MotoGP Round 8 at Sachsenring – Fourth Pole in a Row for Lorenzo
Jorge Lorenzo extended his pole position run to four consecutive races as he put his M1 at the front of the grid once again today at the Sachsenring. His Fiat Yamaha team-mate Valentino Rossi continued to impress on his return from injury by qualifying fifth, just 0.578 seconds separating them.
Having struggled for front grip yesterday championship-leader Lorenzo looked much more comfortable today and finished the morning session in first place. Mid-way through qualifying however he suffered an engine problem on the start / finish straight and was forced to pull over.
The session was then red-flagged when two riders crashed after hitting the oil that had leaked from his bike, although both have luckily been declared fit to ride tomorrow. On the resumption of action Lorenzo put in a string of fast laps in the high 1’21s, eventually taking pole with four minutes to go before improving again to hold off challenges from Casey Stoner and Dani Pedrosa, with whom he will share the front row tomorrow.
Rossi continued to look surprisingly strong throughout today’s action, his recently broken leg causing little detriment to his performance on the bike. The 31-year-old World Champion was third this morning and then spent most of this afternoon’s session tweaking the set-up of his M1 to make sure he was as comfortable as possible around the 3.671km track.
Post red-flag Rossi jumped up the order to fourth, before Andrea Dovizioso edged him down one place into the middle of the second row. Rossi’s physical condition is positive so far, with not too much pain from either his shoulder or his leg and he is hopeful of being able to complete the race distance tomorrow.
Today’s qualifying was held in much cooler conditions than yesterday, as the temperature only reached 24ºC and overcast skies kept the track at 31ºC.
Qualifying Times :
1. Jorge Lorenzo (SPA) Fiat Yamaha Team 1’21.817
2. Casey Stoner (AUS) Ducati Marlboro Team 1’21.841
3. Dani Pedrosa (SPA) Repsol Honda Team 1’21.948
4. Andrea Dovizioso (ITA) Repsol Honda Team 1’22.263
5. Valentino Rossi (ITA) Fiat Yamaha Team 1’22.395
6. Hector Barbera (SPA) Aspar Team 1’22.454
7. Randy de Puniet (FRA) LCR Honda MotoGP 1’22.610
8. Marco Simoncelli (ITA) San Carlo Honda Gresini 1’22.624
9. Aleix Espargaro (SPA) Pramac Green Team 1’22.910
10. Marco Melandri (ITA) San Carlo Honda Gresini 1’22.917
11. Mika Kallio (FIN) Pramac Green Team 1’22.961
12. Colin Edwards (USA) Monster Yamaha Tech 3 1’23.026
13. Ben Spies (USA) Monster Yamaha Tech 3 1’23.028
14. Loris Capirossi (ITA) Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 1’23.040
15. Nicky Hayden (USA) Ducati Marlboro Team 1’23.090
16. Alvaro Bautista (SPA) Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 1’23.193
17. Alex de Angelis (ITA) Interwetten Honda MotoGP 1’23.515
Photo : Fiat Yamaha Team / Rizla Suzuki MotoGP / MotoGP
