Casey Stoner and Nicky Hayden qualified second and eleventh respectively for the Grand Prix of Catalunya on another sizzling day in Barcelona, where track temperatures reached 60ºC. The grueling conditions put the Ducati Marlboro Team riders to the test and they both struggled to find the required grip levels on race tyres as they experimented with a variety of settings in the first part of the session.
In the final few minutes, when they fitted the softer tyres, they both lowered their lap times with Stoner rising to second place and Hayden eleventh but just two tenths off seventh.
CASEY STONER (Ducati Marlboro Team) 2nd (1’42.410)
“This afternoon’s qualifying practice was the only session we have really struggled in this weekend because everything went well in free practice. We struggled to improve the rear grip and so far we haven’t found enough of it. We are fast in the corners and especially on entry but we can’t get the tyre to work properly on exit – we don’t have grip and it is sliding around. We tried something with the set-up on one of the bikes but I didn’t like it so we went back a step. We’ll try a couple of new things in the warm-up but other than that I’m satisfied with what we have for the race.”
NICKY HAYDEN – (Ducati Marlboro Team) 11th (1’43.068)
“We have made a few steps forward this morning in the cooler conditions but in the afternoon we really struggled. We’re having the same problems as yesterday – to get the grip we need we have to load the rear too much and vice versa. We tried some little changes with the spring and a few other things without finding a good balance and at the moment it’s going to be a demanding race. Starting from the fourth row doesn’t help – we have a lot of work to do but hopefully we can find something in the warm-up.”
Circuit Record: Daniel Pedrosa (Honda – 2008), 1’42.358 – 166.251 Km/h
Best Pole: Casey Stoner (Ducati – 2008), 1’41.186 – 168.177 Km/h
