AUSTRALIAN GP
Second qualifying practice / NINTH POLE FOR JORGE
LORENZO TAKES HIM CLOSER TO ANTON MANG’S RECORD
Jorge Lorenzo continued an impeccable weekend at Phillip
Island as he extended his domination of the 250cc Australian
Grand Prix throughout all four practice sessions and clinched
his ninth pole of the season – the eleventh in total
for Fortuna Aprilia this year. It means the Spaniard now lies
just one pole off the current record set by Anton Mang in
1981 on a Kawasaki. Today Lorenzo was the only rider to break
the 1’33 barrier, his lap of 1’32.717 some six
tenths inside his morning effort but still six tenths off
pole record here. The series leader was consistently in the
1’33 mark whilst his rivals remained in 1’34s
and he ended the session with almost a full second gap over
closest rival Alex de Angelis. His main title challenger Andrea
Dovizioso was fourth. Héctor Barberá was unable
to improve on his provisional qualifying time, meanwhile,
and will start from the second row. The Spaniard is hoping
to use tomorrow’s warm-up to solve his set-up problems.
JORGE LORENZO, 1st (1’32.717).
“It’s been a good weekend but to turn that into
excellent we have to finish the job off tomorrow, when the
points are shared out. This is the World Championship and
it is very tight, and it wasn’t easy to get that margin
over the rest. The bike is working perfectly and I want to
say thanks to Aprilia because the engine is excellent and
they are doing a great job to help me win this title. I would
have liked to beat Porto’s record but it wasn’t
possible. In any case I’m happy because I have a good
pace for the race. I think it will be a tough one and we will
have to be intelligent, get a good start and avoid any surprises.
We’re on the right lines and I want to confirm that
in the race,”
HECTOR BARBERA, 7th (1.34.267)
“I’m worried because we haven’t solved
these set-up problems. I can’t get the bike on the line
I want because I’m not confident with the front end
and the rear feels like it’s going to throw me in the
air at any moment. These are not new setbacks because we’ve
had them at other small tracks with elevations changes like
Donington, Sachsenring and now Phillip Island. We’ve
tried almost everything without success. Now we just have
the warm-up to try for a miracle and I’ll sep fighting,
even though we are not where we want to be and other riders
have an advantage at the moment.”
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