Pedrosa blitzes rivals to take Indy pole

Repsol Honda rider Dani Pedrosa today obliterated his MotoGP opposition to take pole position for tomorrow’s Indianapolis Grand Prix. The Spanish ace was easily fastest in both practice and qualifying sessions and looked completely untouchable aboard his factory Honda RC212V at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. His best lap of 1m 39.730s this afternoon was more than a second inside last year’s qualifying lap record and 0.506s clear of his nearest rival - Jorge Lorenzo who will start from second on the grid. 

As well as ultimate speed, Pedrosa displayed consistency too - and it was the same story in the morning session. His quickest eight laps this morning were faster than any other rider in the MotoGP field could manage and his best lap this morning was a full 1.015s faster than his closest rival - Jorge Lorenzo once again. This is Pedrosa’s second pole position of the season after he started from front on the grid at the French Grand Prix at Le Mans in May. 

Pedrosa’s Repsol Honda team-mate Andrea Dovizioso will start tomorrow’s 28-lap race from eighth on the grid and will be looking for a good start to take him from the third row and into contention with the leaders. The Italian set his fastest lap of 1m 41.309s on the last of his 27 laps this afternoon after a slow-speed fall early in the session. Dovizioso and his crew will use tomorrow morning’s 20-minute warm-up session to make further improvements to his machine set-up - particularly the feeling from the front end - and the former 125cc World Champion is confident of making up places when the lights go out to start the Indianapolis Grand Prix at 15.00 (GMT -4hrs).

DANI PEDROSA – Pole – 1m 39.730

“I’m really happy with this pole position because we have been fast all weekend so far - in the we as well as the dry - so this is very positive. The lap times are quick and also consistent which should give us a good chance in the race tomorrow. I’ve been comfortable on the machine from the start and things have just clicked here - it’s not as if we’ve made any big changes for this race. We can’t relax at all though because I’m sure the other riders will improve and we know how strong our rivals have been this season. So we must make a few small adjustments to make sure we have the best possible package tomorrow. I’m really looking forward to the race because it looks like the weather should be good - a big contrast to last year - and it will be great to feel the race-day atmosphere at Indianapolis in more normal conditions than last year’s wash-out. Now we’ll just stay focused and concentrate on our preparation for tomorrow.”

ANDREA DOVIZIOSO – 8th – 1m 41.309

“I’d like to be further forward on the grid and I think eighth doesn’t actually reflect our potential here, so we’ll be aiming to improve the set-up for the race. My qualifying session didn’t go exactly to plan because I had a small crash near the beginning of the session in Turn 7. At that point in the middle of the turn there’s a change in the asphalt and you have to be more delicate on the brakes at the point. I didn’t change the lever pressure correctly which was the mistake that caused me to lose the front. In fact my feeling from the front end wasn’t perfect today, so this is what we’ll be working to improve for tomorrow. I think the front of the race is going to be run with laptimes below 1m 41s and I’ll need to get a good start from the third row to give me a chance of competing with the leaders. I’m confident we can take a step forward tomorrow.”

KAZUHIKO YAMANO - REPSOL HONDA TEAM MANAGER

“I have to say well done to Dani because he’s done an excellent job this weekend and taking pole position was the natural conclusion of his progress so far. He’s been top in every session and looks in with a good chance of winning tomorrow. We’ve not made big changes to the machine so this performance was down to him and the team. Andrea’s a little bit further back than he wanted, but with some changes to his machine set-up tonight I think he can move forward tomorrow. Also, we know our rivals are very strong so we won’t be relaxing at all.”

Rizla Suzuki faces a tough test at the Indianapolis GP

Rizla Suzuki racers Loris Capirossi and Chris Vermeulen will start tomorrow's Indianapolis Grand Prix from the fourth and fifth rows of the grid respectively, after a disappointing qualifying session left them both with a lot of work to do in tomorrow's race.

