MotoGP 2009 - Round Five - Mugello

MotoGP 2009 - Round Five - Mugello - Day Two

Fans at Mugello were treated to a great battle in qualifying on Saturday afternoon, with Fiat Yamaha’s Jorge Lorenzo upstaging his teammate Valentino Rossi at the World Champion’s home track - the Spaniard taking pole and the Italian left off the front row.

In brilliant sunshine at the Gran Premio d’Italia Alice four riders fought for pole right at the death. Lorenzo eventually emerged on top, courtesy of a 1’48.987 time on the 29th of his 30 laps, beating Casey Stoner by a tight margin (0.021s).

Ducati star Stoner had looked strong in both practice sessions, save for a crash in the morning run, but remains unconvinced about his chances of victory. With a front row start, however, he seems more than capable of challenging for the win on Sunday.

Just behind Stoner on the grid will be his former team-mate Loris Capirossi, who surged to provisional pole in the final minutes on his Rizla Suzuki GSV-R before ultimately ending up third.

Rossi, therefore, sits in the unfamiliar territory of the second row at a circuit where he has won the last seven MotoGP races, but he will nonetheless expect to be pushing for all 25 points when the lights go out. This is his first non-front row start at Mugello in MotoGP.

An excellent showing from speedy qualifier Randy de Puniet (LCR Honda) saw him on the second line as the top Honda representative, whilst Monster Yamaha Tech 3’s Colin Edwards finished just behind him by a 0.048s margin.

Repsol Honda’s factory Honda pairing of Andrea Dovizioso and Dani Pedrosa make up an uncharacteristic third row. An off-colour Pedrosa spent much of the session towards the bottom of the timesheet and he will need one of his trademark strong starts in Sunday’s race in order to get amongst the front-runners and stay in touch in the title race.

Toni Elías (San Carlo Honda Gresini) took a tumble when on a fast lap at the end of the run and found himself in ninth place, with fellow Honda rider Yuki Takahashi (Scot Racing) completing the top ten.

1 Jorge Lorenzo 1m 48.987s SPA YAMAHA Fiat Yamaha Team
2 Casey Stoner 1m 49.008s AUS DUCATI Ducati Marlboro Team
3 Loris Capirossi 1m 49.121s ITA SUZUKI Rizla Suzuki MotoGP
4 Valentino Rossi 1m 49.148s ITA YAMAHA Fiat Yamaha Team
5 Randy De Puniet 1m 49.499s FRA HONDA LCR Honda MotoGP
6 Colin Edwards 1m 49.547s USA YAMAHA Tech 3 Yamaha
7 Andrea Dovizioso 1m 49.648s ITA HONDA Repsol Honda Team
8 Dani Pedrosa 1m 50.073s SPA HONDA Repsol Honda Team
9 Toni Elias 1m 50.078s SPA HONDA San Carlo Honda Gresini
10 Yuki Takahashi 1m 50.305s JAP HONDA Scot Racing Team MotoGP
11 Chris Vermeulen 1m 50.405s AUS SUZUKI Rizla Suzuki MotoGP
12 Alex De Angelis 1m 50.448s SMR HONDA San Carlo Honda Gresini
13 Niccolo Canepa 1m 50.528s ITA DUCATI Pramac Racing
14 James Toseland 1m 50.537s GBR YAMAHA Tech 3 Yamaha
15 Marco Melandri 1m 50.710s ITA KAWASAKI Hayate Racing Team
16 Nicky Hayden 1m 50.924s USA DUCATI Ducati Marlboro Team
17 Mika Kallio 1m 51.008s FIN DUCATI Pramac Racing

-- Ducati Report

Ducati Marlboro Team rider Casey Stoner came within touching distance of a home pole position for the factory at the Mugello circuit this afternoon, missing out by just 0.021 seconds as he qualified in second place for tomorrow’s Italian Grand Prix. The Australian provided an early treat for the Ducatisti who are packed into the stand at the Correntaio corner here by mounting a late charge for top spot on his final lap, only to fall a fraction short of the benchmark set by Jorge Lorenzo.

