It rained throughout the Saturday MotoGP qualifying round at Sachsenring, with conditions noticeably worsening half-way through the hour long Superpole session in Germany. Valentino Rossi added a third pole position to his 2009 accomplishments after vying with teammate Jorge Lorenzo throughout the day to be the top rider in the Fiat Yamaha squad.
Valentino Rossi – Fiat Yamaha – 1st, 1’32.520
“I’m really happy for this pole because it means I’ve already got more than in the whole of last year! Getting the pole position here is very important for the race because it’s such a hard place to overtake, so I’m really happy. We’ve done some good work today and my team has done a great job to set-up the bike. We’ve made a few small modifications, which have improved the feeling for me and I felt very confident today despite the bad conditions. At the end it was really very difficult and we were right on the limit because there was so much water on the track, but I knew I could push a bit more and the result was this great lap. I really hope it’s dry tomorrow – for the sake of everybody – but at the moment it’s doubtful so at least we can be confident that we’re well prepared in the wet as well.”
Ducati Marlboro’s Casey Stoner took third for the day with a lap time of 1'33.759, which had placed him on top with 35 minutes to go. The Australian wisely retired as the weather worsened and more riders began to crash. Skeptics announced that the time most likely wouldn’t be beaten, but Lorenzo and Rossi have a history of defying the expected.
Despite barely being able to see the track through the perpetual rain, Lorenzo clocked a new top time of 1’33.355 with 26 minutes to go.
Three minutes later Stoner’s American teammate Nicky Hayden made an impressive jump into fourth, which he would hold for the day. Third-place is no place for a master to be, so with 13 minutes remaining Rossi made a show by edging out his teammate for the lead. Lorenzo, who is on a mission to prove ‘The Doctor’ is past his prime, backed-up his talk by beating the new time by a tenth, and then again to end with 1'33.160.
Alas, Rosi wouldn’t be a G.O.A.T. if he didn’t pull out some last minute theatrics. On the last lap, with the track as drenched as it was all session, the undisputed MotoGP champion laid down an absolutely unbelievable time of 1’32.160 to crush Lorenzo’s time by six-tenths and take pole position for Sunday.
Honda riders Randy de Puniet and Alex de Angelis will start finish out the second row of the grid after teaming up to slipstream their way into fifth and six. The consistent Colin Edwards powered his satellite Yamaha Tech 3 machine into seventh, with Honda’s top rider Dani Pedrosa finishing taking eighth with a late stage run using a RC212V powered by a new engine from Honda Racing Corporation.
Casey Stoner - Ducati Marlboro - 3rd; 1’33.759
"That was a crazy session because of all the standing water on the track and the grip levels were minimal. There were riders crashing all over the place so once we knew we had a decent lap time in the bag I decided to sit out the last few minutes of the session because the last thing I needed was a crash. I’m still feeling the effects of the qualifying crash at Laguna two weeks ago so to be honest the first thing I’m pleased about is to have stayed upright today, the second thing is to be on the front row! I have to take my hat off to Rossi and Lorenzo today because whilst everybody else was sliding around all over the place those two looked like they were on rails. They are clearly the guys to beat again tomorrow in wet or dry conditions although to be honest I’d prefer it to be wet – at least that way I know I am physically fit enough to be strong to the end of the race!"
Rizla Suzuki rider Loris Capirossi finished out he the third row in ninth while his teammate Chris Vermeulen will be on the outside of the forth row for a somewhat disappointing result for the Suzuki riders, who had hoped for better positions on the short Sachsenring circuit. Pramac Racing Ducati’s Mika Kallio took tenth despite riding with an injured left index finger, which was ground to a stub in an accident during the Assen round. Andrea Dovizioso will be the other man in the fourth row with a time just over two seconds behind Rossi’s.
The rainy weather was cause for no less than nine crashes on Saturday, with Turn 8 proving to be the most treacherous in the wet. Marco Melandri was the first to ride into the gravel while trying to navigate the downhill left-hand turn of the eighth corner. A quarter of the way through the session, LCR Honda’s Randy de Puniet crashed at the same spot, but appeared to be uninjured.
