After a crash-strewn qualifying practice for the Moto3 class, MotoGP followed suit this afternoon and the session was also interrupted twice by the red flag. Casey Stoner's pole challenge was ended ten minutes into the session by a nasty highside, leaving his team-mate Dani Pedrosa to take pole. Turns 13, 14 and 16 were the worst, with Spies and Hayden also crashing heavily to add to that of Hector Barberá yesterday. With Stoner's participation in the balance tomorrow the overnight favourite will be Pedrosa, the pair having dominated the weekend so far. The Spaniard broke the pole record by almost a second today but he will surely be challenged by series leader Jorge Lorenzo from second on the grid.
It was a good day for the POWER ELECTRONICS Aspar Team and all that remains to be decided for tomorrow is tyre choice. Randy De Puniet and Aleix Espargaró are delighted with their progress so far, the Frenchman today lapping just 1.6 seconds off Pedrosa's pole time to qualify tenth and equal his best grid position of the season from the Spanish Grand Prix. Just three tenths and two grid positions behind him is his team-mate Aleix Espargaró, who hopes to put up a strong challenge in the fight for the top CRT position in tomorrow's race.
Randy De Puniet:
“I am very satisfied with the result from qualifying. Tenth place is a product of our hard work here since yesterday. We found a good electronic setting which has allowed us to control the engine braking perfectly and we were able to use the first two outings this afternoon to try the hard tyres in case we want to use them tomorrow. We're still not sure because there is a big difference between them and the softs but they both offer good performance. I think I could have improved my lap time a little more but I caught one of the protective poles into turn one and it cut through the brake cable so I was lucky not to crash. Tenth place is a good result, it equals my best grid of the year from Jerez. It is hard work at this track but we have worked well and I hope we can back it up tomorrow.”
Aleix Espargaró:
“I'm really happy – even more so than when I have qualified as the top CRT in the past. I really enjoyed myself on the bike and I needed it after such a strange weekend at Laguna Seca. We have done a great job and the bike is working perfectly. I know we need to put a better lap together if we want to be close to Randy but I am not concerned about that right now. The important thing is that the bike set-up is great and we have found something that works at a difficult circuit. I'm looking forward to the race and the objective is to be fighting with my team-mate to be the top CRT.”
Power Electronics Aspar Press Release
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