| Valentino Rossi |
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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 remaining 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 Rossi – Position: 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 happens 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.”
Lorenzo to launch Laguna bid from second row
Jorge Lorenzo will start his debut US Grand Prix from the second row of the grid, having qualified fourth at Laguna Seca today. The Fiat Yamaha Team rookie was able to make significant strides with his set-up today and is now looking forward to his first American challenge tomorrow. The track was shrouded in heavy fog this morning, which only just cleared in time for the first practice to go ahead. Despite the cool temperatures Lorenzo and his crew improved on his time from yesterday by half a second and the Spaniard went into this afternoon’s qualifying with much more confidence. Bright sunshine made it a cheerier affair and Lorenzo was able to put in some fast laps with his Michelin qualifying tyres, his best and final effort putting him fourth, well inside the pole position record of last year.
Jorge Lorenzo – Position: 4th Time: 1′21.636 Laps: 27
“We had a good qualifying tyre from Michelin and I was very happy with my performance this afternoon. The second row is very good, especially since this is my first time here. We know we have a race tyre that is okay for tomorrow, but it is quite hard and therefore it is quite difficult to get temperature into it; this is the problem for our pace. In fact today we improved a lot but we are still a long way off the best time and therefore I think it’s going to be a very hard race and we will struggle to go fast in the early stages, until we can get enough temperature into the tyre. For me the most difficult part of the track is still the first corner, this is where I lack some feeling, so we will try to improve things a bit more in the warm-up. Besides all this I am still having fun riding here, even though it is clear that this is not the best race for our package! I will do my best tomorrow and hopefully I will be able to enjoy myself again.” Daniele Romagnoli – Team Manager
Toseland claims brilliant fifth, Edwards on third row for home race A best lap 1.21.848 on Michelin’s qualifying rubber secured him the second best grid position of his rookie campaign. He missed a second career front row start by just 0.4s after his best lap had moved him into third spot in the final two minutes. Delighted to put a tough recent spell behind him, the British rider is also confident that he can run a competitive race pace tomorrow and challenge for the top six having evaluated a softer compound rear tyre this afternoon. The softer compound was much more suited to the cooler conditions. Edwards will start just two places further back in seventh. The Texan encountered problems in finding a set-up to absorb some of Laguna Seca’s notoriously bumpy sections. Seventh place ended Edwards’ impressive 2008 qualifying record as he finished outside of the top six for the first time this season. He did gain five valuable places on the grid with his last Michelin qualifying tyre, having been uncharacteristically outside of the top ten for most of the session. |
James Toseland 5th 1.21.848 – 27 laps
“With the way we have worked today with the set-up, I was confident that once we got on the qualifiers with a bit more grip that I could get up there. I had to pin it and to do a 21 around here is not easy but I got the job done. I’m just so pleased for my team because we have been working really well and so hard that I feel we have deserved it after our bad luck over the last two rounds. We have all kept plugging away and nobody has dropped their heads and now we are on the second row, which is great. When I went out on my last tyre I saw 21.9 was third and I came across the line and saw 21.8 on the dash and I was hoping that would be good enough for the first two rows. You can get two laps on a qualifier here but on my second lap I ran wide at the first corner and I knew I couldn’t really get that time back. I was just hoping that was going to keep me on the first two rows and it did. I have got that softer race tyre which I saved for today and kept one back for the race. I can do mid to low 23s on that and that could be a possible top six finish. With some of the issues we have had this weekend I’d be satisfied with that. I just need a decent start to try and get away with the leaders. I’m getting the hang of the starts and I’m not as nervous as before because it is quite a technique to get these bikes off the line. When you’re flat-out at 14,000 revs and you want to dump that clutch as fast as you can, you really need to know what you’re doing.” |
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Colin Edwards |
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“It wasn’t great to be honest given how well I’ve qualified all year, but considering I thought I was going to be on the plane home last night, I can’t complain too much. My neck was really bad yesterday but today it was unbelievable. I had some injections and also a couple of sessions of massage at the Clinica Mobile and I feel great. But it has been a tough weekend so far and I’m expecting a tough race tomorrow. I don’t remember the track being this bumpy but on the qualifiers when you need to go so much faster, I could barely see where I was going. My head was bouncing around all over the place on the bumps. We have been working hard to change the bike to try and find some more grip but everything just feels really rigid. I’m just hanging on in some places and in the last two sections I’m terrible. It is not through a lack of trying because my guys have been working incredibly hard as usual. But we’ve taken weight off the front, put more weight on the front and put weight on the rear, but nothing has really improved the situation. Hopefully I can get a good start to try get away with the leading bunch, because I really want to get a good result for my home fans. I will be giving it everything I’ve got that’s for sure.”