With 17 minutes to go, and the rain beginning to pour, Melandri lost his rear-end coming out of 8 causing a highside which bucked off the sole Kawasaki rider like a bull rider. The Italian native, who has been rumored as a possible replacement rider for San Carlo Gresini Honda’s Toni Elias next year, was uninjured but shaken. Perhaps it was the possibility of not having a ride next year that pressured Elias into making a mistake in Turn 8 four minutes later, with the Spaniard taking a hard fall on his lower back while the unmanned RC212V powered on to careen with the airbags. Alex de Angelis had a strangely similar crash on Turn 7 a few minutes later in which he also slid off the back of his Honda and sent his machine rocketing into the airbags.
Nicky Hayden – Ducati Marlboro - 4th, 1’34.404
“In some ways the session was a complete disaster but I ended up with my best grid position of the year so I’ll take it! I went out on the first bike and immediately something happened to the gearbox going into turn one and I almost went down. It was stuck in second gear so I had to ride it all the way back to the pits like that. I didn’t feel as comfortable on my second bike but I knew that was all I had to work with for the rest of the session so I was a little tentative. Then we made a couple of changes and got going pretty good. Things were coming together so I went out with ten minutes to go, got right on the pace and felt I could do something special. I set my best time through the first split but then in the downhill section I lost the rear and there was no way of getting it back, unfortunately it took Niccolo out too. I’m basically okay from the crash and I hope Niccolo is okay too because it was my fault. I was trying too hard when it was getting too slippery – it was raining harder but I felt like I could go faster”
Pramac Racing’s Niccolo Canepa had a particularly unfortunate day. After getting kicked off his satellite Ducati half-way through the qualifying session he remounted to test his luck once again on the increasingly soaked Sachsenring circuit. Giving credence to the saying ‘when it rains it pours’ the Italian once again ended up in the gravel in a bizarre twist of fate. With less than six minutes to go Nicky Hayden was catapulted over his Ducati in a highside on Turn 8. As Canepa came around on the outside of the turn he was suddenly struck dead-center in the back by the plummeting Kentucky Kid, causing the Italian to once again take a tumble through the gravel. Hayden was immediately up checking on the unlucky passerby, who was later reported uninjured after being carried out on a stretcher.
MotoGP Sachsenring Qualifying Results
1. Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) - 1'32.520
2. Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha) - 1'33.160, +0.640
3. Casey Stoner (Ducati) - 1'33.759, +1.239
4. Nicky Hayden (Ducati) - 1'34.404, +1.884
5. Alex de Angelis (Honda) - 1'34.490, +1.970
6. Randy de Puniet (Honda) - 1'34.564, +2.044
7. Colin Edwards (Yamaha) - 1'34.607, +2.087
8. Dani Pedrosa (Honda) - 1'34.725, +2.205
9. Loris Capirossi (Suzuki) - 1'34.741, +2.221
10. Mika Kallio (Ducati) - 1'34.771, +2.251
11. Andrea Dovizioso (Honda) - 1'34.892, +2.372
12. Chris Vermeulen (Suzuki) - 1'34.937, +2.417
13. Marco Melandri (Kawasaki) - 1'34.938, +2.418
14. James Toseland (Yamaha) - 1'35.005, +2.485
15. Niccolo Canepa (Ducati) - 1'36.012, +3.492
16. Gabor Talmacsi (Honda) - 1'36.055, +3.535
17. Toni Elias (Honda) - 1'36.531, +4.011
Other Post-Qualifying Rider Quotes
Jorge Lorenzo – Fiat Yamaha – 2nd, 1’33.160
Yesterday I was quite worried about my injuries but I am happy to say that today I feel a lot better and I was able to ride much more strongly and brake much later. I was really fast in the dry this morning and then this afternoon I did a lot of consistent laps, improving all the time, which is very good because often I struggle in the wet. At the end it was very easy to crash so I didn’t want to push too much or take too many chances, it was important to be careful! Second place is very good and I’m happy about the work we’ve done. I hope I feel even better tomorrow for the race and of course that the weather is a bit better too.”
