RAIN COMPLICATES THE GRID CLASSIFICATION OF THE REPSOL HONDA
TEAM RIDERS
Nicky Hayden uses the engine with pneumatic valves and gets
fourth position, while Dani Pedrosa is relegated to ninth
position
Rain had been forecast for the whole day and today the rain
was not late arriving. The riders completed their second day
of training for the British GP in constant rain, for short
periods lighter but at other times much heavier. With a very
slippery asphalt and low temperatures there were many falls
today on the British track. Among the victims, the two young
Repsol KTM 125cc riders, Marc Márquez and Esteve Rabat
ended up sliding across the asphalt, but luckily neither was
injured.
The riders in the top category suffered a disadvantage today
– with respect to those in the lower categories –
as this afternoon they had to gamble everything on getting
a good position on the starting grid. Although the morning
was very positive for the two riders in the Repsol Honda Team,
with Dani Pedrosa setting the second best time in the rain
and Nicky Hayden the third best. In the afternoon the rain
was lighter and that allowed the MotoGP riders to lower the
times they set in the morning by a considerable amount in
the definitive timed session. Although both Hayden as well
as Pedrosa improved on their times from the morning by almost
4 seconds, the American has had to finally make do with the
fourth best time - second row of the starting grid - and the
Spaniard with ninth place - third row. Tomorrow, both riders
in the Repsol Honda Team predict a difficult race, whether
the race is declared wet or not.
In the 250cc category, Julian Simón made sure of a
second row start on the grid yesterday as he set the seventh
best time. With the wet track the Repsol rider concentrated
today on completing the work that will let him feel more comfortable
on his KTM 250 FRR, and therefore find a good pace for the
race. Today in the rain, Julian Simón was one of the
fastest on the track, and ten minutes from the end of the
session, when he was the second fastest he decided to end
his training in case rain began since he knew what his starting
position will be, and he considered the conditions too dangerous
to continue trying to improve his time. In the end, the best
times were those of Mika Kallio and Hiroshi Aoyama, riders
with Repsol technical support – who finished in first
and second position in the rain.
In 125cc, the grid positions were also made with the best
times set yesterday, since in the rain it was impossible to
improve any times. So, Marc Márquez has got his best
ever World Championship qualification, and will start from
the second row tomorrow after having set the eighth fastest
time yesterday. Esteve Rabat, who ended up setting the thirteenth
best time yesterday, will start from the fourth row. On the
track things did not go so well today, since the rain that
fell during the whole day made the track a difficult place
to ride a motorbike at speed. Both had two falls, one in the
free session in the morning and the other in the afternoon.
Rabat fell twice braking at the end of the straight when he
lost grip on the front wheel. His teammate Márquez
fell on curves 8 (in the morning) and 2 (in the afternoon),
when opening the throttle but then the rear wheel of his motorcycle
suddenly skidded. Luckily, neither of the falls had serious
consequences for the Repsol riders and the two are confident
that the weather will get better tomorrow and so they will
be able to put in a good performance.
Quotes
MotoGP
Dani Pedrosa >> 1’40.350 secs, 48 laps, 193 Km.
“The race won’t be easy tomorrow because I’ve
got to start from the third row of the grid. This is a tight,
one-line racetrack where overtaking can be quite difficult.
But the main unknown is the weather.
If it’s dry we already have some fairly clear ideas
about machine set-up and tyre choice from yesterday’s
two dry sessions. Today the bike felt fine in the wet but
some of the riders were going very fast with an impressive
rhythm. So we will wait and see what the morning warm-up session
brings. If I could choose, I would much prefer a dry race.
As far as my physical condition goes, my back and hand are
still hurting from yesterday’s crash, though I do feel
a bit better today.”
Nicky Hayden >> 1’39.270 secs, 48 laps,
193 Km.
“I had hoped to be on the front row. Fourth here isn’t
so bad and we will be okay so long as we can get some stuff
sorted out for the race. If it’s wet tomorrow we’re
lucky it rained because we’re using a completely different
engine and today was the first time I rode it in the rain.
