little bumps there and the front closed.
I saw a few drops of rain and maybe that didn’t help.
I had a couple of warnings but I kept pushing because I thought I could get on the front row.
Anyway, the bike is working really well around here and we’ve tried every condition except hot and sunny so we’ll see what we get tomorrow.
Even though the track is very cold the tyres are working well and the soft compounds come in so quickly you think maybe even the hard could be an option.
To be honest I think we’ll stick with the soft but I have to say grip is good considering the temperatures are so low so we’ll see how things shape up in the morning.
”Randy de Puniet – 7th“I think we made a good job both in the wet (yesterday) and in the dry (today) because I lapped consistently fast.
This afternoon we focused on traction control race mapping making 2 long run with a good rhythm as I was always in the top-six.
I missed the front row for 2 tenths only because I lost too much time behind Kallio in my fastest lap.
Anyway it is good to be the second Honda rider on the grid and I am confident we can do a good race in both conditions.
”Valentino Rossi – 8th“I was really unlucky today because with each of the softer tyres, when I think I could have improved a bit, I had problems.
First it was Espargaro, then Hayden’s bike on the track and then it began to rain, so I couldn’t use any of the tyres how I wanted in the end.
We start from the third row, which will be very hard, especially because our race pace isn’t that strong and we don’t have the right set-up yet.
We need to work hard tonight and tomorrow morning to try to improve.
The conditions aren’t good and it’s a great pity because this is a fantastic track but you can’t enjoy it in this cold, because it takes so long for the tyres to get to the right temperature.
Tomorrow will be hard, but we will see what we can do.
” Andrea Dovizioso – 9th“I struggled to ride in the high winds today and actually my body position on the bike was making things difficult in these conditions.
The main reason for my grid position is that with the gusty wind I cannot control the bike as I want and hold the racing line, and we also need to find some more grip as well.
I expected to be higher than ninth, but of course riding in a group during the race will be different and I hope we will have a better feeling tomorrow afternoon.
We will look at the data we gathered today and try to come up with a solution for tomorrow, and also I will try to modify my riding if we encounter these strong winds again.
I have been on the front row for the last two races so I’m not happy to be back in ninth, but with a good start from the third row we can get away with the leaders.
We are fast in wet conditions so I don’t mind if it rains for the race.
It’s a shame for Dani today.
Riding injured is never easy and in these conditions it’s even more difficult.
”Marco Melandri – 10thAnother terrible day.
We’re working hard without a minimal sign of improvement.
We have so many problems, to be honest I can’t wait for the season to finish.
”Aleix Espargarò – 11th “Every time I left the pit box after about three or four laps, I felt pain in my right wrist and this didn’t allow me to handle the brakes as I should.
This was very risky and did not allowed me to push hard.
I received some medical check up and there seems nothing to worry about even if I, as a precaution, will undergo some treatments tomorrow morning.
For tomorrow I would like the track to be either fully wet or dry.
The middle situation on this circuit becomes very complicated to deal with.
”Mika Kallio – 12th “Despite the pain in my left shoulder we have given all we could and things worked out quite well.
We were going to improve further more but the rain has stopped me.
Too bad, but this result gives me good confidence for tomorrow’s race.
We have found bike’s best set up for tomorrow race, even though, of course, it will all depend on the track conditions we will find.
”Hiroshi Aoyama – 13th“The weather here is very critical and I don’t feel much confidence on my bike, especially when it is dry.
We have to work hard on finding a solution for tomorrow, so I get a better feeling with my bike and can push more.
Unfortunately we don’t have much time left and the weather is changing consistently.
We have to work on the settings tomorrow in Warm up and we need to adjust the electronics.
I hope we can find a better solution.
”Álvaro Bautista – 14th“It is a much different feeling here today than it was in Malaysia a week ago! We had the opportunity to ride in dry conditions today, but this morning we had a problem with the bike in the corners and I just couldn’t make it turn quick enough and I kept going out wide.
This meant I couldn’t enter fast enough as well so I was losing a lot of time.
This afternoon we tried two different specifications on the bikes and one of them was a little bit worse and the other was a bit better – but still not perfect.
We have some hard work to do to still improve, but we have another opportunity in warm-up to try and get things better.
We will continue with the way that we followed towards the end of this afternoon’s session and see if we can make some more steps forward.
We know it’s going to be difficult, because after last week I had a lot of confidence coming to this race and thought that we could improve in the colder conditions, but it has been a lot colder than we thought it would be and that has made it a lot more difficult.
In the race – as always – I will try to do my maximum and get the best result possible.
It will be a tough race but I want to fight for a top-10, I know that is going to be hard, but we must try to be there.
”Dani Pedrosa – 15th (will not start)“After the operation in Spain my target was to come back in Australia.
But having ridden in the three practice sessions here it’s clear that it is really impossible for me to maintain a high pace because I lose strength in my arm lap-by-lap and controlling the bike gets increasingly difficult – even more so with the strong winds here.
Phillip Island is a very fast circuit, I have to grip the handlebars very tightly, and this makes me very tired and gives me a lot of pain.
To ride around three seconds off the pace in the race tomorrow and maybe collect just a few points wouldn’t make much sense.
But I think it has been worth it to at least try to ride here because we really didn’t know how I would be on the bike until we tried.
Now, though, I don’t want to take more risks so that I can recover in time for Estoril.
I discussed the situation with HRC Team Director Kazuhiko Yamano and we have the same opinion”.
Loris Capirossi – 17th (will not start)“It was really tough conditions today, but we have a bigger problem at the moment because we don’t know why I have crashed again.
I went out on a used tyre and I followed Colin – he had a new front and rear tyre – and I went slower than him, but when I changed direction to go on the right side the bike just went from under me, this just feels so strange and I don’t know why.
When you try hard and you make a mistake then it is normal to crash, but I didn’t make a mistake so I don’t know why the rear went away.
I am in a bad position for the start tomorrow, but we will have to see what happens because I know I have to go better in the race.
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