MARQUEZ AND HONDA TAKE POLE POSITION AT LE MANS

2013-05-18 15:33
Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda RC213V) stormed to
pole position at Le Mans this afternoon, the
World Championship leader beating off a challenge
from reigning World Champion Jorge Lorenzo
(Yamaha) by three hundredths of a second. Stefan
Bradl (LCR Honda RC213V) and Dani Pedrosa (Repsol
Honda RC213V) will both start tomorrow’s French
Grand Prix from the second row of the grid after
qualifying fifth and sixth fastest.

Remarkable rookie Marquez started practice
yesterday morning having never ridden a lap of
the legendary French track aboard a MotoGP bike,
and yet by the end of the day he was second
fastest, 0.134 seconds behind team-mate Pedrosa.
The reigning Moto2 World Champion commented that
Le Mans is a small and tight track, and that it
feels a lot smaller and tighter on a MotoGP bike
than a Moto2 machine! In the final pre-qualifying
practice session Marquez slid off at Turn Two –
the first left-hander that claimed five riders
today – but that hardly affected his confidence at all.

This is the 20-year-old Spaniard’s second
premier-class pole, following his pole position
at last month’s Grand Prix of the Americas, which
made him the youngest premier-class pole sitter
in GP history. He backed that up with victory the
next day, making him the youngest premier-class race winner.

Bradl’s determined push to fifth, which puts him
in the middle of the second row between Cal
Crutchlow (Yamaha) and Pedrosa, was some reward
for all the hard work he’s put in with his team
to solve a front-end issue that had hampered him
at the last two races. The German ended the day
less than a tenth of a second off his first MotoGP front row.

Pedrosa was confident of fighting for pole
position after ending the first three practice
sessions second fastest, behind Marquez. But a
tumble at Turn Two interrupted his efforts during
the 15-minute QP2 qualifying session. The former
125 and 250 World Champion got back to the pits,
took his second bike and managed to better his
time, but he had to be happy with sixth on the
grid, just five thousandths of a second behind Bradl.

Alvaro Bautista (Team GO&FUN Honda Gresini
RC213V) was another who fell at the first left,
sliding off there during FP3. He recovered to go
seventh fastest in qualifying, which puts him at
the top of the third row of the grid. The first
three rows are tightly packed, with the top nine
riders covered by just 1.035 seconds.

Bryan Staring (GO&FUN Honda Gresini FTR Honda)
will start from 21st on the grid. The Australian
rookie – who has never ridden at Le Mans before –
was happy with his progress and with his race pace.

Takaaki Nakagami (Italtrans Racing Team Kalex)
scored his first Grand Prix pole position this
afternoon, bettering Moto2 rival Scott Redding
(Marc VDS Racing Team Kalex) by 0.350 seconds.
Nakagami was ahead when rain began to fall,
denying his rivals the chance to attack the lap time of the Japanese rider.

The Japanese and the Briton will be joined on
tomorrow’s Moto2 front row by local hero Johann
Zarco (Came Ioda Racing Project Suter) who also
made sure he got in a good lap time before the rain came.

The second row will be led by World Championship
leader Esteve Rabat (Tuenti HP 40 Pons Kalex),
winner of the last race at Jerez in Spain. He
will start the race alongside Xavier Simeon
(Desguaces La Torre Maptaq Kalex) and Nicolas
Terol (Mapfre Aspar Team Moto2 Suter), winner of
the Moto2 race at the Circuit of the Americas.

Jack Miller (Caretta Technology – RTG FTR Honda)
was Honda’s top performer in Moto3, scoring his
third successive second-row start. The
18-year-old Australian was in fine form, ending
the session sixth fastest, less than six tenths
off pole position, which went to Maverick Vinales
(KTM). Miller attributed some of his performance to new bodywork from FTR.

Isaac Vinales (Bimbo Ongetta-Centro Seta FTR
Honda) ended the afternoon on the third row, with
eighth fastest time, despite a minor engine glitch during qualifying.

Alexis Masbou (Ongetta-Rivacold FTR Honda) was
the top French performer in Moto3 qualifying,
taking tenth place on the grid, just over three
tenths of a second down on Miller. The Frenchman
was just ahead of Romano Fenati (San Carlo Team
Italia FTR Honda), Brad Binder (Ambrogio Racing
Suter Honda) and Lorenzo Baldassarri (GO&FUN Gresini FTR Honda)

Rain is forecast for tomorrow at Le Mans, round
four of this year’s 18-race MotoGP World Championship.


Honda MotoGP rider quotes

Marc Marquez, Repsol Honda: pole position, 1m 33.187s
“Qualifying went very well. After FP3, in which
we had a small front-end crash and I lost my
confidence a little, I was back on it
immediately. It was hard to heat up the tyres,
but that was the same for everyone. I think
that's the reason why there were so many crashes.
I am very happy, because I think that we had a
good session and have a good peace. Tomorrow we
will try to give 100 per cent and see if we are
fortunate enough to have a dry race. If it is a
wet one, then we just have to do as well as we can.”