Alex De Angelis - San Carlo Honda Gresini - 5th, 1’34.490
“We started out really well and my lap times were good in the early part of the session when we were using a tire that we had put a few laps on in yesterday’s damp session. With a new tire it was really hard to generate the heat to get it working at optimum temperature but gradually I started to feel better. Then unfortunately I crashed in the corner where everybody else went down too. It is never a nice feeling to crash but especially when I know that I could have made an attack at least for the front row. Anyway, fifth place is a fantastic result for us and if it rains again tomorrow then we’re ideally placed. Even if it is dry we know we have a good starting position and good pace for what I hope can be my best race of the season.”
Randy de Puniet - LCR Honda - 6th, 1’34.564
“We have got a good grid position and I am quite satisfied but it has not been easy because wet sessions are always a gamble. Everybody pushes to find the limit but sometimes we push too much and we crash. I was very fast in my first run (12 laps) and my wet set-up was almost perfect. Unfortunately I crashed at turn seven because I opened the throttle too much and the asphalt was like an ice-skating rink! After that I went out on my second bike but it took me some time to find the right pace. When I started to push I had some engine brake issues and with two laps to go I went out in the gravel. The guys must work hard to repair both bikes for tomorrow but I feel confident as we made a good performance in both conditions.”
Colin Edwards – Monster Yamaha Tech 3 - 7th, 1'34.607
"It was a bit of a struggle to be honest, so to be as high as seventh, I'm not going to complain too much. I thought we'd made a big step with the wet set-up yesterday but the rain was much harder this afternoon and the track temperature was a lot cooler. I knew two laps into it that I'd got no feeling from the rear. We made a couple of changes and the lap times were getting a bit better but each time I wanted to push the rear would just come round on me. The Bridgestone front rain tire is just awesome and you can do what you want with it. If I could chop the bike in half and just ride the front around here it would be fantastic. But as soon as I load the rear tire it comes round on me and picks me up. I want to push and go faster, but the faster I go the more load I'm generating and that just pushes the rear out even more. The balance isn't quite right because I feel like I'm riding well in the rain. Tomorrow is all about getting a good start with it being hard to overtake. And the start pretty much determines which group you're going to be battling in. The new electronics I've got though are unbelievable. I don't want to curse myself but my starts have been phenomenal and I need to thank Yamaha because the new electronics have helped me massively."
Dani Pedrosa - Repsol Honda - 8th, 1’34.725
“Qualifying in eighth isn’t ideal, so I’ll be trying to make another good start tomorrow. That’s going to be important here because the first turn is quite close to the start line, plus it’s difficult to overtake at this track. The conditions were quite difficult this afternoon, they were changing all the time and I was struggling to get into a good rhythm. There were a lot of riders crashing out there and I don’t have a lot of experience on this year’s wet tires because I missed some testing earlier in the season. This was why I wasn’t going so quickly this afternoon. It wasn’t because of my crash in last year’s wet race. It was good that we had a dry practice session this morning and of course I’d prefer a dry race tomorrow. The forecast is not certain so we’ll aim to improve our set-up for both wet and dry conditions.”
Loris Capirossi - Rizla Suzuki - 9th, 1'34.741
"Overall the practice has not been too bad because we were able to work on getting a good wet setting. We made a few changes half-way through to improve engine-braking and control, but the biggest problem was the amount of rain on the track in the last 15 minutes of the session. I did quite a good lap and then on what felt like my best lap I lost some time behind Melandri, so I decided I had to go for it on the next lap, but in turn seven as I opened the throttle to accelerate out, the rear tire just let go and I flew a long way off the bike. The good thing for us though is that the feeling in the bike is good in the wet and this will help us if it is like this tomorrow."
Mika Kallio - Pramac Racing - 10th, 1'34.771
"A very intense day. This morning we have done really well with a dry surface keeping really close to the firsts positions. Then, in the afternoon with really wet surface, we stayed in the top ten and conquered the fourth row. Any weather condition there will be tomorrow we are trustful to be able between the fastest. I am sorry for Niccolò because he was having a good qualifying session and I hope he will be ok for tomorrow's race."
