vMichelin men packed the front end of the grid at Mugello today, five of Michelin’s seven MotoGP riders within the fastest eight during qualifying. It has been a challenging two days in Italy with rain falling throughout much of yesterday, this afternoon’s qualifying session the only fully dry outing so far, a factor that greatly complicates the art of tyre choice for tomorrow’s race.
Fastest Michelin rider was Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda RC212V-Michelin) who topped free practice t his morning and then backed that up with an impressive second place in qualifying, just 0.167s off pole position. Colin Edwards (Yamaha Tech 3 YZR-M1-Michelin) and Nicky Hayden (Repsol Honda RC212V-Michelin) were also strong in qualifying, Edwards leading the session for 15 minutes and ending up fifth fastest, a mere 0.253 seconds off pole and just ahead of Hayden. Jorge Lorenzo (Fiat Yamaha Team YZR-M1-Michelin) and Mugello first-timer James Toseland (Yamaha Tech 3 YZR-M1-Michelin) head the third row.
“We’re quite happy with this afternoon’s qualifying session because we were able to do some good work in dry conditions,” said Jean-Philippe Weber, Michelin’s director of motorcycle racing. “This morning the track temperature was quite low and the lap times were good, we were doing 49s. This afternoon it was a lot warmer, with a track temperature of more than 35 degrees, so things were more difficult. With so little dry track time this weekend we still have some more work to do in morning warm-up to improve performance in these conditions and to choose race tyres.”
Pedrosa explained how yesterday’s heavy rain and the lack of track time place an extra emphasis on his discussions with his Michelin technicians during which they decide which tyres might best for the race.
“Tyre choice will be crucial because the race is long and there are a lot corners that require an aggressive riding style, so we need to look for a good compromise,” said the Spaniard who is currently equal second in the World Championship. “Conditions weren’t so good this morning, the track was dirty after all the rain, so it wasn’t easy to work on set-up. This afternoon the track was completely dry and better, so we were more focused in our work.”
Qualifying Practice Classification:1. Valentino ROSSI (Fiat Yamaha Team), 1,48.130
2. Dani PEDROSA (Repsol Honda Team-Michelin), + 0,167
3.Loris CAPIROSSI (Rizla Suzuki MotoGP), + 0,183
4. Casey STONER (Ducati Marlboro Team), + 0,245
5.Colin EDWARDS (Tech 3 Yamaha- Michelin), + 0,253
6. Nicky HAYDEN (Repsol Honda Team-Michelin),+ 0,536
7. Jorge LORENZO (Fiat Yamaha Team- Michelin, + 0,775
8. James TOSELAND (Tech 3 Yamaha- Michelin), + 0,895
9. Shinya NAKANO (San Carlo Honda Gresini), + 0,965
10. Alex DE ANGELIS (Honda Gresini), + 1,015
11. Chris VERMEULEN (Rizla Suzuki MotoGP), + 1,090
12.Randy DE PUNIET (LCR Honda MotoGP- Michelin), + 1,116
13. Andrea DOVIZIOSO (JiR Team Scot MotoGP-Michelin), + 1,435
14. John HOPKINS (Kawasaki Racing Team), + 1,471
15. Tadayuki Okada (Repsol Honda Team- Michelin), + 1,699
16. Toni ELIAS (Alice Team DUCATI), +1,721
17. Sylvain GUINTOLI (Alice Team),+ 2,145
18. Marco MELANDRI (Ducati Marlboro Team), + 2,335
19. Anthony WEST (Kawasaki Racing Team),+ 2,759