Ever the perfectionist, however, Stoner was not entirely satisfied with the day’s events after his electrifying pace in this morning’s final free practice session was halted by a crash, which also set back his work in the afternoon.

Nicky Hayden made vast improvements from the morning to the afternoon session, knocking well over a second off his best lap time. However, with his rivals also stepping up the pace the American lost a position on his free practice classification and qualified in 16th position for tomorrow’s 23-lap race.

CASEY STONER (Ducati Marlboro Team) 2nd (1’49.008)
"We had a great free practice session this morning despite the crash and I was very comfortable with the bike, so I was optimistic about this afternoon. Unfortunately as we picked up the pace in the afternoon we found some problems with the front and I couldn’t make the bike turn as I wanted it to. You spend a lot of time on the edge of the tyre through the long corners at this circuit and that is where we’re losing time. We’ll see if we can change a couple of things and improve the bike before the warm-up tomorrow. Second place on the grid is obviously a great position but I know we could have done a lot better so I can’t help but feel frustrated. It also makes me look forward to tomorrow even more because I can’t wait to get back out on track!"

NICKY HAYDEN – (Ducati Marlboro Team) 16th (1’50.924)
“I know we’re in the same position on the time sheets, worse in fact, but actually the feeling with the bike got better as the session went on this afternoon and the lap time improved quite a lot from the morning. My pace through T1 is acceptable but I’m the slowest guy out there through T3 so that’s what we’ll be focusing on tonight I think. We still have a big gap to make up and we need to make a major step if want to be competitive but anything can happen at this track. We’ve got many Engineers here from Bologna so hopefully they can help me out a bit.”

-- HRC Report

Randy de Puniet (LCR Honda) was Honda’s top performer in this afternoon’s thrilling Italian GP qualifying session, the Frenchman putting his non-factory RC212V on the second row of the grid. The session was topped by World Championship leader Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha) who grabbed pole position in the final moments. Weather conditions were just about perfect with ambient temperature at 25 degrees and track temperature at 42 degrees. Lap times were tantalisingly close, the fastest seven riders separated by just 0.661 seconds.

De Puniet was delighted with his fifth-place performance which matches his starting position the recent Spanish GP, which he turned into an excellent four-place finish. Mugello is one of MotoGP’s greatest challenges, a magnificent rollercoaster of a racetrack which only reveals its secrets to the most talented, intelligent riders. De Puniet certainly found the track’s secrets today, his fastest lap just 0.512 seconds off pole. Although he already has a good race pace here, de Puniet will try further minor adjustments during morning warm-up in a bid to give him even more rear grip for the race.

Repsol Honda duo Andrea Dovizioso and Dani Pedrosa will start tomorrow’s Italian GP, fifth race of this year’s 17 rounds, from the third row of the grid. Dovizioso, readying himself for his first home race as a factory MotoGP rider, was seventh fastest, less than seven tenths of a second off pole position after making machine adjustments to improve corner-entry performance.

Pedrosa had a horribly unlucky day, sustaining a nasty injury this morning without even crashing. The Spaniard survived a big slide exiting the Scarperia chicane but the whiplash effect gave him an agonising right hip injury, pulling the gluteus medius muscle and causing a suspected crack at the top of the femur. Despite this injury, the brave former 125 and 250 World Champion intends to race here.

Toni Elias (San Carlo Honda Gresini) was the only faller during the qualifying session, the Spaniard sliding off at the Poggio Secco right-hander while chasing reigning World Champion Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) at the start of what promised to be a very hot lap. Elias’ best fastest lap rewarded him with ninth best time, just five thousandths of a second behind Pedrosa and equalling his best grid slot of the year. Team-mate Alex De Angelis (San Carlo Honda Gresini) had a challenging qualifying session for his team’s home race, ending up in 12th spot.

