Pole position for Pedrosa in Mugello thriller

2012-07-14 16:30
On a day that provided three scintillating qualifying sessions at the ninth MotoGP™ round at the Gran Premio d’Italia TIM at Mugello under hot and sunny conditions, it was Repsol Honda Team’s Dani Pedrosa who put in a record-breaking lap to take pole position for tomorrow’s premier-class race ahead of Jorge Lorenzo and Héctor Barberá.

A new track record in the low 1.47s held off the charge of Yamaha Factory Racing’s Lorenzo, who had been setting the fastest lap until the final seconds, when a bike problem caused him to pit before completing the lap. He stated afterwards that he lost engine power in the last few turns, yet the team had not discovered the root of the problem. Completing the front row is Pramac Racing Team’s Héctor Barberá, who silenced some of his critics by recording his first-ever front row in the MotoGP class.

Row two is headed by another Desmosedici in the form of Ducati Team’s Nicky Hayden, who continues to have good outright pace on the softer option rear tyre. Lining up next to him is Repsol Honda’s Casey Stoner in fifth, who entered the pits a couple of times in the final part of the session as he struggled with chatter and set-up on his bike. Monster Yamaha Tech 3’s Cal Crutchlow occupies sixth, despite having crashed at turn 12 with 13 minutes left in the session.

His teammate Andrea Dovizioso leads the third row in seventh, and did well to avoid a near crash towards the end, as he was pushing for a faster time. LCR Honda MotoGP’s Stefan Bradl was able to improve on his weekend’s form by finishing in eighth. Lorenzo’s teammate Ben Spies will start from ninth, after suffering a crash in the same place as Crutchlow, after switching to the softer rear tyre.

Ducati’s Valentino Rossi completes the top ten, as he could not get his bike to work on a track he has won at nine times in his career. He sighted that his main problem was lack of front-end feel on corner entry. San Carlo Honda Gresini’s Álvaro Bautista qualified down in 11th after suffering his third crash of the weekend in the morning practice.

CRT top spot went to Power Electronics Aspar’s Aleix Espargaró in 12th, after he had shown the most consistent pace of the new bikes all weekend. NGM Mobile Forward Racing’s Colin Edwards, who had been evaluating a new Suter chassis today, qualified in 19th.


Moto2

Pons 40 HP Tuenti’s Pol Espargaró recovered from a heavy crash in this morning’s Moto2™ practice to claim pole position for tomorrow’s race at the Gran Premio d’Italia TIM at Mugello ahead of Marc Márquez and Andrea Iannone in a tightly fought qualifying session.

Espargaró left it right until the end to post the fastest lap of 1.52’389, which moved Team CatalunyaCaixa Repsol’s Márquez into second, after the championship leader had lead up until the final minute. Despite JiR Moto2’s Johann Zarco setting the third fastest time of the session, he will start from 18th on the grid tomorrow, after being handed a 15 spot grid penalty by Race Direction. Zarco had been at fault for taking out Espargaró in the morning practice as he went into turn one too hot and slid into the Spaniard, which was subsequently ruled as riding in an irresponsible manner. His team did not lodge an appeal.

This moved Speed Master’s Andrea Iannone up into third, putting an Italian on the front row of the grid, much to the delight of the home fans. NGM Mobile Forward Racing’s Alex de Angelis put in yet another strong performance on his FTR machine to line up fourth, alongside Interwetten-Paddock’s Tom Lüthi in fifth. Lüthi had been the pace setter earlier in the day, yet could not repeat his feat in the afternoon. Tech 3 Racing’s Bradley Smith completes row two, despite crashing out on his final hot lap.

Marc VDS Racing Team’s Scott Redding qualified seventh, narrowly ousting Espargaró’s teammate Esteve Rabbat into eighth. Italtrans Racing Team’s Takaaki Nakagami rounds out row three, while Mapfre Aspar Team’s Nico Terol had a good session at the Italian circuit as he finished tenth.

There were numerous crashes throughout the session with Tech 3’s Xavier Siméon, Came IodaRacing Project’s Simone Corsi, Redding’s teammate Mika Kallio and Cresto Guide MZ Racing’s Mike Di Meglio, S/Master Speed Up’s Alessandro Andreozzi, SAG Team’s Marco Colandrea, Thai Honda PTT Gresini Moto2’s Ratthapark Wilairot, and Kiefer Racing’s Max Neukirchner all coming off their bikes. Neukirchner was the only rider to suffer an injury, hurting his right hand. His condition will be assessed before warm-up tomorrow morning.


Moto3

It was Blusens Avintia’s Maverick Viñales who came out best in a hard-fought Moto3™ qualifying session at the Gran Premio d’Italia TIM to take pole position ahead of Sandro Cortese and Alex Rins.

Just as it had looked as if Red Bull KTM Ajo’s championship leader Cortese was going to take pole position, Viñales put in a stunning lap in the final seconds to set a best time of 1.57’980, which sees him start from the front tomorrow. Cortese was over four tenths down, yet still a further four tenths in front of Estrella Galicia 0,0’s Alex Rins, who completes the front row after his best session this weekend so far.

Heading up row two is JHK Laglisse’s Efrén Vázquez, who cleverly used a slip-steam to power into fourth, ousting Cortese’s teammate Danny Kent into fifth. Kent had been the main challenger to Viñales throughout the practice sessions, yet was not quite able to replicate that form in the afternoon. Completing the row in sixth is the highest Italian qualifier in the form of San Carlo Gresini Moto3’s Niccolò Antonelli. Antonelli, who had been one of the fastest riders this morning, will be hoping to get a good start tomorrow in front of his home crow.

AirAsia-SIC-Ajo’s Zulfahmi Khairuddin starts in seventh, ahead of Team Italia FMI’s other local favourite Romano Fenati. Fenati, who had also been fast in the morning session, will no doubt be slightly disappointed with qualifying, yet confident of a good race tomorrow. RW Racing GP’s Luis Salom and Mapfre Aspar Team Moto3’s Héctor Faubel complete the top ten.

Moto FGR’s Jasper Iwema crashed towards the end of the session injuring his right leg, whilst Andalucia JHK Laglisse’s Ivan Moreno suffered a heavy crash at the end of the session going into turn one. He was immediately taken to the Clinica Mobile to undergo checks. Both have been pronounced fit to race tomorrow.

Source: MotoGP

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