Valentino Rossi sits on pole for his home GP tomorrow in Misano, Italy.
Hot heat and fast times were the name of the game in Italy today. Local homeboy Valentino Rossi took top spot in front of loads of his loyal fans on his Fiat Yamaha. The Doctor laid down a 1:34.338 with only seconds remaining to put himself at the pointy end of the grid for tomorrow's Cinzano San Marino Grand Prix. Though he wasn't without challenge, as Repsol Honda’s Dani Pedrosa clocked the second-quickest time of 1:34.560, no doubt putting pressure on the Italian for Sunday’s final.
“Today the track is much like yesterday and it is difficult at the end,” said Rossi. “But we improve a little bit with the setting and I am very happy for the pole position. It was very exciting at the end with the time and the team do a Formula 1 tire change so very good job from them (laughs). I am happy for the pole position but tomorrow is the race and I hope many fans come out and is a good day – better than last weekend.”
Pedrosa will try to redeem himself after his devastating crash last weekend. He starts second on the grid.
Pedrosa also comes into Misano fresh off a crash at Indy and is looking for better results. “We have to work a little more on race pace. This afternoon we were not quite fast enough before the qualifying time so I think this is the important part for tomorrow,” said the Spaniard. “At the end I try and be faster because starting in front at this track is very important so to be second is good. But other than this, we have to improve for tomorrow for sure.”
Rossi’s Fiat Yamaha teammate Lorenzo is still ripe off his win last weekend in Indianapolis and Rossi's surprising crash, which sees the championship gap now split in half to 25 points. Lorenzo will join Rossi and Pedrosa at the tail end of the front row.
“Very hot, lot of pain for sure,” said Lorenzo of the weather in Misano. “It is going to be very hard tomorrow so to start at the front is important. Unfortunately we couldn’t be faster with the soft tire, but anyway, I think we have the pace for the race and we are going to push.”
Lorenzo couldn't match Rossi and Pedrosa's pace in qualifying on soft tires but is quite confident he has a quick enough pace on hard tires to be in the hunt for the race tomorrow.
“I like this track very much, it reminds me of a track we have back home (in Spain),” he added. “We, all the four riders in the front of the championship, are riding very hard and almost one second faster than last year, so it’s more probable that you crash in this situation when you are pushing every lap, every corner, and the race here is going to be this once again.”
And while it may be hot outside in Italy, there's no question it's even hotter in the Fiat garage as the teammate war rages on. In fact, it's enough that some of the other riders in the paddock are taking notice.
Said Monster Tech 3 Yamaha’s Colin Edwards, who qualified fifth for Sunday’s race: “I think it’s great with Valentino and Jorge. There’s definitely something going on, an inter-team-battle-struggle going on. Jorge was impressive and went good and Valentino threw in a few laps at the end. They look like they are pretty focused on beating each other, which is good for the sport, it gives us something to talk about. And not just the end of this year, next year too I’m sure. It’s going to be good!”
“It was hot and muggy out here, feels like Suzuki 8-hour (endurance race). But a few laps at a time aren’t an issue,” Edwards added. “It went okay today (in qualifying), I’m fairly satisfied. We’ve got some front movement we need to sort for tomorrow, but we should be right there.”
Edwards is headed on the second row by Gresini Honda’s Toni Elias while behind him will be American Nicky Hayden on the Ducati, who comes in fresh off his first podium of the year last weekend at Indianapolis with another sold qualifying performance.
MOTOGP QUALIFYING:
1. Valentino ROSSI (Yamaha), 1:34.338
2. Dani PEDROSA (Honda), 1:34.560
3. Jorge LORENZO (Yamaha), 1:34.808
4. Toni ELIAS (Honda), 1:34.907
5. Colin EDWARDS (Yamaha), 1:35.184
6. Nicky HAYDEN (Ducati), 1:35.223
7. Alex DE ANGELIS (Honda), 1:35.343
8. Andrea DOVIZIOSO (Honda), 1:35.492
9. Randy DE PUNIET (Honda), 1:35.554
10. Loris CAPIROSSI (Suzuki), 1:35.561
11. Mika KALLIO (Ducati), 1:35.601
12. Marco MELANDRI (Kawasaki), 1:35.785
13. Chris VERMEULEN (Suzuki), 1:35.790
14. James TOSELAND (Yamaha), 1:36.070
15. Aleix ESPARGARO (Ducati), 1:36.228
16. Niccolo CANEPA (Ducati), 1:36.264
17. Gabor TALMACSI (Honda), 1:37.091
