MotoGP World Championship. Catalan GP. Second practice session
 THE
REPSOL HONDA TEAM WILL START ON THE FRONT ROW OF TOMORROW'S
GRID
Second best lap time for Dani Pedrosa and third for Nicky
Hayden. Marc Márquez will start on the fourth row after
today's fourteenth fastest time in the 125cc category
Everything is prepared for the second Spanish event in the
MotoGP World Championship. Dani Pedrosa, second, and Nicky
Hayden, third, will take off tomorrow from the front row along
with Casey Stoner, today's poleman. In spite of some light
rain which threatened the last part of the free training sessions,
the sun and high temperatures were the protagonists of the
definitive timed session.
In the quarter-litre category, Julián Simón
finally finished tenth, and Marc Márquez will start
tomorrow from the fourth row in the 125cc category, after
finishing just over a second behind the fastest time run by
Spaniard Pol Espargaró.
The top category's timed training session was filled with
excitement. Though Dani Pedrosa was first from the start,
swapping the lead with Capirossi, Rossi and Edwards, an electrical
fault in his Honda RC212V 2008 with forty minutes remaining
forced him to leave his bike on a bend and return to the paddock.
This cost him valuable minutes, important minutes for the
choice of tyres for tomorrow's race, a situation which made
him get quite nervous. Pedrosa returned to the track with
his spare bike and it was not long before he picked up a competitive
pace again and calmed down enough to face the key part of
the training session, where all riders used softer tyres in
their pursuit of faster lap times.
With 26 minutes remaining, Hayden mounted his first qualifying
tyre, climbing to third position and confirming that he is
one of the strongest men on the Catalunya Circuit. Pedrosa
followed suit soon after, and snatched his third position.
After a second attempt, which placed him in fourth position,
Pedrosa decided to make a few changes to the setup of his
bike; a few adjustments which later proved to be efficient
when in his third attempt with qualifying tyres he climbed
to first position. With nine minutes left, it was Hayden who
with his third set of soft tyres took first position. Finally,
Pedrosa went out onto the track determined to claim the pole
position which would give him a start in the lead of tomorrow's
race at home, and managed a lap time of 1’41.186 secs.
However, after Casey Stoner completed his last lap pushing
it to the limit, he dropped to second position, in front of
Nicky Hayden.
The training session was more complicated for Julián
Simón in the 250cc category, where he ran a lap time
of 1'47.121 secs and will start in tenth position tomorrow,
from the third row. The Repsol rider gradually improved his
times as the session progressed, though he still suffers from
low top speed on the straight. This difference was the cause
of some mistakes which prevented him from achieving a faster
lap time. The Repsol rider still had problems when leaving
the bends, but is optimistic about tomorrow. The team has
been working on the setup of the rear end, while the front
is performing well. Hiroshi Aoyama, rider who receives technical
support from Repsol, will start in eighth position, while
teammate and World Championship leader Mika Kallio will do
so one place behind, in ninth position.
A great performance by Marc Márquez in the quarter-litre
category, running the fourteenth fastest time, just over a
second behind the pole position. The Repsol rider made good
use of the chassis which teammate Rabat had already tried
out, and after a few initial adjustments at the end of this
morning's free training session, he was able to gradually
improve his lap times, reducing yesterday's register by two
seconds. Teammate Esteve Rabat is conscious since this morning
and is recovering well at the Catalunya General Hospital,
where he will be kept under observation for a minimum period
of 48 hours.
Quotes
MotoGP
Dani Pedrosa >> 1’41.186 secs, 45 laps, 213 Km.
“That was quite a difficult session for me because I
had an electrical problem with one of my bikes, so I had to
leave it at the side of the track and I took a while to get
back to the pits. That cost me crucial time, so I was a bit
nervous when I got back on track, it took me a while to find
my rhythm again and ride some fast laps.
Luckily I was fast again and we were able to get very close
to scoring pole position. Starting from the front row is an
excellent result from a complicated session and I’m
very happy because it’s important to start from the
front row at my home race. We are happy enough with our race
set-up, but we have to wait and see what the weather will
do. I am really looking forward to racing in front of the
Spanish fans.”
Nicky Hayden >> 1’41.437 secs, 50 laps,
236 Km.
“It’s nice to be up there and so close to pole
position, I’m pretty happy. I really enjoyed those laps
today with the qualifiers. It’s fun when it goes like
that and being competitive is nice. Things went relatively
smooth this weekend, the bottom line is that we need to turn
it into a result tomorrow.
We’ll see about tyre choice, that’s going to be
the biggest mission tonight – trying to make the perfect
choice. Then we’ve got to get a good start, stick our
nose in there and see what happens. It’s nice to be
on the front row, hopefully this can be something to get things
headed back in the right direction. Thanks to my team and
everyone in my corner for their support, I know I got a lot
of people riding with me.”
250cc
Julián Simón >> 1’47.121 secs, 41
laps, 194 Km.
“We started in quite a poor position, but we're very
motivated, because this Grand Prix is at home and I've improved
quite a lot since yesterday. Tomorrow I'll have to make an
enormous effort, mainly during the first partial, so that
the riders I have in front don't get away.
I think it can be a good race. I'm optimistic about it and
I'm going to give it my best, because I think I'm doing much
better than in Mugello. I think we can be in the second pack,
though we'll try to be in the first one with Bautista, Debón,
Simoncelli and Barberá. If we manage to take another
small step with the bike tomorrow we can hope for a good position.”
125cc
Marc Márquez >> 1’51.650 secs, 36 laps,
170 Km.
“Yesterday “Tito” [Esteve Rabat] hurt himself,
and I'd like to give him my regards from here. It has meant
that they've mounted the new chassis on my bike in order to
test it, and the bike was performing quite a lot better. In
the afternoon we finished work on a few adjustments, and I
think we found the right setup during the training session.
I turned around and saw there was a fast pack approaching,
and decided to wait for it, and was quite comfortable riding
behind them. We'll see tomorrow. I'll try to get off to a
good start to get as far ahead as possible. During the training
sessions I theoretically finished within the points range,
but the race is tomorrow and we'll try to do our best.”
Official Results
MotoGP
1. Casey STONER (DUCATI) 1:41.186
2. Dani PEDROSA (REPSOL HONDA) at 0.083
3. Nicky HAYDEN (REPSOL HONDA) at 0.251
4. Randy DE PUNIET (HONDA) at 0.385
5. Colin EDWARDS (YAMAHA) at 0.423
250cc
1. Álvaro BAUTISTA (APRILIA) 1:45.636
2. Alex DEBÓN (APRILIA) at 0.131
3. Héctor BARBERÁ (APRILIA) at 0.426
4. Marco SIMONCELLI (GILERA) at 0.659
5. Mattia PASINI (APRILIA) at 0.727
10. Julián SIMÓN (REPSOL KTM) at 1.485
125cc
1. Pol ESPARGARÓ (DERBI) 1:50.557
2. Mike DI MEGLIO (DERBI) at 0.139
3. Nicolás TEROL (APRILIA) at 0.183
4. Scott REDDING (APRILIA) at 0.544
5. Simone CORSI (APRILIA) at 0.808
14. Marc MÁRQUEZ (REPSOL KTM) at 1.093
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