Capirossi (P11, 1'41.742, 26 laps) was satisfied with the new chassis and several other new parts that he used today from the recent test in Brno. He was over half-of-second quicker today than his qualifying performance last year - in similar conditions - and is determined to make up several places in Sunday's 28-lap race to challenge for a much higher position.

Vermeulen (P14, 1'42.038, 29 laps) consistently improved his bike and times through both this morning's free practice session and this afternoon's qualifying,  but just couldn't find the extra speed needed to push him further up the grid.  He knows he has a tough job ahead of him tomorrow, but will be giving it 100% to improve during the race.

Today's qualifying was held in dry conditions - very different to yesterday's torrential rain - with the track heating up to 50ºC, as the air temperatures rose to a comfortable 24ºC. Dani Pedrosa on his factory Honda took pole position for tomorrow's race, which gets underway at 15.00hrs local time (19.00hrs GMT).

Loris Capirossi:

"Overall we have improved throughout the day, but it is not enough of an improvement to stay with the front guys, so will try to use tomorrow's warm-up to set the bike up a bit more. We were able to use a couple of new parts alongside the new chassis and the feeling was good. We are still struggling a bit on the slow corners so we also need to work on that. It has been quite a difficult day today and I hope that tomorrow we will have good weather so we can try to improve in time for the race. I am still quite optimistic though because it is so close and if I improve a small bit I can be up in the top-five."

Chris Vermeulen:

"In this morning's session we worked a lot on the bike's set-up and improved consistently, then in the afternoon I tried the harder compound tyre but I just didn't seem to be able to make it work for me, so I used the softer one and it had good durability so I think that will be the tyre we will use tomorrow. We changed engine and suspension settings and improved the bike throughout qualifying, but I am quite frustrated because a few tenths-of-a-second would have moved me up and I was very consistent in reeling the laps off, but just not consistently fast enough. We will try some small changes for tomorrow and hopefully make things better."

Paul Denning - Team Manager:

"It's good that the weather changed for the better today, but unfortunately that was the only good news for Rizla Suzuki. There are always reasons and justifications for disappointing results and it is true that this is the first event that the new chassis layout has been used other than at the Brno test, so naturally we can expect it to take some time to find the best balance in the bike. However, the fact of the matter is that the end result - on a very difficult track to overtake on - is going to make tomorrow's GP even harder. It is all very well to say that another two or three tenths would have got us into reasonable grid positions, but we didn't get the job done and the result is not what any of us are looking for. We need to step it up tomorrow; it's as simple as that!"

Canepa 13th during Indianapolis qualifying session, Esparagaro 16th.

Qualifying session on dry track after yesterday's rain that has characterized the first free practice session. Pramac Racing riders, Niccolò Canepa and Aleix Espargaro, have worked hard progressively improving during the session valid for the starting grid of the Indianapolis Grand Prix. Niccolò was in eighth position after thirty minutes, but notwithstanding he improved his best lap time he couldn't manage to maintain the position concluding in thirteenth. His teammate has done quite well as first timer in MotoGP qualifying, finishing in sixteenth position. The white and red duo will try to improve tomorrow at the starting of the Indianapolis Grand Prix that will start at 3pm local time.

Niccolò Canepa - Pramac Racing rider - 13th in 1'41.910

"Unluckily I made a mistake as I didn't change the front tyre that already had more than twenty-five laps on it. I wanted to follow someone at the end of the session, but if I had entered the box I would have lost too much time. Anyway we will start from an acceptable position on the starting grid. I want to do really well here: this is a track that I like and I know I can have fun on it. This will be a really important race for me."

Aleix Espargaro - Pramac Racing rider - 16th in 1'42.577

"Today the weather helped us to ride for many laps. My feeling with the bike has improved even if I am not too happy: I hoped to do better in the classification. We have found a problem with the rear brake that has limited our performances. I wanted to ride with faster riders in the last couple of laps but I couldn't make it. I feel good on the bike and I believe we can have a good race tomorrow. We will have to make a good start to stay with other riders and fight for good positions."

Qualifying Results