REPSOL HONDA RIDERS SECOND AND FOURTH ON GRID
Dutch TT, Assen
Qualifying, Friday June 27 2008
Repsol Honda RC212V rider Dani Pedrosa was in dazzling form
at Assen this afternoon, ending up just 0.032 seconds off
pole position. Team-mate Nicky Hayden also enjoyed a strong
qualifying session, the American fourth quickest, just 0.455
seconds off pole.
Pedrosa and Hayden were also impressive in this morning’s
practice session, run on a damp and drying track, ending the
outing in first and third positions. This afternoon’s
conditions were dry but blustery, Pedrosa’s final lap
taking him to a tantalisingly close to pole-sitter Casey Stoner.
Hayden, using the pneumatic-valve RCV engine for the second
race, might have done even better if he had had time to use
his final qualifying tyre. He also lost some time on his fastest
lap when John Hopkins crashed just in front of him as they
attacked the high-speed Ramshoek left-hander in the closing
stages of the hour-long outing.
Tomorrow’s 60th Assen World Championship TT is the
ninth race of the 2008 season and the halfway point in the
18-race campaign.
Dani Pedrosa, 2nd fastest, 1m 35.552s
“I’m very happy with this afternoon’s result,
especially because this will be the first time I’ve
started from the front row in MotoGP at Assen. The first part
of the track is very tight, so it is really important to start
from the front row here. Casey will try to escape from the
pack at the start, which means it will be crucial to get a
good start and try to stay in contact. We still have some
improvements to make. This is a very complex track for set-up
and we need to try some small changes to help make me feel
at ease on the bike because the pace is going to be very fast
tomorrow. Once again the weather has played a part, this morning’s
rain meant that we couldn’t do any proper work with
slicks, so we aren’t yet 100 per cent sure about our
race tyre choice. If it rains again tomorrow, the race will
be more complicated.”
Nicky Hayden, 4th fastest, 1m 35.975s
“This morning the bike was working quite good in the
wet and on intermediates. That session sucked for learning
much about the dry but I got some good experience out there
on intermediates front and rear and it felt quite good, I
was able to stay out and get a good feel for it. This afternoon
seemed to go so quick. We tried a couple of little things
on the front, but after the first run we had to go back to
what we had before because the changes helped in some areas
but overall they made it worse. We started putting our qualifiers
and then I had an issue with the clutch which lost us some
time in the tyre changes, so ultimately I didn’t get
to use my last qualifier, so we had one bullet left in the
chamber that we didn’t use. The Michelin qualifiers
were working awesome round here, every one we put in I kept
getting faster, so it would’ve been fun to fire the
last one in there. It’s going to be a hard race tomorrow,
I’m not making no predictions, we’ll see what
we can do, go for the best result we can.”
Kazuhiko Yamano - Team Manager
“Both riders did a very good job today, both of them
in the top four in both sessions, so my thanks to them and
to the team. I think they have both got their machines working
very well round here. The start is extra important at this
track, so it is great news to have both our riders on the
front two rows. Their race pace isn’t so bad, but we
know tomorrow won’t be easy because there are many strong
riders out there. As always, we will challenge for the win.”
QUALIFYING PRACTICE
1. Casey STONER Marlboro Team Ducati 1'35.520
2 Dani PEDROSA Repsol Honda Team 1'35.552
3 Valentino ROSSI Fiat Yamaha Team 1'35.659
4 Nicky HAYDEN Repsol Honda Team 1'35.975
5 Randy DE PUNIET LCR Honda 1'35.985
6 Colin EDWARDS Tech 3 Yamaha 1'36.278
7 Jorge LORENZO Fiat Yamaha Team 1'36.532
8 Chris VERMEULEN Rizla Suzuki 1'36.768
9 Shinya NAKANO San Carlo Honda Gresini 1'36.804
10 Sylvain GUINTOLI Alice Team Ducati 1'36.823
11 Andrea DOVIZIOSO JiR Team Scot Honda 1'36.899
12 Alex DE ANGELIS San Carlo Honda Gresini 1'36.948
13 James TOSELAND Tech 3 Yamaha 1'36.978
14 Toni ELIAS Alice Team Ducati 1'37.287
15 John HOPKINS Racing Team Kawasaki 1'37.643
16 Anthony WEST Racing Team Kawasaki 1'37.793
17 Marco MELANDRI Marlboro Team Ducati 1'38.726
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