THIRD ROW FOR HOPKINS AT LE MANS
Kawasaki’s John Hopkins will start tomorrow’s
French Grand Prix from the third row of the grid, after qualifying
his Ninja ZX-RR in ninth place during this afternoon’s
hour long timed session.
Hopkins used the first half of the qualifying session to
identify the best front tyre option on his Ninja ZX-RR, before
switching to a rear qualifier with just 23 minutes remaining.
The 24-year-old Anglo-American looked set to steal pole with
the fastest time through the first three sectors on his first
flying lap, but had to settle for provisional sixth place
on the grid, after being baulked by Honda’s Alex de
Angelis and then suffering a big rear slide through the final
sector.
The Kawasaki pilot had two more runs on qualifying tyres
and, despite having to run a front tyre that didn’t
work as effectively in combination with the super-sticky Bridgestone
rear, marginally improved on his lap time with his final flying
lap.
Hopkins goes into tomorrow’s 28-lap race confident
that his Ninja ZX-RR is more than a match for his factory
rivals in race trim.
Anthony West was, once again, left looking for answers after
being plagued by the rear traction problems that have so far
hampered his first full season as a factory MotoGP rider.
As a result, he was only able to make a small improvement
to his fastest lap time after switching to qualifying tyres.
The Le Mans circuit is not an easy one at which to overtake,
which means the Kawasaki pilot faces a tough task tomorrow
starting from 18th position, and the back row of the grid.
But West is nothing if not a battler, and the 26-year-old
Australian heads into tomorrow’s 28-lap contest determined
to fight his way through to a points scoring finish.
John Hopkins
#21 - 9th - 1'33.628
"This morning we made considerable progress on a race
tyre, and we improved our lap time by three tenths of a second
on each run. We didn't know what the weather was going to
do this afternoon, so we finalised our dry race tyre in the
first session. In qualifying we worked on finding a better
front-end feeling on the Ninja ZX-RR to give me more confidence
going into the corners. The first run we had on a qualifying
tyre wasn't so great as I had a bit of a slide, but we found
a combination that worked reasonably well and I was able to
push quite hard to gain a third row grid position on our final
run. Tomorrow we have to get away from the line quickly; the
bike is ready to race and I'm looking forward to it whatever
the weather."
Anthony West
#13 - 18th - 1'35.349
"I'm incredibly frustrated that we were unable to continue
making progress today. We went out on a race tyre in practice
and I felt comfortable with the direction we were going. However,
we just couldn't make a significant improvement on a qualifying
tyre, which has put us on the back of the grid. For me this
is not good enough, especially as John seems to be able to
make the bike work for him. I have to look at maybe changing
my riding style to improve our times, try to find the root
cause of our problems, and turn my season around. We will
not make any changes to the bike overnight, and tomorrow I'll
be going out to race as hard as possible."
Michael Bartholemy
Kawasaki Competition Manager
"John did a good job today. We are losing ground, and
time, out of the turns at the moment, and we are working hard
to improve in this area, but John seems to be able to adapt
his riding style to compensate. Anthony, on the other hand,
is finding it more difficult to adapt. We have made many changes
to the bike to try and improve Anthony’s feeling with
the rear, but with limited success. Now he must look to himself
for at least part of the solution; he needs to adapt his style
further to get the best from our Ninja ZX-RR, so that he’s
able to run closer to his teammate during both qualifying
and the race. Anthony still has my full support, as I’m
confident that it is only a matter of a short time before
he’s back where he belongs; well inside the top ten.”
1. Dani Pedrosa (SPA) Repsol Honda Team 1'32.647; 2. Colin
Edwards (USA) Tech 3 Yamaha +0.127; 3. Casey Stoner (AUS)
Ducati Marlboro Team +0.347; 4. Valentino Rossi (ITA) Fiat
Yamaha +0.510; 5. Jorge Lorenzo (SPA) Fiat Yamaha +0.622;
6. Nicky Hayden (USA) Repsol Honda Team +0.639; 7. James Toseland
(GBR) Tech 3 Yamaha +0.749; 8. Chris Vermeulen (AUS) Rizla
Suzuki MotoGP +0.793; 9. John Hopkins (USA) Kawasaki Racing
Team +0.981; 10. Andrea Dovizioso (ITA) JIR Team Scott +2.702;
18. Anthony West (AUS) Kawasaki Racing Team +2.702
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