Pedrosa 2nd and Stoner 5th in thrilling pole at Grand Prix of Spain

2012-04-28 08:48
Qualifying at the Jerez circuit was the first dry session of the weekend and the Repsol Honda riders wasted no time on setting up their RC213V machines. Fastest times were exchanged throughout the beginning of the session but after 30 minutes the threat of rain appeared again. Only a few drops fell and both Dani and Casey were able to continue their preparation and push for the fastest time.

In the final five minutes it became a two-man battle with Yamaha's Jorge Lorenzo taking pole and Dani following close behind just 0.135 off Lorenzo's time. Casey missed the front row by just 0.014 of a second and will start from fifth position.

In the past six years, Dani has always started from 1st or 2nd on the grid (1st - 2007 and 2010, 2nd - 2008, 2009, 2011 and 2012).

The 27 lap race will take place tomorrow at 2pm CET.

DANI PEDROSA 2nd 1'39.667

"It's been a really good qualifying session. It was very difficult to know how much to push because there were some wet spots and it was easy to make mistakes. Also after so many laps with wet tyres in the free practices, when you put on the slicks it's like another bike but you have no time to waste to find a good lap time. So I'm quite impressed with the chrono and very happy to be on the front row. We've been riding well here in Jerez at the test and also during all the practice sessions this weekend, both in the dry and wet, but tomorrow we have to be ready for a tough race in any conditions and I want to have a good race here in front of my fans".
CASEY STONER 5th 1'40.577

"Qualifying didn't go so well, conditions have been terrible all weekend, from half dry tracks to fully wet so we haven't really been able to get any form of set up on the bike. It's a little bit disappointing, we had hoped to be on the front row but with conditions like this I wasn't really willing to push. There were a lot of people falling off and the wet patches that were there were incredibly slippery. With this said, there is still half a second that I am accountable for and can't blame the track, we're just a little bit off with our settings so we have some work to do tonight. We're not really sure what to expect until we see the weather tomorrow and this makes things pretty difficult".

Qualifying Results
1 Jorge Lorenzo 1'39.532 SPA YAMAHA Yamaha Factory Racing Team
2 Dani Pedrosa 1'39.667 SPA HONDA Repsol Honda Team
3 Nicky Hayden 1'40.563 USA DUCATI Ducati Team
4 Cal Crutchlow 1'40.570 GBR YAMAHA Monster Yamaha Tech 3
5 Casey Stoner 1'40.577 AUS HONDA Repsol Honda Team
6 Ben Spies 1'41.090 USA YAMAHA Yamaha Factory Racing Team
7 Andrea Dovizioso 1'41.180 ITA YAMAHA Monster Yamaha Tech 3
8 Alvaro Bautista 1'41.447 SPA HONDA San Carlo Honda Gresini
9 Stefan Bradl 1'41.550 GER HONDA LCR Honda MotoGP
10 Randy De Puniet 1'41.700 FRA ART Aspar Team MotoGP
11 Karel Abraham 1'41.724 CZE DUCATI Cardion AB Motoracing
12 Hector Barbera 1'41.871 SPA DUCATI Pramac Racing
13 Valentino Rossi 1'42.961 ITA DUCATI Ducati Team
14 Aleix Espargaro 1'43.135 ESP ART Aspar Team MotoGP
15 Michelle Pirro 1'43.363 ITA HONDA San Carlo Honda Gresini
16 Mattia Pasini 1'44.308 ITA ART Speed Master
17 Yonny Hernandez 1'44.467 COL BQR-FTR BQR
18 Danilo Petrucci 1'44.645 ITA IODA Ioda Racing Project
19 Ivan Silva 1'44.717 SPA BQR-FTR BQR
20 James Ellison 1'45.724 GBR ART Paul Bird Racing
21 Colin Edwards 1'46.200 USA SUTER NGM Mobile Forward Racing

Circuit information
First race 1987 (Modified 2002)
GPs held 25
Laps 27
Race distance 119.421km / 74.196miles
Track length 4.423km / 2.748miles
Track width 11m
Longest straight 0.600km / 0.373miles
Corners 13 (8 right, 5 left)
Pole position Left

Ctra. de Arcos, Km. 10 - Aptdo. Correos 1709. Jerez - España

Telephone numbers :
International dialling: +34
F: 956 15 11 05
Centralita / Operador : 956 15 11 00
Alquiler de Pista / Track booking : 956 15 11 07


Circuit records
Pole position 1m38.189s (162.164Km/h) Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha, 2008)
Race lap 1m39.731s (159.657Km/h) Dani Pedrosa (Honda, 2010)
Race time 45m17.538s (158.200Km/h) Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha, 2010)
2011 Winner Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha)

Source: Repsol Honda Team

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