Submitted by Jacob Leech on
Full report and results below:
Jorge Lorenzo has put on a masterful display of controlled and aggressive wet weather riding in very tricky conditions at the Motegi circuit to take pole for the fifteenth running of the Japanese Grand Prix. Qualifying saw track conditions improving right the way through as no further rain fell and a drying line formed in the closing stages of the seventy five minute session. Lorenzo finished over half a second quicker than his championship combatant and points leader Marc Marquez in second. Marquez looked fairly erratic throughout and had several excursions off track, but in typical fashion managed to put a lap together when he needed it.
Nicky Hayden put on a fantastic show and reveled on the damp track to take the final place on the front row of the grid aboard his Ducati. The Kentucky Kid would be highly satisfied with the result after a very difficult season to date. His former team mate Dani Pedrosa heads up row two alongside Valentino Rossi and fellow Italian Andrea Dovizioso, who also gave the Ducati factory something to smile about.
Alvaro Bautista managed to take seventh place despite a crash under heavy braking at the 'V' curve. He was disappointingly just four hundredths of a second off the provisional pole time through the second sector of the lap that he took the tumble on. Stefan Bradl put up a brave fight riding with screws and bolts in his fractured left ankle to finish in eight place ahead of Aleix Espargaro who completed the third row and typically finished as the top CRT competitor. Columbian rider Yonny Hernandez was another Ducati rider to enjoy the slippery conditions, rounding out the top ten aboard his Pramac satellite machine.
Results:
| Pos. | Num. | Rider | Bike | Time | Diff | Diff Prev |
| 1 | 99 | Jorge LORENZO | Yamaha | 1'53.471 | ||
| 2 | 93 | Marc MARQUEZ | Honda | 1'54.129 | 0.658 | 0.658 |
| 3 | 69 | Nicky HAYDEN | Ducati | 1'54.539 | 1.068 | 0.410 |
| 4 | 26 | Dani PEDROSA | Honda | 1'54.542 | 1.071 | 0.003 |
| 5 | 46 | Valentino ROSSI | Yamaha | 1'54.732 | 1.261 | 0.190 |
| 6 | 4 | Andrea DOVIZIOSO | Ducati | 1'55.036 | 1.565 | 0.304 |
| 7 | 19 | Alvaro BAUTISTA | Honda | 1'55.135 | 1.664 | 0.099 |
| 8 | 6 | Stefan BRADL | Honda | 1'55.610 | 2.139 | 0.475 |
| 9 | 41 | Aleix ESPARGARO | ART | 1'55.719 | 2.248 | 0.109 |
| 10 | 68 | Yonny HERNANDEZ | Ducati | 1'55.998 | 2.527 | 0.279 |
| 11 | 35 | Cal CRUTCHLOW | Yamaha | 1'56.058 | 2.587 | 0.060 |
| 12 | 21 | Katsuyuki NAKASUGA | Yamaha | 1'56.125 | 2.654 | 0.067 |
| 13 | 38 | Bradley SMITH | Yamaha | 1'57.114 | 3.643 | 0.989 |
| 14 | 5 | Colin EDWARDS | FTR Kawasaki | 1'57.297 | 3.826 | 0.183 |
| 15 | 29 | Andrea IANNONE | Ducati | 1'57.347 | 3.876 | 0.050 |
| 16 | 9 | Danilo PETRUCCI | Ioda-Suter | 1'57.540 | 4.069 | 0.193 |
| 17 | 14 | Randy DE PUNIET | ART | 1'57.715 | 4.244 | 0.175 |
| 18 | 7 | Hiroshi AOYAMA | FTR | 1'57.994 | 4.523 | 0.279 |
| 19 | 70 | Michael LAVERTY | ART | 1'58.540 | 5.069 | 0.546 |
| 20 | 23 | Luca SCASSA | ART | 1'58.802 | 5.331 | 0.262 |
| 21 | 71 | Claudio CORTI | FTR Kawasaki | 1'59.617 | 6.146 | 0.815 |
| 22 | 8 | Hector BARBERA | FTR | 1'59.646 | 6.175 | 0.029 |
| 23 | 50 | Damian CUDLIN | PBM | 2'00.982 | 7.511 | 1.336 |
| NQ | 67 | Bryan STARING | FTR Honda | 2'02.712 | 9.241 | 1.730 |
| NQ | 52 | Lukas PESEK | Ioda-Suter | 2'02.932 | 9.461 | 0.220 |
Comments
NQ'd will they get to race?
I wonder if race indirection will let Pesek and Staring race? Cudlin only just made the cut-off too. Given the circumstances of the practice (or lack thereof), and Lorenzo's dominance, will they let it slide? Scassa seems to be doing better than the rider he is replacing, though so does Hernandez! (Anything official about Spies for next year?)
Hayden's performance must have some at Ducati wondering if they got rid of the right rider (though one suspects those outside Ducati know the answer to that)... Especially with his replacement doing so poorly on a vastly superior bike. Crutchlow seems to be a bit hit and miss, it'll be interesting to watch next year, just how well he can tame the beast.
Lorenzo is in top form at a "Honda track" yet again, seems the Honda's do well at "Yamaha tracks" and Yamaha does well at the "Honda tracks", though this particular track; it's hard to argue is anything other than a Honda track...
50 minute FP on Sunday
With dry weather predicted for Sunday, my guess is they will make the 107% cut-off time in the 50 minute free practice scheduled in place of the 20 minute warm up.
Spies Retired
Spies retired from racing. It's on facebook.
:(
Not from racing itself
Not even from racing bikes. Just from racing bikes with engines. He still has his bicycle racing team.
Saved by the weather
Rain on Sunday could have really given Jorge a shot at the title. As it is beating the two factory Hondas in the dry will be next to impossible. And low grip but dry conditions will play even further into Hondas hands. Lorenzo's best hope is to race MM super hard and hope runs off somewhere. With the way Marc tends to ride on a guys back wheel Jorge might be well advised to just brake a touch earlier into one of the slow corners, force Marc to run wide to avoid him. Bit dirty but if Marc wants to shadow people that close he leaves himself vulnerable to it.
Brake Check
Could make the difference in the World Championship.
(If Jorge can stay in front long enough to perform it.)