This afternoon’s qualifying session at Laguna Seca saw Valentino Rossi put his Fiat Yamaha M1 on the front row of the grid for the sixth time this season, qualifying second for tomorrow’s US Grand Prix. Yamaha and Rossi announced last night that he has signed a new deal to continue racing with the factory in MotoGP for two more years, and the Italian is keen to celebrate by taking his first win at this track tomorrow.
Heavy fog this morning cast doubt over whether the day’s proceedings would begin on time and this morning’s practice session was run in very low temperatures, with Rossi finishing second. Luckily however the Californian sun showed its face this afternoon and the qualifying session was a much warmer affair, with Rossi consistently fast throughout, having found an improved suspension set-up this morning. With six minutes rem aining a fast lap with a Bridgestone qualifying tyre put him second, although he temporarily surrendered the spot a few minutes later. Rossi’s final flying lap was even faster however and, although he was unable to catch Stoner, it was good enough for second on the grid.
It was a successful day all round for the Fiat Yamaha Team as Jorge Lorenzo was able to qualify fourth on what is his first ride at the track, whilst Tech 3 riders James Toseland and Colin Edwards were 5th and 7th respectively. Rossi will start in between Stoner and Hayden, two former winners here, when the lights go out at 1400 West Coast time for tomorrow’s 32-lap race.
Valentino RossiPosition: 2nd
Time: 1'21.147
Laps: 38
“I’m pleased with this result and I think we’ve done a good job today. This morning, even though it was very cold, we were able to make some good steps forward, especially with the suspension setting, and I was able to be quite fast. This afternoon we were able to do a long simulation and this was very important to help us understand how the tyres will be tomorrow. It seems they are quite good, but this is a very hard race for tyres! It’s also a hard race physically and so I know that tomorrow will be a big challenge. Second place is good for us and I think we’ve done a lot better in the practice this weekend than we have in the last couple of races, so I’m happy about this. Casey is very fast and I don’t know exactly how to beat him – maybe I need to start 30 seconds earlier! Whatever hap pens a good start is going to be very important and then I will just try to stay with him and keep pushing.”
Davide Brivio - Team Manager “It’s good to be starting from the first row and we’re happy because this is our first target for the weekend. Our pace is very good, but of course we will be looking for ways to improve this even further for tomorrow. Unfortunately there is someone who is faster than us, but you never know in racing and we will just try to stay with him and have a race.”
Ambient temperature: 23 degrees
Track temperature: 36 degrees
Humidity: 42%
Qualifying Times FRONT ROW 1. Casey Stoner (AUS) Ducati Marlboro 1'20.700
2. Valentino Rossi (ITA) Fiat Yamaha Team 1'21.147 3. Nicky Hayden (USA) Repsol Honda 1'21.430
SECOND ROW 4. Jorge Lorenzo (SPA) Fiat Yamaha Team 1'21.636
5. James Toseland (GBR) Tech 3 Yamaha 1'21.848
6. Randy De Puniet (FRA) LCR Honda MotoGP 1'21.921
THIRD ROW 7. Colin Edwards (USA) Tech 3 Yamaha 1'21.947
8. Chris Vermeulen (AUS) Rizla Suzuki 1'21.971
9. Andrea Dovizioso (ITA) JiR Team Scot MotoGP 1'21.974
FOURTH ROW 10. Toni Elias (SPA) Alice Team 1'21.999
11. Loris Capirossi (ITA) Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 1'22.039
12. Shinya Nakano (JPN) San Carlo Honda Gresini 1'22.092
FIFTH ROW 13. Ben Spies (USA) Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 1'22.127
14. Sylvain Guintoli (FRA) Alice Team 1'22.719
15. Marco Melandri (ITA) Ducati Marlboro 1'22.957
SIXTH ROW 16. Alex De Angelis (RSM) San Carlo Honda Gresini 1'23.035
17. Jamie Hacking (USA) Kawasaki Racing Team 1'23.309
18. Anthony West (AUS) Kawasaki Racing 1'24.525
Laguna Seca Record Lap: C. Stoner (Ducati) 2007, 1'22.542
Best Lap: C. Stoner (Ducati) 2007, 1'21.975
