Estoril Qualifying
KAWASAKI PROGRESS IN PORTUGAL
Qualifying practice for the third race of the 2008 MotoGP
World Championship took place this afternoon at Estoril, in
readiness for the Portuguese Grand Prix on Sunday, and both
Kawasaki Racing Team riders slashed their previous fastest
times on race tyres.
Later, on qualifiers, John Hopkins managed 10th spot on tomorrow's
grid, just 0.093 seconds off the man in front of him, current
world champion, Casey Stoner. And the 24-year-old Anglo American
did it in style: the complex layout of Estoril providing him
with ample opportunity to display his ability to pull off
some outrageous lean angles.
Anthony West claimed 15th position, putting in his best time
of the event so far on his third qualifying tyre and the last
lap of the session. Shaking his head as he returned to the
pits, the Australian clearly wasn't happy with his performance
but the improvement in his times, and increasing consistency
on the bike, hint that there may be more to come.
The Ninja ZX-RR pilots have work to do tomorrow. Estoril
is a hard track to ride, and notoriously difficult to pass
at, and furthermore, working in partnership with Bridgestone,
they will be aiming to infiltrate a Michelin-heavy front pack.
John Hopkins
#21- 10th - 1'37.346
"Today we finalised our tyre choice for the race and
found a durable combination, so I'm confident we have a good
set-up. We will run the new specification chassis we tried
for the first time yesterday, as this has given us more traction
on a race tyre. The qualifying tyres lacked a bit of grip,
and I made a few mistakes, which unfortunately put us on the
fourth row. We've given ourselves quite a bit of work to do
with the grid position we have but, if I can get a good start,
we are capable of a good result."
Anthony West
#13 - 15th - 1'38.775
"I'm frustrated that we were unable to make any more
of an impression today and the grid position isn't where I
had hoped we would be. We still have a lot of improvements
to make in order to obtain the lap times we want and we've
been working hard to achieve this. However, tomorrow is race
day and I'm determined to get away from the start to fight
for as many points as possible."
Fiorenzo Fanali
Hopkins Crew Chief
"Today we concentrated mainly on finding a good race
tyre, as in previous races here the grip level has dropped
considerably after only ten laps. We had some grip problems
using the qualifying tyres, particularly in the last section,
so we haven't got the best grid position. However, the most
important thing was to find a good set-up because this track
stresses the right side of the tyre. The new chassis has given
us more traction and if John can get a good start, we should
be able to achieve a strong result."
1. Jorge Lorenzo (SPA) Fiat Yamaha 1'35.715; 2. Dani Pedrosa
(SPA) Repsol Honda Team +0.233; 3. Valentino Rossi (46) Fiat
Yamaha +0.484; 4. Nicky Hayden (USA) Repsol Honda Team +0.551;
5. Colin Edwards (USA) Yamaha Tech 3 +0.574; 6. James Toseland
(GBR) Yamaha Tech 3 +1.075; 7. Andrea Dovizioso (ITA) JIR
Team Scott +1.283; 8. Randy De Puniet (FRA) Honda LCR +1.508;
9. Casey Stoner (AUS) Ducati Marlboro Team +1.538; 10. John
Hopkins (USA) Kawasaki Racing Team +1.631; 15. Anthony West
(AUS) Kawasaki Racing Team +3.060
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