Andrea Dovizioso - Repsol Honda - 11th, 1’34.892
“The grip levels were quite low this afternoon which meant the machine was sliding a lot – this was the same for everyone of course. We were working on wet settings and the area we primarily need to improve is the stability of the rear on the entry to the corners. This is where the bike was tricky to control in the slippery conditions. It was raining throughout the session and this meant the track was getting increasingly wet. If I had the choice, I’d prefer the less wet conditions from earlier in the session – and ideally fully dry of course. We’ll have to see what the weather does tomorrow and aim to make a fast start and make up some places quickly.”
Chris Vermeulen - Rizla Suzuki - 12th, 1'34.937
"I am quite disappointed with qualifying because we struggled to get the bike working well for me. That was probably due to my lack of track time at speed today, but we did make some steps during the session. Right at the end, when there was a lot of standing water, we struggled to get good grip from the rear of the bike and that is something we'll look at tonight so we can be ready if it is wet tomorrow. With my injuries it will be a bit easier for me physically if it is wet tomorrow, but if it's dry I'm expecting it to be a tough race. My shoulder and my hip are both hurting from the crash on Friday, but I'll be ok to race and trying as hard as I can!"
James Toseland – Monster Yamaha Tech 3 - 14th, 1'35.005
"I'm gutted. I felt like I was riding really well, so to come in and see myself four-tenths of sixth is hard to swallow. If I wasn't riding well and not putting in the effort I know I am, I wouldn't be so frustrated. I had my best feeling in the wet for a long time and I knew I was riding well, but each time I came across the line I was seeing P12 or P13. And then to find out I'm so close to a top six is really frustrating. We kept one set of tires through the whole session and just as I did my quickest lap time the rain started coming again and there was a little bit more water. I'd used the best grip of my tire and I couldn't go any quicker. So instead of sitting here in sixth or seventh with a big smile on my face and feeling confident of a good result, I'm fourteenth and that makes it a tough race with it being so hard to overtake. But my guys at Monster Yamaha Tech 3 have done an amazing job to give me a good bike for the wet and build my confidence. We kept going softer with the set-up because the edge grip on the Bridgestone rain tire is amazing. It will be a tough race with overtaking so difficult on this track, but as always I'll be giving it my all."
Niccolò Canepa - Pramac Racing - 15th, 1'36.012
"What a hit ! I didn't understand what happened until I saw the reply while I was in the mobile clinic. When I was on the ground after the accident I saw and heard Hayden saying to me "Sorry, sorry, sorry", but I didn't understand why. He doesn't have to worry because this sort of things can happen and the most important is that both of us are ok and ready to race tomorrow. I suffered a hard contusion to my back, head and ankle, but nothing is broken. I felt a lot of heat in my lower back but everything seems back to normality now. I want to thanks the mobile clinic doctors who have helped me to relax and will do all possible to put me back in top form for tomorrow's race."
Gabor Talmacsi - Scot Honda - 16th, 1’36.055
“This was my first time on a MotoGP bike in the wet. We began with a basic set-up, then we stopped, as programmed, to switch to my second bike and we improved. With 17 minutes to go I stopped for the third time to change tires and to modify the set-up. We did not get what we desired from a set-up point of view, but we now have a few ideas to help us improve in case the race is wet.”
Toni Elias - San Carlo Honda Gresini - 17th, 1’36.531
“I didn’t feel as comfortable today as I did yesterday in the wet or the dry. Track temperature was 15ºC lower and I really felt the difference. It was taking too long to get any heat into the tire and even when I did the feeling wasn’t there. It wasn’t a good day and it finished off with a crash, which I was lucky to come away from without any injury. I’d had a few warnings beforehand, the bike was sliding around in a lot of places, and then I lost control and the next thing I knew I was laying on top of the bike like I was sunbathing or something! It’s funny to watch on television but I can assure you it wasn’t so funny for me. Hopefully the fans get the chance to sunbathe tomorrow because we need a dry race. I’m starting from last place so it will be a tough race for sure. My only option is to fight and pass as many people as I can. Let’s hope we have the conditions and a set-up that allows me to do so.”