Today was a great day for class rookie Yuki Takahashi (Scot Honda) who scored his first top ten MotoGP qualifying result after making crucial adjustments to the rear end of his RC212V. Qualifying well at Mugello proves that Takahashi is really getting to grips with his four-stroke 800. The 250 GP winner’s previous best MotoGP grid performance was 13th position at the Japanese and Spanish GPs.

Although Pedrosa didn’t figure in the thick of the qualifying action today he yesterday became the fastest rider in MotoGP history, his RC212V clocking a remarkable 349.3km/h (217mph) on Mugello’s long start-finish straight. A strong tail wind made conditions perfect for high top speeds. The figure was recorded on official MotoGP timing equipment but still has to be finally verified.

Hiroshi Aoyama (Scot Honda) rode a brilliant 250 qualifying session, securing himself a slot on the front row for what is expected to be a very close-fought race. Just 0.246 seconds covered the four riders on the front row, with series leader Alvaro Bautista (Aprilia) in pole position and World Championship contender Aoyama looking good in fourth spot.

Ratthapark Wilairot (Thai Honda PTT-SAG) did brilliantly to go seventh quickest for a second-row start following an incident in this morning’s session which aggravated the left ankle injury he sustained during the Spanish GP. The Thai ace has made only minor adjustments to his RS250RW during the weekend and is feeling confident about tomorrow’s race.

Raffaele De Rosa (Scot Honda) survived a spectacular moment towards the end of qualifying when he was high-sided from his RS250RW. De Rosa made the save of the century, gamely hanging on to the handlebars like a rodeo rider and skiing alongside the machine at high speed before finally remounting without even stopping! After he returned to the pits he announced that he didn’t want to crash because he knew he could go faster!

De Rosa may have amazed trackside fans and TV viewers with his antics, but the incident spoiled the session for Hector Faubel (Valencia CF-Honda SAG) who had been right behind De Rosa and on his fastest lap when the Italian lost control. Faubel had to take avoiding action and thus spoiled what should have been his fastest lap. Now 13th on the grid, he knows he must make a lightning start if he’s to feature well in the race.

GP rookie Shoya Tomizawa (Team CIP Honda) is enjoying his first weekend at one of GP racing’s greatest racetracks, learning more about this tricky circuit with every outing. This afternoon the teenager improved to qualify in 16th position.

HONDA MotoGP RIDER QUOTES

Randy de Puniet (LCR Honda), 5th fastest at 1m 49.499s, said: “I am very happy and this qualifying result is almost perfect. This morning we worked a lot on suspension and geometry set-up. Honestly, we did not achieve all that we are hoped; what we tried was not a real improvement but in the end it helped us to understand which way to go. We still have some issues with rear grip, so we will try some further adjustments in tomorrow’s warm-up. Our race pace is acceptable and I made my life easier by achieving a second-row start. If we make a good start and can follow the leading riders for some laps we could get a positive result here.”

Andrea Dovizioso (Repsol Honda), 7th fastest at 1m 49.648s, said: “We have improved our lap time session after session, reducing the gap from the fastest riders and this is a positive move. Yesterday we had a gap of 1.3s, this morning it was one second and this afternoon we got it down to five tenths so I’m happy about that. This morning we made an adjustment to the settings which improved the feeling during corner entry. For the qualifying session we tried another modification but we didn’t get the results we expected, so we’ll need to make some changes to finalise the set-up tomorrow morning in the warm-up. I’m confident we can improve by two or three tenths but it will be difficult to consistently match the pace of the fastest riders. Tomorrow the race will be tough and really I was hoping to start from the second row. Still, I will do my best to get a good start and try not to lose contact with the first group. It’s my home race and the atmosphere here is incredible. The fans are so passionate and so I’ll be going all out to give them something to cheer about tomorrow.”

Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda), 8th fastest at 1m 50.073s, said: “Considering what happened today, eighth place on the grid is actually quite good because I was in a lot of pain on the bike and for a while it was touch and go whether I’d be able to ride at all. In this morning’s session I had a slide from the rear tyre and the bike went into quite a violent shake. During this, I pulled a muscle in my right hip really hard and maybe caused some more damage – we’ll have to check what the next scans show. But what I can say is that it was very painful and I had to stop riding immediately because the pain stopped my right leg from working properly – it was like a switch.
This afternoon I had some painkillers, but it was still very difficult. It’s very hard to make a prediction for the race – I will try, but at the moment I don’t know for how long I can continue my pace – we’ll see.”

Toni Elias (San Carlo Honda Gresini), 9th fastest at 1m 50.078s, said: “Overall I’m happy because we’ve improved the bike a lot here, we’re moving in the right direction and my pace is good. I’m also pleased because I rode my best lap alone in qualifying, whereas this morning I set my best time following Lorenzo. The crash was a shame because I was following Valentino and through the first split we were 0.00 seconds down on pole. I felt like it was going to be a great lap! The problem is that when you know things are improving and you feel good, you can get a little excited! That’s what happened to me and I was too aggressive with the bike, which caused the crash.
Anyway, the good thing is that despite the crash my next best time was still good enough for ninth on the grid and if I can get a good start tomorrow I think we can have a great race. I’ll be aggressive in the race too but not too much!”

Yuki Takahashi (Scot Honda), 10th fastest at 1m 50.305s, said: “We made a very good job of working on the chassis set-up, working with the rear end of the machine, adjusting swing-arm pivot point, springs and so on. This is a very flowing track, so I always expected that it would be good for us. Tomorrow a good start will be crucial, then I will do my best to get my best MotoGP result so far.”

Alex De Angelis (San Carlo Honda Gresini), 12th fastest at 1m 50.448s, said: “I don’t think we could have gone much faster than that but the gap to the riders just ahead of me is quite small so it’s a shame we couldn’t just manage a little more so we could gain some positions. Anyway, we’ve got a good chance for tomorrow because my pace on race tyres is good – good enough for a top-ten finish, which would be really important to us. The races are always tough here because of the heat and the physical nature of the track, but also because the riders push to the limit from the first lap to the last. There really is no respite and it looks like it’s going to be a close one tomorrow. As always I’m ready to fight and do my best but the important thing is to finish the race with a good result for the team in their home Grand Prix.”

-- Suzuki Report

Rizla Suzuki's Italian star Loris Capirossi will start his home Grand prix from the front row of the grid after qualifying in third place at hot and sunny Mugello today.

Capirossi (1'49.121, 27 laps) had improved all day as he set the fifth fastest time during this morning's final free practice session and was one of only four riders to record sub 1'50 laps during the early part of the qualifying session - when riders were still using the harder compound of Bridgestone race tyre that they will favour in tomorrow's race. During the final third of the session Capirossi bettered his times to such a point that he was in pole position with only a few seconds remaining, but he saw that snatched from him right at the end by championship leader Jorge Lorenzo and Casey Stoner. His time was still good enough to give him the final front row position, his second successive at Mugello and the Rizla's third in succession following Chris Vermeulen's in 2007.

Vermeulen (P11, 1'50.405. 29 laps) continued to improve on his lap times and his GSV-R throughout today, and at the end of the qualifying session he was only 1.418 seconds from pole. He used the experience of his team-mate to good effect in the qualifying session as he followed Capirossi around the complicated 5,245m Mugello Circuit to learn some different lines. Vermeulen is confident of the set-up he has for the Suzuki GSV-R tomorrow and is planning on a good performance in the 23-lap race.

The lights will change to go for tomorrow's race at 14.00hrs local time (12.00hrs GMT) with both Rizla Suzuki riders aiming for the best result possible at this awesome circuit.

Loris Capirossi:
"It has been a fantastic day today, especially because I was a bit angry yesterday and we had a really good meeting with all the team and decided to change a lot of things on the bike. Stuart is so clever because he made the right modifications to the GSV-R and from first thing this morning it was working well. Our target is to always try and do our best, but this front row is a great feeling for us. The race is tomorrow but this has given a good lift to the whole team and we will now try as hard as possible tomorrow afternoon. I know that Suzuki has been doing a lot of work at the factory and we now hope that the new engine that is coming to Barcelona will help even more. The race will be hard for everybody tomorrow, but I don't have anything to lose and I will try my best and see what happens!"

