Round 8 - British GP - Qualifying
 SECOND
STRAIGHT POLE FOR STONER, MELANDRI PRAYING FOR A DRY RACE
For the sixth time in eight rounds the MotoGP paddock was
hit by rain today as the clouds burst over Donington Park
for the final free practice and qualifying sessions. Casey
Stoner, the fastest man in the dry yesterday, splashed his
way to pole position for the second time in as many races
whilst his team-mate Marco Melandri will start from the fifth
row after qualifying fifteenth fastest. The Italian is hoping
for dry conditions after finding a more promising set-up yesterday,
whilst the Australian is ready to charge into battle whatever
the weather.
CASEY STONER (Ducati Marlboro Team) Pole Position
- 1'38.232
"We've always had a good setting with this bike for
wet conditions but we managed to find a little bit extra today
and I was able to get into a fast and consistent rhythm with
a good feeling. Obviously I'm happy to have set this pace
in the wet and to be on pole position by such a margin but
the most pleasing aspect for us so far this weekend has been
the bike's performance in the dry yesterday. The work we did
at Barcelona has made it a lot easier to ride, it's a lot
smoother and that gave me confidence to push it in wet conditions,
which is important. You can never trust the weather forecast
here so we'll just sleep on it and see what we get in the
morning. Whatever it is I'm confident."
MARCO MELANDRI (Ducati Marlboro Team) 15th fastest
- 1'41.379
"I couldn't ride the bike during practice this morning
but thanks to a few changes to the setting the situation was
improved for qualifying. At the end of the session I pushed
to improve my position but I was lacking rear grip in the
fast section, where it was spinning up a lot, whilst in the
slow section I was struggling with the front and couldn't
brake as hard as I wanted. Unfortunately the track conditions
are always really tricky in the wet here, probably worse than
any other track we go to because of the virtually non-existent
levels of grip. So, tomorrow I'm hoping for a dry race because
we definitely found a better set-up for those conditions yesterday."
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