Yamaha Tech 3's Ben Spies captured his first MotoGP pole position in qualifying at Indy.
It was a memorable day at the Indianapolis circuit for Monster
Yamaha Tech 3’s Ben Spies as the American clenched his first ever
MotoGP pole ahead of Fiat Yamaha’s Jorge Lorenzo and
Ducati’s Nicky Hayden. The Texan put down his fastest lap of 1'40.105 with less than five minutes remaining in an action-packed qualifying session on Satuday.
Lorenzo took second on the timesheets after posting his best time of 1’40.325 with less than three minutes left.
"This was a really difficult session because it was so hot and the track was very slippery and bumpy, it was hard to know what to expect," Lorenzo said. "Luckily we managed a good lap and I'm happy with second-place. Ben's lap was amazing so well done to him. A good start will be really important tomorrow because there are many fast riders behind and I think it will be a tough battle for everyone. Our setting is good and we are happy with the choice for the tire so we will try our best and see what we can do here in Indy."
The championship leader was followed by Hayden just 0.011 seconds behind, who set an extremely fast pace that would ultimately be surpassed by 0.231 seconds. Hayden will be the second American starting from the front row in Sunday’s race along with Spies and Lorenzo.
Starting from the second row will be Repsol Honda’s Andrea Dovizioso, who just missed out on his second front row appearance by 0.223 seconds. Dovizioso’s teammate, Dani Pedrosa, took the fifth-quickest lap in qualifying with a time of 1'40.637. After posting the fastest times in Friday and Saturday’s practice session, Ducati’s Casey Stoner secured the final spot in Row 2 after running more than half a second adrift of Spies’ best.
Ducati's Nicky Hayden performed well in the session, earning third-place on the grid.
Fiat Yamaha’s Valentino Rossi suffered an extremely disappointing performance in his qualifying run, which saw him crash with only six minutes left. Unable to get his bike back up and running, Rossi was relegated to seventh on the grid and 0.900 seconds off the leader’s pace. Also crashing out was Pracmac Racing Ducati’s Aleix Espargaro, who had his front end wash out at Turn 13.
"We worked hard today to try to recover the feeling we've lost and we have made some improvement," Rossi said. "Unfortunately I crashed at the worst point in the session, with the soft tire in and doing some fast laps but with not enough time left to try again. It could have been worse because I thought I would end up much further back than seventh, so we can be happy for this. This track is very bumpy and I really think something needs to be done to some parts of it to improve it. I don't know when the last time I crashed twice in one day is, but for sure it was many years ago, back in the 90s perhaps!"
San Carlo
Honda’s Marco Simoncelli took eighth in the timesheets and was another victim of the Indy circuit, going down in the final 15 minutes of the hour-long session. Texan Colin Edwards and Rizla
Suzuki’s Loris Capirossi rounded out the top-10 grid position in ninth and tenth respectively. After recently returning to the MotoGP paddock, Frenchman Randy de Puniet finished last in the session and was nearly two seconds off the pace.
2010 MotoGP Indianapolis Qualifying Results:
Jorge Lorenzo will start Sunday's contest from the front row after claiming the second-fastest lap in qualifying.
1. Ben Spies (Yamaha) 1'40.105
2. Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha) 1'40.325
3. Nicky Hayden (Ducati) 1'40.336
4. Andrea Dovizioso (Honda) 1'40.559
5. Dani Pedrosa (Honda) 1'40.637
6. Casey Stoner (Ducati) 1'40.664
7. Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) 1'41.005
8. Marco Simoncelli (Honda) 1'41.092
9. Colin Edwards (Yamaha) 1'41.232
10. Loris Capirossi (Suzuki) 1'41.512
11. Alvaro Bautista (Suzuki) 1'41.534
12. Marco Melandri (Honda) 1'41.623
13. Hiroshi Aoyama (Honda) 1'41.631
14. Aleix Espargaro (Ducati) 1'41.649
15. Mika Kallio (Ducati) 1'41.856
16. Hector Barbera (Ducati) 1'41.896
17. Randy de Puniet (Honda) 1'41.923
Moto 2
It was a day of firsts on Saturday as Mapfre Aspar’s Julian Simon took his first pole position in the Moto 2 class late in the qualifying session ahead of Hector Faubel and Scott Redding. Simon posted a best time of 1'46.139 on his final lap and was 0.148 seconds ahead of Faubel.
Redding appeared to be on track to secure pole, but Faubel overtook him by 0.047 seconds in the final minutes of the session. JIR Moto 2’s Simon Corsi took fourth on the grid and will start Sunday’s contest from the final spot on the front row. By just seven-thousandths of a second MZ Racing Team’s Anthony West secured fifth on the timesheets ahead of championship leader Toni Elias, who suffered a late fall in the session that resulted in no injuries. Thai Honda’s Ratthapark Wilairot was 0.086 seconds behind Elias in seventh, with Sergio Gadea, Stefan Bradl and Raffaele de Rosa rounding out the top-10 times in qualifying.
Other riders who suffered falls during the qualifying session were Fimmco Speed Up’s Andrea Iannone and G22 Holiday Gym’s Fonsi Nieto – who both had to be taken to the track’s medical center for attention.
Moto2 Indianapolis Qualifying Results:
Andrea Iannone had a bad fall in Saturday's qualifying session and had to be taken to the track's medical center.
1. Julian Simon (Suter) 1'46.139
2. Hector Faubel (Suter) 1'46.287
3. Scott Redding (Suter) 1'46.334
4. Simone Corsi (Motobi) 1'46.358
5. Anthony West (MZ-RE Honda) 1'46.365
6. Toni Elias (Moriwaki) 1'46.368
7. Ratthapark Wilairot (Bimota) 1'46.454
8. Sergio Gadea (Pons Kalex) 1'46.561
9. Stefan Bradl (Suter) 1'46.709
10. Raffaele de Rosa (Tech 3) 1'46.739
11. Michael Ranseder (Suter) 1'46.821
12. Fonsi Nieto (Moriwaki) 1'46.900
13. Yuki Takahashi (Tech 3) 1'46.935
14. Claudio Corti (Suter) 1'46.942
15. Lukas Pesek (Moriwaki) 1'46.959
