Third row of the grid for KONICA MINOLTA Honda at Laguna
Seca
Shinya Nakano took his KONICA MINOLTA Honda to a third row
grid slot during today’s qualifying session for tomorrow’s
US MotoGP race. The 29-year-old Japanese rider pushed hard
on his qualifying tyres and managed to take the best part
of two seconds off his Friday time to get ninth overall, making
him the fastest Honda behind the two factory Repsol machines.
It was yet another close qualifying session with only one
second separating Casey Stoner on pole to Carlos Checa in
15th. Tomorrow Shinya is hoping for a good start so that he
can get a solid top-ten result before the MotoGP championship
indulges in a three-week summer break.
Gianluca Montiron – Team Manager KONICA MINOLTA
Honda
“Shinya put in an impressive last lap but we know that
he is able to ride this circuit as he enjoys the layout a
lot. To be in front of the other satellite Honda riders is
important for us, so today Shinya did a good job. Tomorrow
Shinya needs to confirm his speed in the race. The temperature
is expected to be higher than now and I think this will be
the key point tomorrow. Consistency will be everything tomorrow
in the race, so it’s good to start near the front and
we hope to make as good a start as at the Sachsenring. After
that, we simply need some good luck to get the good result.
We want to be fighting with the top group so we shall see
what our pace is.”
Shinya Nakano – Rider, KONICA MINOLTA Honda
(66 laps – 1’ 23.006”)
“I’m happy with ninth as it wasn’t a bad
laptime overall. This morning we were changing the settings
to find a good solution, but then in the afternoon the conditions
were windy and we also saw more sand on circuit. This made
it difficult to enter the corners as I wanted, so I lost the
front a couple of times but I managed to get a good timed
attack lap in, which is what we wanted! I was lucky with the
traffic as this circuit is pretty narrow, so if you see someone
you have to slow down. I’m hoping for a good start tomorrow
to pass a few riders on the first lap.”
Giulio Bernardelle – Technical Director, KONICA
MINOLTA Honda
“It is good to see that our situation is so much better
today. This morning because of our modifications it was easy
for Shinya to push, so he quickly lost 1.1 seconds on a race
tyre compared to his previous laptime. Today the wind was
critical and this made it not so easy to control the machine,
but it was the same for everyone. Today we finalised the choice
for Shinya with the race tyre and gearbox and suspension settings.
We seemed to find the increased mechanical grip that we were
looking for, which helped us a lot. Shinya did very well in
the timed attack laps with the softer tyres on, so from ninth
we’re hoping for a good start. This is the worst track
possibly for the whole year for overtaking as there’s
really no main-straight so the start is so important. We’re
expecting our race tyre choice to be good for durability during
the race.”
USA GP - Qualifying practice classification
1) Casey Stoner Ducati 1’ 22.292”
2) Dani Pedrosa Honda 1’ 22.501”
3) Chris Vermeulen Suzuki 1’ 23.590”
4) Nicky Hayden Honda 1’ 22.624”
5) Valentino Rossi Yamaha 1’ 22.683”
9) Shinya Nakano Honda 1’ 23.006”
|