Chris Vermeulen:
"It is not a good qualifying position, but we have definitely taken a step forward today with the bike. All of the mechanics and engineers have done a great job today and they have given me a lot more confidence - especially in the front of the bike. Hopefully we'll take yet another step forward in the race tomorrow. I want to congratulate and also thank Loris. He helped me out in the session and showed me some lines that his 20 years of experience here have produced and you can definitely see the difference when you follow him - that certainly helped me out towards the end of qualifying. I'm in a reasonable position on the grid and in with a lot of good riders, so if I can get a good start hopefully we can have a decent race tomorrow."

Paul Denning - Team Manager:
"Things were really tough yesterday afternoon for both the guys and the team has done very well to turn the bike around and inspire a much higher level of confidence in the GSV-R today. It's fantastic to be back on the front row, especially with the high level of competition that there is right now. For Loris to get amongst that group is going to help his confidence and self-belief - not just for tomorrow but as a kick-start to the rest of the season. Well done to Loris and well done to his crew for giving him a bike capable of reaching the front row.

"Chris has made a decent step forward today and also seems to be coming out of his illness, which whilst he wouldn't want to use it as any form of an excuse, can't be an ideal situation. It has been a good job by the whole team today and we are looking forward to the Grand Prix with high hopes tomorrow!"

-- Yamaha Report

Jorge Lorenzo took his second pole and fifth front row of the season after a scintillating qualifying session in Italy this afternoon, which left the top four riders separated by less than two tenths of a second. His Fiat Yamaha team-mate Valentino Rossi qualified fourth and finds himself off the front row at Mugello for the first time since 1999, when he was still in 250s.

After topping the time sheets yesterday Lorenzo played second fiddle to his team-mate for most of this afternoon's session and it was Rossi who sat at the top of the leader board for most of the hour. The Spaniard was consistently fast around the first three quarters of the track but was losing time in the final section, leaving him a few tenths behind the Italian. With five minutes to go and with all riders on fresh Bridgestone tyres the qualifying session looked to be a four-way battle between the Fiat Yamaha duo, Loris Capirossi and Casey Stoner but it was championship leader Lorenzo who came out on top, with an inch-perfect lap which edged him into pole by two hundredths of a second from Stoner.

Rossi has had no less than eleven front row starts at this track and today he looked a sure bet for another as he effortlessly improved his time lap by lap, looking as comfortable as ever in the Italian sunshine. He came out worst in the last-lap showdown however as he lost out to compatriot Capirossi by 0.027 seconds, meaning the world champion will have to start from fourth as he seeks his seventh consecutive win here tomorrow when the lights go out at 1400.

Jorge Lorenzo - Position: 1Time: 1'48.987Laps: 30
"I'm really happy about this because it's a great pole position and I'm really excited to be starting from the front at Mugello. During the session we had some problems in T4 and we still need to try to improve a bit in that section, but I am fast with both types of tyre and in the end I was able to do one very fast lap. My race pace is good and I think that I have the possibility to fight with Valentino tomorrow; in my mind he is still the favourite here. My target is to get a good start and then try to stay with Valentino and Casey, and then I am sure I can be a part of the race. I am very excited and I hope for a great battle."

Valentino Rossi - Position: 4Time: 1'49.148Laps: 28
"Sincerely I am quite disappointed to miss out on the first row! Usually I don't mind so much but here, in Mugello, it's special so I am sorry for this. It was a great fight today and we had good potential for the pole position but in the end we lost the front row to Loris, who did a great lap. Our setting is good, we have some small details to check but our race pace with the harder tyre is very good so I am not too worried. Of course starting from the second row makes life a little more difficult but we don't think about this. The weather situation is very important because if it's like this then we know we are fast but if it changes, which seems possible from the forecast, then it will be a bit more difficult."