Stefan Bradl, LCR Honda: 5th, 1m 33.634s
“Finally we’ve done a good job in qualifying, as
the gap from the third to the sixth in the
classification is very narrow. It's nice to be
back after the difficult weekend in Jerez and I
knew I was fast enough to get fifth place, which
is our usual position. I want to thank the team
for their efforts because they’ve done a good job
adjusting the front end, working on suspension,
electronics and mapping. Now I can ride the bike
with confidence no matter what the weather will
be tomorrow and I am confident we can race at the front.”

Dani Pedrosa, Repsol Honda: 6th, 1m 33.639s
“The afternoon practice sessions were difficult.
I crashed in qualifying, so I had to go back to
the garage and only had a little time left on the
clock when I got back out on track. I was not
able to make the best use of the session, but at
least I was able to clock a fairly decent time
and place sixth. It is a pity, because we could
have been much higher up the grid. For tomorrow
we will have to try to get a good start, get back
up through the field and have a good race.”

Alvaro Bautista, Team GO&FUN Honda Gresini: 7th, 1m 33.984s
“Today was a difficult day, especially this
morning because we tried some things with the
set-up to resolve the issues we had yesterday but
they didn't work. We made some progress with the
electronics and then went back a step with the
set-up but at the end of the morning session I
had a crash on cold tyres that was quite heavy.
Thankfully I wasn't really hurt apart from a blow
to my chest, which was painful this afternoon. I
couldn't ride at 100 per cent for qualifying but
I felt more confident with the front so I am
looking forward to riding it tomorrow. We have
another thing to try in the warm-up with the
electronics and then we will see what the weather does for the race.”

Bryan Staring, GO&FUN Honda Gresini FTR Honda: 21st, 1m 36.714s
“I am halfway happy because I feel I could have
done better but we have still closed the gap to
the guys in front of us. Our race pace is
important and it makes me confident for the race.
Obviously our biggest problem is that the tracks
are always new to me and it has taken me some
time to learn the right line around here. Taking
everything into account I think we can have a good race tomorrow.”


Moto2 rider quotes

Takaaki Nakagami, Italtrans Racing Team: pole position, 1m 38.508s
“Qualifying was quite difficult because of the
weather – as soon as the session started there
were already a few drops of rain falling. I tried
100 per cent from the start and tried to make no
mistakes and ride some good laps. I’m really
happy to get my first pole. Big thanks to my team
and to my mechanics who help me a lot. I was
quite strong in winter testing and I have a good
feeling with my Kalex. If it rains tomorrow it
will be a very hard race. I will try 100 per
cent, try to make no mistakes and to be on the podium.”

Scott Redding, Marc VDS Racing Team: 2nd, 1m 38.858s
“I was up for taking another pole position today,
as I definitely had the pace here, despite the
small crash this morning. Unfortunately the
timing was wrong, in a session that was more of a
sprint than qualifying is normally. I put in a
fast lap right at the start but, unfortunately,
Taka got a lap behind me, which was all he needed
to take pole. I thought I could come back, but
then the rain arrived and that was it. Anyway,
I’m happy enough with the front row, especially
as I’m ahead of Espargaro and Rabat on the grid.
We also got some time on the bike in the wet this
afternoon, which could be important given that
there’s a good chance of rain tomorrow.”

Johann Zarco, Came Ioda Racing Project: 3rd, 1m 39.187s
“I'm happy with my first front row of the season
and I’ve done it in France which makes it taste
even better. The changing weather made qualifying
difficult, with a few drops of rain falling at
the start of the session, so everyone was
immediately pushing to get a good time. I have a
good feeling with my Suter, so I was able to go
quite fast. After it started raining more heavily
I went out again to test the feeling of the bike
in the wet, knowing that Le Mans doesn’t have
much grip. Tomorrow I’ll try to fight for a podium and make France proud.”


Honda Moto3 Rider quotes

Jack Miller, Caretta Technology – RTG: 6th, 1m 44.278s
“That was good, I’m pretty happy – another solid
second row. There are a couple of big straights
here, so we’ve done well to be where we are and I
know there are a couple of points I can improve
for the race. We’ve got a new fairing here which
is working really well. It’s smaller for better
aero and it’s better in windy conditions too. The
team is working phenomenally hard, I can’t thank them enough.”

Isaac Vinales, Bimbo Ongetta-Centro Seta: 8th, 1m 44.548s
“The bike is good, through the engine wasn’t
pushing as hard in qualifying as it was in this
morning’s session. We’ve made a few small
adjustments to the chassis set-up, which have
helped, so I’m quite confident for the race because my rhythm is pretty good.”

Alexis Masbou, Ongetta-Rivacold: 10th, 1m 44.600s
“We have been improving the bike and today we
tried two different settings, one that was good
for corner entry and the other that was good for
corner exit. Now we have to decide which one to
prove or maybe try something in between. This is
the first time we have been within a second of
pole, so I am quite happy. All the Honda teams
are working very hard and we are starting to close the gap.”

Source: Honda Pro Image

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