Result and summary of the qualifying practice for the MotoGP class at Assen:
Jorge Lorenzo will start from pole tomorrow for the 80th running of the Dutch TT at Assen. The Fiat Yamaha completed a clean sweep of practice, taking over pole in the last quarter of practice, and not being seriously challenged after that. Lorenzo's closest rival turned out to be LCR Honda's Randy de Puniet, the Frenchman carrying his form of the past couple of races into Assen, despite a couple of nasty headshakes on the exit of the Haarbocht.
An unhappy Casey Stoner ended the session in 3rd, the Marlboro Ducati rider never really threatening to take pole from Lorenzo. Heading up the second row is the Monster Tech 3 Yamaha rider Ben Spies, the Texan looking much stronger now that he is at a track he knows. Nicky Hayden starts from 5th on the grid, not far off the pace of Spies, while Andrea Dovizioso is the first of the factory Repsol Hondas in 6th.
His teammate Dani Pedrosa starts from 7th, and the 3rd row of the grid. Pedrosa has San Carlo Gresini rookie Marco Simoncelli alongside him, with a struggling Colin Edwards not far behind.
Results:
| Pos | No. | Rider | Bike | Time | Diff | Diff Previous |
| 1 | 99 | Jorge LORENZO | YAMAHA | 1'34.515 | ||
| 2 | 14 | Randy DE PUNIET | HONDA | 1'34.797 | 0.282 | 0.282 |
| 3 | 27 | Casey STONER | DUCATI | 1'34.803 | 0.288 | 0.006 |
| 4 | 11 | Ben SPIES | YAMAHA | 1'34.926 | 0.411 | 0.123 |
| 5 | 69 | Nicky HAYDEN | DUCATI | 1'34.999 | 0.484 | 0.073 |
| 6 | 4 | Andrea DOVIZIOSO | HONDA | 1'35.015 | 0.500 | 0.016 |
| 7 | 26 | Dani PEDROSA | HONDA | 1'35.162 | 0.647 | 0.147 |
| 8 | 58 | Marco SIMONCELLI | HONDA | 1'35.283 | 0.768 | 0.121 |
| 9 | 5 | Colin EDWARDS | YAMAHA | 1'35.393 | 0.878 | 0.110 |
| 10 | 41 | Aleix ESPARGARO | DUCATI | 1'35.593 | 1.078 | 0.200 |
| 11 | 65 | Loris CAPIROSSI | SUZUKI | 1'35.664 | 1.149 | 0.071 |
| 12 | 19 | Alvaro BAUTISTA | SUZUKI | 1'36.344 | 1.829 | 0.680 |
| 13 | 36 | Mika KALLIO | DUCATI | 1'36.502 | 1.987 | 0.158 |
| 14 | 40 | Hector BARBERA | DUCATI | 1'36.569 | 2.054 | 0.067 |
| 15 | 64 | Kousuke AKIYOSHI | HONDA | 1'38.198 | 3.683 | 1.629 |
| 33 | Marco MELANDRI | HONDA |
Comments
Get De Angelis
on Melandri's machine quick smart. Looking forward to hearing why Alex and (to a lesser degree) Nicolo are struggling so much in Moto2. Must be machine? De Angelis is quick.
Spies...
WOW. Surely the FIAT/Rossi machine would have been worth an additional 4 tenths more?
Great work Mr Spies.
How many will finish ?
With fifteen starters by the look of it and Stoner raising the spectre of Ducati technical issues with his bike, (post quali interview), I wonder if tomorrow will herald the beginning of the failure of the 6 engine rule. I certainly hope we have at least 12 finisher's. I'm sounding a bit negative.
Great job again by Lorenzo. By the look of his pace, the best we can hope for in order to see a battle up front would be for him to get swallowed up at the start and charge from behind. Most likely scenario appears to be another great battle for second.
Most of all, I hope they all finish and we have a great race.
Jeremy Burgess
says apparently the Fiat & Tech3 machines are the same. But then he would say that wouldn't he. Ben is not an Alien - yet.
It's 2010
The alien thing has been played out. Turns out three of the four aliens are human, after all. Still waiting confirmation on #4.