Daniele Romagnoli - Team Manager
"We couldn't ask for a better qualifying session than this! Our race setting is pretty good but we still need to improve our time a little in the final sector, which is where we were losing out today. Jorge did brilliantly with the softer tyre on the final run and this is a very important pole position for us. We hope this good weather continues because if it's like this then it's going to be a very exciting race."

Davide Brivio - Team Manager
"As far as race preparation goes that was a good session, because we were always fast. In the hot laps with the soft tyres at the end we just missed out on the front row but this is not the end of the world. Our race set-up is very good and, although starting from fourth makes our job a little harder, we know that Valentino will be in the fight tomorrow. We're looking forward to a great race."

Monster Yamaha Tech 3 rider Colin Edwards was in sparkling form during qualifying for the Italian MotoGP to secure a place on the second row of the grid for tomorrow's eagerly anticipated Mugello race.

The Texan made a blistering start to the session, immediately fighting his way into the top three as Yamaha dominated the early stages with Jorge Lorenzo and home hero Valentino Rossi also in early contention for pole position. Working on front-end geometry settings to improve the agility of his YZR-M1 machine for the fast changes of direction at the spectacular Mugello circuit, Edwards clocked his best time of 1.49.547 with 13 minutes remaining. That put him third quickest, but in an enthralling final ten minutes of a session run in sunny conditions, the 35-year-old slipped down to the second row for tomorrow's 23-lap race, ending just 0.4s off the front row.

British rider James Toseland had to settle for 14th place on the grid with a best time of 1.50.537, though he is confident he has the pace on race tyres to mount an assault on the top eight tomorrow. Toseland found it difficult to find a comfortable rear shock setting to help the 28-year-old take full advantage of the extra grip from the soft rear Bridgestone tyre. He set his best time on his last flying lap and he was only 0.5s away from a place on the third row and 0.2s outside of the top ten.

Colin Edwards 6th 1.49.547 - 23 laps
"I never plan on going out and following anybody but right at the start of the session Valentino (Rossi) was right in front of me and he had no problem with me following. So taking into account he's the Mugello expert I got in behind him to see if I could learn something and I picked up a couple of tricks. In a couple of places like the chicanes he hits the apex later at the first part to get a better drive out of the second part. I was more sweeping through them without getting a really good drive, so that helped me a bit. I was out on an old front tyre and a new rear and my race times were pretty consistent and I'm sure I can run 1.49s in the race. For me the harder rear tyre, which we'll have to use because of the high track temperature, has just as much grip as the softer one, which shows what a great job Bridgestone has done. I had a couple of small issues with front-end movement, which we improved and that's a big bonus. We changed the geometry to help with the front stability and it helped make the bike much more agile. And that's crucial here with the fast changes of direction. You really need to flow round here without having to muscle the bike around because that gets pretty tough for 23 laps. I'm really looking forward to tomorrow and putting on a good show for my guys at Tech 3 who have been awesome again."

James Toseland 14th 1.50.537- 24 laps
"I'm pretty frustrated because I feel I should be much higher up the grid. As I know from other races earlier this season, while I can run the lap times from around sixth to tenth place, the times in this class are so close that it can be hard to fight your way through in the race. So being on the fifth row makes it incredibly difficult. We were playing around with the suspension settings all weekend and been going in the right direction, but when I upped my pace on the softer compound tyre the rear shock setting wasn't quite right. When the rear tyre was loaded as I opened the throttle it just had a harsh feeling with little movement, so we weren't finding as much grip from the tyre as we could do. We made some changes in the session without making any big progress and right at the end on my last soft tyre we found something a bit better. But it was too late unfortunately and if we had found that direction a bit earlier it would have given me more time to build up my pace on the softer tyre. I'm frustrated because I feel I can be strong at this track, but I'll work hard with my guys tonight to try and find a better setting. I'm still confident that I can do good times in the race and gain a few places for a good result and as always I'll never give up."

