Fiat Yamaha's Jorge Lorenzo captured his fourth straight pole victory of the '10 season at Sachsenring.
Fiat Yamaha’s Jorge Lorenzo clenched his fourth pole victory of the 2010 season Saturday at the Sachsenring circuit in Germany. The Spaniard took the top time during a session which was red-flagged due to his own M1 leaking oil on the track, which caused crashes for Monster Yamaha Tech 3’s Ben Spies and LCR Honda’s Randy de Puniet. Rounding out the top three were Ducati’s Casey Stoner and Repsol Honda’s Dani Pedrosa, with Valentino Rossi following in fifth.
After struggling to find grip on Friday the championship-leading Lorenzo appeared much more comfortable and confident during qualifying. After the red flag Lorenzo went on to lay down a string of fast laps, and eventually secured the pole position with four minutes left in his qualifying run.
"Since the new engine rule everyone has been starting to feel like these engines never have problems and it was honestly a surprise for me today when I came onto the straight and felt it stop,” said Lorenzo. “It was so hot and there was oil on my feet so I had to go into the wall. I'm really sorry that Ben and Randy crashed and especially that Randy was slightly injured, it is good news that he will be able to race tomorrow.”
Stoner secured the number two spot on the front row by finishing his session just 0.024 seconds off Lorenzo’s pace. Pedrosa closely followed and was the final rider to come under the 1’22” mark. Pedrosa’s Repsol Honda teammate, Andrea Dovizioso, took fourth and will start on the second row in Sunday’s race along with Rossi, who will start from fifth after he posted a time 0.578 seconds off his teammate’s pole position pace.
"I am really happy after this second day because I feel confident on the bike,” Rossi said. “I have suffered more today because we've had two sessions instead of one and I have some pain and I'm more tired than yesterday, but I feel good and my movement is okay. Also the shoulder feels fine so it's definitely a positive return for me.”
Hector Barbera of Paginas Amarillas Aspar managed his best premier class qualifying run to date with a time of 1'22.454 that was good enough for sixth. Before falling due to Lorenzo’s oil spill Frenchman Randy de Puniet put up the seventh-best time. The LCR Honda rider collided with Spies’ bike after both crashed out, and immediately was taken for X-rays on his right leg which fortunately revealed no breaks. Meanwhile, Spies’ fastest time was only good enough for 13th during a disappointing session for the Texan.
2010 Sachsenring Qualifying Results:
1. Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha) 1'21.817
Ducati's Casey Stoner took second on Saturday and will start from the front row in his attempt to secure his first MotoGP victory of the 2010 season.
2. Casey Stoner (Ducati) 1'21.841
3. Dani Pedrosa (Honda) 1'21.948
4. Andrea Dovizioso (Honda) 1'22.263
5. Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) 1'22.395
6. Hector Barbera (Ducati) 1'22.454
7. Randy de Puniet (Honda) 1'22.610
8. Marco Simoncelli (Honda) 1'22.624
9. Aleix Espargaro (Ducati) 1'22.910
10. Marco Melandri (Honda) 1'22.917
11. Mika Kallio (Ducati) 1'22.961
12. Colin Edwards (Yamaha) 1'23.026
13. Ben Spies (Yamaha) 1'23.028
14. Loris Capirossi (Suzuki) 1'23.040
15. Nicky Hayden (Ducati) 1'23.090
16. Alvaro Bautista (Suzuki) 1'23.193
17. Alex de Angelis (Honda) 1'23.515
Moto2
Fimmco Speed Up’s Andrea Iannone continued his dominance in qualifying on Saturday by taking his third straight pole victory of the season in Moto2. Lapping 0.673 seconds faster than Racing Team Germany’s Arne Tode, Iannone was the only rider to dip below the 1:25 mark. Gresini Racing’s Toni Elias took third with his time of 1'25.664, and will join Iannone and Tode on the front row on Sunday.
Elias was just nine-thousandths of a second off Tode’s pace, and suffered a crash late in the session which he walked away from without injury. Also taking falls were Ricky Cardus of Maquinza-SAG and Forward Racing’s Jules Cluzel. Following the current championship leader was Mapfre Aspar’s Julian Simon, who completed the front row in fourth and with a gap of 0.776 seconds separating him from Iannone.
Starting from the second row will be Iannone’s teammate Gabor Talmacsi, JiR Moto2’s Simone Corsi, Viessmann Kiefer Racing’s Stefan Bradl and Technomag-CIP’s Shoya Tomizawa. Taking 21st for the day was runner-up in the championship Thomas Luthi, who struggled immensely during his session.
Andrea Iannone took his third straight pole victory in Moto2 on Saturday and will once again start from the front row in Sunday's race.
1. Andrea Iannone (Speed Up) 1'24.982
2. Arne Tode (Suter) 1'25.655
3. Toni Elias (Moriwaki) 1'25.664
4. Julian Simon (Suter) 1'25.758
5. Gabor Talmacsi (Speed Up) 1'25.772
6. Simone Corsi (Motobi) 1'25.830
7. Stefan Bradl (Suter) 1'25.918
8. Shoya Tomizawa (Suter) 1'25.967
9. Dominique Aegerter (Suter) 1'26.028
10. Alex Debon (FTR) 1'26.104
11. Karel Abraham (FTR) 1'26.110
12. Roberto Rolfo (Suter) 1'26.114
13. Yuki Takahashi (Tech 3) 1'26.120
14. Yonny Hernandez (BQR-Moto2) 1'26.156
15. Scott Redding (Suter) 1'26.246