Only his hairdresser knows for sure...
Burgress may be right about the hardware on the bikes but only the computer programmers and engineers back in Japan know whats going on with the software.
Could it be within the realm of possiblity that the factory gets an extra 5% acceleration programmed in?
NO motorcycle manufacturer wants to get beat by a satellte team.
I'd bet
That if Spies is not already getting the same equipment as Jorge, he will be soon. With his performances they would be silly not to, they still have the manufacturer championship going on.
Only The First Bike Scores
In the manufacturer standings, only the first bike home scores points. So far, no other Yamahas look like taking points from Lorenzo, so it's not going to be a problem.
Ah, thanks for the
Ah, thanks for the clarification, I thought it worked like F1.
Spies said in a couple
Spies said in a couple interviews that the Tech 3 bike is giving up drive out of the turns. He said his top speed is lower at the other end of the straights as a result. He also said he's not concerned the T3 bikes are down on power because he knows its coming. At the Indy interview, he said if he can have a pace within a couple tenths of the leaders, he would try to win it and leave nothing on the track. If he's closer to a second off the pace, he'll just try and bring it home. He's getting pretty good at telling us the background.
Surprise front row?
DePuniet was on the front row last race as well. Who's surprised?
I think it's more of a
I think it's more of a surprise that it's 2 races in a row... also qualified in front of both factory riders.
Randy de Puniet
Props to Mr. DePuniet. Two races starting from the second spot on the front row. As much as I have missed Mr. Rossi being in the mix, it has been refreshing to see Dovi, Hayden and Randy running up front this year. Not just the "usual suspects".
Qualifing times are close so this could end up being a race where we have a fight for the top step on the podium. I certainly hope so. Jorge Lorenzo is going to try and check out. Maybe someone can race with him up front and allow the rest of the pack to catch up.
Props also to Ben Spies. Nice qualifing effort getting on the second row. Hopefully he will be in a position with 3 or 4 laps to go so he can "pull the pin" Guy on another forum tagged Spies as the Predator. I got a laugh out of it with the "Predator versus the Aliens" bit.
Weather forecast is looking favorable, a high of 69 degree's, sunny with 6mph wind. Shaping up to be a great race. All the riders love racing at Assen so it looks like we should be in for a great Saturday of MotoGP racing.
Wishing Marco Melandri a speedy recovery. Good luck to all the riders.
Lap Times
What is up with the lap-times ? Haslam on his GSXR qualified with a time of 1'35.330 , Capi did a 1'35.664 today ! WTF ..... Rea would be in 5th spot on the grid on his Fireblade (1'34.944)...
What is up with the
What is up with the lap-times ? Haslam on his GSXR qualified with a time of 1'35.330 , Capi did a 1'35.664 today ! WTF ..... Rea would be in 5th spot on the grid on his Fireblade (1'34.944)...
800cc vs 1,000 cc. BRIDGESTONE tyres vs PIRELLI tyres. A lot of variables.
Of course, WBK run stock bikes too :-)
I reckon WSK are more like prototypes as well, nowadays, with all the trick gear they have on them..
Qualifying tires
Pirelli supplies the WSBK riders with special super-soft, super-sticky two-lap qualifying tires. The MotoGP riders are using tires which are capable of race distance, more or less. That's the difference. After qualifying, Stoner was asked the same question, and he immediately said "qualifiers". The old MotoGP qualifiers were always good for at least a second.
Track change ???
Some changes to the track have been made that could account for different lap times from last year.
Hate to get off point but I have been wondering about the rule changes. Some of the manufacturers have said they will stay with the 800cc engines if MotoGP allows 1000cc bikes in 2012.
Are the factory bike required to run the 800cc motors so the "privateer" bikes with 1000cc bikes can be more competitive or can the factory efforts run 1000cc engines also?
800/1000
If a factory is running 800cc motors, its satellite teams will be as well. Further, if a factory is running an 800 it will almost certainly be just as competitive as another factory's 1000 because of the 81mm bore limit.
Extremely detailed discussion of it here: http://www.motomatters.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=705
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