-- Bridgestone Report

Tyre compounds available: Front: Medium, Hard. Rear: Medium, Hard

Spaniard Jorge Lorenzo scored his second pole position in five races since the appointment of Bridgestone as the Official Tyre Supplier after a thrilling last-minute shootout between Fiat Yamaha teammate Valentino Rossi, Ducati Team’s Casey Stoner and Rizla Suzuki’s Loris Capirossi.

All riders set their fastest times using the hard compound front and medium compound rear Bridgestone slicks, with the exception of Scot Racing’s Yuki Takahashi who used a hard compound rear and Pramac Racing’s Niccolo Canepa who used the medium compound front slick tyre.

During the hour-long session the championship top three all held provisional pole position. Rizla Suzuki’s Loris Capirossi was the fourth rider to do so, the Italian delivering an excellent performance to finish third and secure his first front row start of the season, fittingly at his home grand prix. In the fight to the flag, Rossi recorded his best time three laps from the end. Lorenzo’s and Capirossi’s best times came on their respective penultimate laps, and Stoner’s came on his very last lap.

Whereas yesterday Lorenzo was the only rider to lap beneath the 1m50s mark, during qualifying the top seven riders all recorded laps quicker than the circuit’s fastest race lap of 1m50.003s set by Stoner last year.

Since Friday’s first free practice, Lorenzo, Rossi and Stoner have filled the top three slots. A strong performance from Monster Yamaha Tech3’s Colin Edwards saw him third for much of qualifying, but it looked like the championship top three would fill the front row of the grid tomorrow until Capirossi’s effort pushed fellow Italian Rossi into fourth.

The top four were separated by just 0.16seconds.

Hiroshi Yamada - Bridgestone Motorsport – Manager Motorcycle Sport Unit
“It was a very exciting qualifying session today, especially the four-way fight for pole. I’d like to congratulate Jorge for his performance, and of course to Loris and the Suzuki team. It is great to see them showing the same form as they did in pre-season tests and be on the front row here. I am also pleased to see Yuki score his first top ten qualifying position in MotoGP.”

Tohru Ubukata - Bridgestone Motorsport – Manager, Motorcycle Race Tyre Development
“We saw most riders using the medium compound rear Bridgestone in qualifying today, but if the temperature is the same for tomorrow’s race I think we can expect to see most riders opting for hard front and hard rear Bridgestone slicks. All riders now have experience this weekend of the hard compound tyres, and I think they will perform better with a similar track temperature over a race distance. More so in free practice this morning we saw riders using both the hard and medium compound fronts and rears, so we can say the two specifications have a good performance overlap.”

-- Minor Categories

World Champion Marco Simoncelli had to settle for second place in the 250cc qualifying session, as he was unable to prevent title rival Álvaro Bautista from taking pole.

Spanish competitor Bautista secured his third pole position start of 2009 with a 1’52.804 time on his penultimate lap, which put him just 0.014s ahead of Metis Gilera rider Simoncelli - with whom he is likely to battle for supremacy in Sunday’s race.

Bautista and Simoncelli’s fellow championship protagonists Héctor Barberá (Pepe World Team) and Hiroshi Aoyama (Scot Racing Team) will also commence the fifth 250cc contest of the season on the front row.

Behind them on the grid will be fierce rivals Alex Debon (Aeropuerto-Castello-Blusens) and Thomas Luthi (Emmi - Caffe Latte) who clashed in Le Mans two weeks ago, whilst the second row will also feature Ratthapark Wilairot (Thai Honda PTT SAG) and Mattia Pasini (Team Toth Aprilia).

Bancaja Aspar rider Bradley Smith set a new 125cc Mugello pole record earlier in the afternoon, his 1’58.134 hot lap beating Lukas Pesek’s record from 2006 by a 0.068s margin. Smith therefore heads the 125cc grid for the first time this season, having taken pole on three occasions last year.

The Oxfordshire teenager is joined on the front row by three riders he knows very well, namely his compatriot Scott Redding (Blusens Aprilia) in second place and teammates Julián Simón and Sergio Gadea in third and fourth respectively.

