Repsol Honda riders Dani Pedrosa and Nicky Hayden will start Sunday’s U.S. Grand Prix from second and fourth on the grid after a strong showing in qualifying at Laguna Seca today. Pedrosa was just nudged from pole position in the closing seconds of the afternoon session having taken top spot with his second run on Michelin qualifying tyres. Hayden, cheered on by a sun-baked home crowd, just missed out on a front row start when he was slowed by traffic on his fastest qualifying lap. But the World Champion still equalled his best qualifying position of the season to head the second row and has given himself an excellent chance for Sunday’s 32-lap race.
With grip levels steadily improving from the newly laid surface at the 3.610km (2.243-mile) Laguna Seca circuit, the Repsol Honda pair spent most of Saturday’s two one-hour session working on race set-up and tyre choice for the main event tomorrow. Both riders dipped into the 1m 22s bracket on race tyres for the first time this weekend with Hayden setting a best lap of 1m 22.839s and Pedrosa a fraction behind with a fastest lap of 1m 22.860s on race tyres, well inside the 21-year-old Spaniard’s existing lap record of 1m 23.333s set last year.
Hayden will go for his third consecutive victory at the U.S. Grand Prix tomorrow while Pedrosa, who won last week’s race in Germany, will also be targeting the top step of the podium when the lights go out at 14.00hrs local time.
Dani Pedrosa 2nd 1m 22.501s “Today we improved the set-up a lot which was the most important target of the day. I’m also happy to be starting from the front row of the grid again because that’s always an advantage and gives you a chance of getting in front in the first few laps. The race set-up we’ve found is not bad and we’ve got a good idea on the race tyres too so we’ll just be making a few minor adjustments according to what we’ve learned today. My qualifying laps were OK, but I hit some traffic on the first one which cost me time – the second qualifying lap was a little better. For the race we will have to wait and see what the conditions are because this is really important. Casey is looking very fast again so we’ll just have to aim for a good start and see how the race runs – it should be exciting again.”
Nicky Hayden 4th 1m 22.624s
“In the morning we made quite a lot of progress and put in some decent lap times. Thanks to Pete and the boys because they did an awesome job to improve things this morning. When the conditions change in the afternoon it seems to go away from me though and I’m a little way off with the race set-up. I really wanted to get a little higher in qualifying today and I think we had the bike and the tyres to do it – I just didn’t get the most out of the package. I’m a little worried about the race because I seem to be struggling in the afternoons. It’s good that we pulled something out in qualifying to give ourselves a chance tomorrow and starting from fourth is way better than we have been for the last couple of weeks. I wish I could say I was sitting a little prettier for the race but we’ll definitely do all we can for tomorrow – I’m going to fight like a dog.”
Makoto Tanaka - Team Manager “The track conditions are improving as we thought they would and the grip is improving which is helping us. The performance of the Michelin tyres is coming up in line with this too, which is positive. It’s a shame for us that Casey Stoner put in his lap right at the end because I was hoping for both our riders on the front row. However, Dani is on the front row and Nicky is in a much better position than the previous two races so it’s looking OK for tomorrow. With a good start I’m hopeful that both riders will be able to battle at the front. We’ll work to refine our settings and tyre choice this evening and I think the race will be fascinating.”
2007 Qualifying:1. Casey Stoner - Ducati Marlboro Team 1m 22.292s
2. Dani Pedrosa - Repsol Honda Team 1m 22.501s
3. Chris Vermeulen - Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 1m 22.590s
4. Nicky Hayden - Repsol Honda Team 1m 22.624s
5. Valentino Rossi - Fiat Yamaha Team 1m 22.683s
6.Loris Capirossi - Ducati Team 1m 22.914s
7. John Hopkins - Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 1m 22.933s
8. Colin Edwards - Fiat Yamaha Team 1m 22.943s
9. Shinya Nakano - Konica Minolta Honda 1m 23.006s
10. Marco Melandri - Honda Gresini 1m 23.018s
11. Makoto Tamada - Dunlop Yamaha Tech 1m 23.036s
12. Anthony West - Kawasaki Racing Team 1m 23.091s
13. Randy De Puniet - Kawasaki Racing Team 1m 23.113s
14. Sylvain Guintoli - Dunlop Yamaha Tech 1m 23.207s
15. Carlos Checa - Honda LCR 1m 23.263s
16. Roger Hayden - Kawasaki Racing Team 1m 23.425s
17. Alex Barros - Pramac d'Antin 1m 23.557s
18. Kurtis Roberts - Team Roberts 1m 23.662s
19. Miguel Duhamel - Honda Gresini 1m 23.923s
20 .Chaz Davies - Pramac d'Antin 1m 24.098s
Qualifying Conditions:
Weather: Sunny
Temp: 25ºC
Track: Dry / 43ºC
Humidity: 49%
2006 Race Result:1. Nicky Hayden - Repsol Honda Team 45m 04.867s
2. Dani Pedrosa - Repsol Honda Team + 3.186s
3. Marco Melandri - Fortuna Honda + 10.929s
4. Kenny Roberts - USA Team Roberts + 11.941s
5. Chris Vermeulen - Rizla Suzuki MotoGP + 27.439s
6. John Hopkins - Rizla Suzuki MotoGP + 38.82s
7. Carlos Checa- Tech 3 Yamaha + 44.825s
8. Loris Capirossi - Ducati Marlboro Team + 48.526s
9. Colin Edwards - Camel Yamaha Team + 53.228s
10. Sete Gibernau - Ducati Marlboro Team + 1m 06.279s
11. Makoto Tamada - Konica Minolta Honda + 1m 11.941s
12. Randy De Puniet- Kawasaki Racing Team + 1m 14.407s
13. James Ellison - Tech 3 Yamaha + 1m 19.283s
14. Alex Hofmann - Pramac d'Antín MotoGP + 1m 41.277s
15. Toni Elias - Fortuna Honda + 1 lap
16. Jose L. Cardoso - Pramac d'Antín MotoGP + 1 lap
2006 Qualifying:
1. Chris Vermeulen - Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 1m 23.168s
2. Colin Edwards - Camel Yamaha Team 1m 23.321s
3. Kenny Roberts - Team Roberts 1m 23.420s
4. Dani Pedrosa - Repsol Honda Team 1m 23.490s
5. John Hopkins - Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 1m 23.498s
6. Nicky Hayden - Repsol Honda Team 1m 23.536s
Circuit length: 3.610km (2.243 miles)
Race Lap Record: Dani Pedrosa (Honda) 1m 23.333s – 2006
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