It took some adjusting to, just a few laps to get comfortable
on it.
The engine is a little bit aggressive but I was able to control
it okay. We certainly need more time to understand it some
more but all in all it’s not too bad. We knew this weekend
we were going to be a little bit in the dark because we don’t
know what this bike is going to do on tyres over race distance
and we could’ve done with some more time on fuel consumption.
This morning things felt good in the wet, but when things
dried out this afternoon we were struggling to go fast, that’s
where we’ve got to work with Michelin to improve. The
track’s slippery, but it’s cold too and that can
make as much different as the surface. The race will be fun
nonetheless, see what happens when that light goes out…”
250cc
Julián Simón >> 1’33.063 secs, 35
laps, 141 Km.
“Today, in both the morning as well as in the afternoon
we rode in the wet, so the times from yesterday are those
that count for the starting grid. We concentrated on riding
and making a series of laps to gauge the conditions and to
see how things went. I felt quite comfortable and I saw that
I was getting good sensations from the motorbike.
Moreover this morning I felt comfortable and what is more
I had a lot of fun. Thinking about tomorrow we are going to
see if the weather is fine, and if it does not rain we can
enjoy a good race. If it rains, the big secret is to stay
calm, since this is a circuit where you can slide around a
lot, with little grip in the wet, so we will have to keep
an eye out to see if it is called a wet race. I will start
eager to do well, but knowing that the race is long and that
most important thing is to finish.”
125cc
Esteve Rabat >> 1’38.355 secs, 28 laps, 113 Km.
“Today was a very difficult day, with a lot of rain
and many falls, so we hope that tomorrow things go better.
Things did not go too well for us today, because we had a
lot of problems getting the feel of the motorbike and this
did not give us a lot of confidence.
We will try to set up the motorbike in case in the end the
race is in the rain. Although if it rains again we would have
to finish fixing some things in the warm up. I hope that it
is dry and I get a good start, get a good pace and then catch
the leading group.”
Marc Márquez >> 1’38.044 secs,
20 laps, 80 Km.
“This was a complicated day, since it has been raining
a lot and I was able to confirm that this track is very slippery.
In the morning I still had not got a lot of pace, I made a
pit stop and when I left, the tyres were still a little cold
and I fell.
Luckily the fall was gentle. In the afternoon I was faster
and on each lap I was improving my times, but I made a mistake
on the downhill slope and I lost the back end. Luckily, the
fall was insignificant. Tomorrow I will start in eighth place
and I hope that it is dry and so be able to put in a good
performance.”
Official Results
MotoGP
1. Casey STONER (DUCATI) 1:38.232
2. Valentino ROSSI (YAMAHA) at 0.649
3. Chris VERMEULEN (SUZUKI) at 0.786
4. Nicky HAYDEN (REPSOL HONDA) at 1.038
5. Colin EDWARDS (YAMAHA) at 1.369
9. Dani PEDROSA (REPSOL HONDA) at 2.118
250cc
1. Mika KALLIO (KTM) 1:45.482
2. Hiroshi AOYAMA (KTM) at 0.255
3. Alex BALDOLINI (APRILIA) at 0.375
4. Yuki TAKAHASHI (HONDA) at 0.917
5. Marco SIMONCELLI (GILERA) at 0.961
7. Julián SIMÓN (REPSOL KTM) at 1.142
125cc
1. Raffaele DE ROSA (KTM) 1:52.142
2. Gabor TALMACSI (APRILIA) at 0.299
3. Mike DI MEGLIO (DERBI) at 0.402
4. Joan OLIVÉ (DERBI) at 0.713
5. Sergio GADEA (APRILIA) at 1.344
21. Marc MÁRQUEZ (REPSOL KTM) at 2.837
23. Esteve RABAT (REPSOL KTM) at 3.471
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