Another Spanish competitor, Marc Márquez (Red Bull KTM), heads the second row, in front of home rider Andrea Iannone (Ongetta Team I.S.P.A.), Frenchman Johann Zarco (WTR San Marino Team) and the KTM rider’s countryman Pol Espargaró (Derbi Racing Team).

Sturla Fagerhaug won a perfectly judged race to claim his second victory of the Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup season. The 17 year old Norwegian crossed the line just 0.266 seconds ahead of 16 year old Czech Jakub Kornfeil after the pair had played cat and mouse over the last laps, each hoping the other would lead the final run to the line.

They had broken away from a rabid battle for third. The final place on the podium eventually went to Daijiro Hiura but only after the 14 year old Japanese had dug deep in his considerable talent over the final lap that ended with three crashing as they exited the final turn. Alejandro Pardo high-sided violently and the two South Africans behind him, Brad Binder and Mathew Scholtz came together as the avoided the tumbling Italian.

What ended as a Fagerhaug command performance did not start like that at all. From a well crafted pole he went backwards to 17th. "I just gave it too much throttle and flooded the engine. It just wouldn't go. I really thought that was it, I wasn't going to win. I tried to settle down and pass people as quickly as I could but I made a few mistakes and got re-passed as well. Then it started to work and I was able to get through to the front."

"Luckily Jakub and I were able to get away from the rest of the group. I wanted to do most of the leading because I wasn't sure what Jakub's pace would be if he were in front. Then I hoped he would lead over the last few laps so that he couldn't just pass me out of the slipstream on the run into the line. I got him to go ahead but then he slowed and I had to pass again. We couldn't go on like that for long because I knew the others would catch us so I then just went as fast as I could to try and get a bit of a gap on the final lap and it worked," concluded Fagerhaug.

Kornfeil admitted he had done everything he could. "I knew that it was best to let Sturla do the leading. He is so fast and that way we could get clear of the others. Every lap I was testing the run in to the finish line to see how I might pass him on the last lap. I knew that was my only real chance. Then on the last lap he was just a bit too quick and I wasn't close enough. Still I really enjoyed the race and in Assen I am going to try and go one better."

Hiura said that third place was very simple. "I just rode the last lap as hard as I could. It was such a hard race, so much overtaking, it was very difficult to get a rhythm and impossible to get away, riders were overtaking everywhere, on the last lap I just turned the throttle full open. Third is OK but in Assen I really want to win."

Fourth man home Florian Marino was very frustrated after being in the hunt for the win for almost the entire race. "I wanted to get on the podium, I really think I was fast enough but it was just like Jerez, some guys making crazy passes and I would get pushed wide then another two guys could get by as well. It was like that the whole race. I know it is up to me to ride better and get away like Sturla and Jakub did but it is very difficult."

His feelings were echoed by Jake Gagne, the 15 year old Californian who had got into a good looking 3rd place only to crash on lap 9 of the 14. "It was pretty crazy, some really mad overtaking moves that just slowed us all down so the front two got away. I finally got clear and on my own but then lost the rear coming through the downhill final turn."

It was the same place that caught out Pardo on the final lap. "The back end just came round and snapped, I went over the high-side," reported the 15 year old Italian who ended the day nursing a painful inner thigh area with a large pack of ice!

"It was a hard race," said Scholtz. "Just too much overtaking in the wrong places, I had got up to 2nd but then it was just crazy and I went right back again," reported the 16 year old. "Then on the last lap Pardo high-sided, Brad braked to miss him and I hit Brad."

None of the fallers were seriously injured and with Danny Kent finishing 7th behind Daniel Ruiz and Arthur Sissis, Fagerhaug now leads the Cup by 20 points from the 15 year old Englishman with Kornfeil moving to 3rd a further 12 points adrift. The 4th of the 8 race season takes place at Assen on June 27th. For those who missed the live web feed, the first 2 races are already viewable on the Rookies website www.redbullrookiescup.com and Mugello will soon be uploaded.

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