Jorge Lorenzo set himself up in perfect style for his tilt at the title tomorrow by taking a stunning pole position, his sixth of the season, at Sepang this afternoon. His team-mate Valentino Rossi was hopeful of a front row as well but was unable to improve his time in the closing stages and will start from sixth position tomorrow.
With temperatures in the high 30s it was a sweltering session for the riders but Lorenzo was on imperious form throughout, using the new specification M1 engine today for the first time since qualifying in Motegi. The 23-year-old spent several stints at the top and with ten minutes to go it looked like no one was going to catch him, before he was knocked off pole by Nicky Hayden with four minutes remaining. Lorenzo set out to redress the damage but with three quarters of his final flying lap gone he was still down on the American and it looked like it might stay that way. A superb final split from the Spaniard however saw him snatch pole position back and he will start tomorrow’s race, from which he needs just seven points to secure the title, from the perfect position at the front of the grid.
Rossi meanwhile, who was fastest yesterday, was consistently in the top three during the early stages of the session but towards the end he was unable to find the extra few tenths that his rivals had found and slipped back to sixth. He was hopeful of improving with the softer Bridgestone tyre at the end but it did not give him the advantage he was expecting and he lacked enough grip to push as hard as he wanted. He was unable to improve on his final run and will start tomorrow’s race, which gets underway two hours later than usual at 1600 local time, from the outside of the second row.
Jorge Lorenzo – Position: 1stTime: 2’01.537Laps: 25
“I really wanted to fight for the pole position today, because I know the race tomorrow is going to be tough and it will be difficult to battle for the victory. We were strong throughout the session and in the end we did a great lap; I am so happy to be back on pole. Now the moment is arriving, it’s such an important day for my career and I’m excited for tomorrow. We are starting in the best shape and we just have to see what happens. For now we will try to stay calm and focused!”
Valentino Rossi – Position: 6thTime: 2’02.030Laps: 24
“With the hard tyre we’re not so bad, even if we’re lacking some grip and the bike is moving a bit, so it’s not so easy to control. However with the softer tyre we suffered a lot more because the movement became bigger and I couldn’t use the extra grip. This means I am only on the second row. Tomorrow’s race will be very hard, maybe the hardest of the season because the temperature is unbelievable and starting from the second row will make it even harder, but we will do our best and hope to make a good start.”
Wilzo Zeelenberg – Team Manager
“Jorge did well! He was very consistent and it’s great to be back on pole for the first time since Laguna. Since then he hasn’t necessarily been riding as freely as in the early part of the season but today he looked at his very best. The bike is really good and the new engine is working well, so we will use it tomorrow. It’s difficult to judge how the race will be, for sure he is nervous, as anyone would be, but it didn’t seem to affect him today so I am sure he will be okay tomorrow. Let’s see what happens!”
Davide Brivio – Team Manager
“We expected a better result than this today and our potential was greater, so we’re a bit disappointed. We need to improve our tyre grip with the race setting; we tried some different combinations during the session and now we need to make some choices so we will use the warm-up for this. Unfortunately at the end of the session the soft tyre didn’t give us as big an advantage as we were hoping for so we couldn’t do better than the second row, but we will try to improve for the race.”
Spies and Edwards star in Sepang sauna
Ben Spies and Colin Edwards produced a superhuman effort in extreme heat and humidity at the Sepang circuit this afternoon, the American pair qualifying fourth and seventh respectively for the 20th Malaysian MotoGP race.
Spies scorched to his seventh consecutive top six qualifying result, the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team rider finishing just 0.164s away from securing a stunning front row start as he once again qualified top non-factory rider on the grid.
The 26-year-old made big progress in improving the set-up of his YZR-M1 machine in searing heat today, Spies drastically improving front and rear grip that was lacking during yesterday’s openin g practice session.
His pre-race optimism was boosted by a long run he completed in slightly cooler conditions during second practice this morning. Spies completed 19-laps, one short of full race distance, reeling off a series of consistent times as he gathered a wealth of machine and tyre performance information. His intense training regime also paid dividends today, Spies coping effortlessly with the toughest conditions experienced on the calendar.
Spies was the first rider to dip under the 2.02 barrier with 15 minutes remaining, an impressive lap of 2.01.993 on the technically challenging and physically demanding 5.548km track moving him to the top of the rankings.
He was unable to improve his lap time in the closing stages and a small mistake in the hard baking zone for the final corner denied him a front row with Spies on the brink of hauling himself back into th e top three.
Edwards missed the second row of the grid by just 0.067s, the 36-year-old taking big strides in finding more front and rear traction with his YZR-M1. Slippery track conditions that meant grip was at a premium yesterday were vastly improved this afternoon and Edwards needed just six laps to break into the 2.02 bracket. He was able to lap at a consistent pace throughout in race trim and eventually posted a 2.02.097 to finish seventh.
Ben Spies – Position: 4th Time: 2’01.993Laps: 26
“I’m happy to be so close to the front row and it gives me a lot of encouragement for the race. From fourth on the grid it means another good start will put me in contention for a strong race. I did a race simulation this morning so at least I know how the bike is working in race set-up and I’m happy with it. I intentionally did the longer run in lower heat condition s just to see how I felt. It was still pretty brutal but I felt pretty good and it set me up for a good qualifying. This afternoon was the first time I really used the soft tyre. Everything went pretty good and I put together one decent lap time and then I had good lap going when I made a mistake at the final corner. I caught Colin and he was actually trying give me a tow down the back straight to help me out, but I was a little further back than he thought and by the time I got to him we were hitting the brakes and I missed my brake marker and ran wide. That lap would have put me on the front row for sure but I’m confident that if we raced right now I’d be in the top five and that’s what I’m looking for.”
Colin Edwards – Position: 7th Time: 2’02.097Laps: 23
“It was really hot out there this afternoon. Each time I was in the pits I was pouring water all over me and it’s goin g to be a tough race tomorrow in that heat. I would love to say I could have gone faster but I gave it my maximum and there wasn’t a lot left in the tank. But the bike feels really good and my guys at Monster Yamaha Tech 3 did a great job because we found a lot more grip today. The grip was so good in Japan last weekend that you kind of come here and expect a similar feeling, but we had to change everything on the bike to get some grip. We’ve definitely made the bike a lot better and I’m confident for the race. As for Ben, I was coming into the pits and I looked back coming out of turn four and I could see he was behind me. I thought I’d pick my pace up a little bit so I could perhaps tow him down the back straight and he might be able to get on the front row or even pole. But as I got closer to the final corner I guess he just missed his braking marker. Both of us ended up decent on the grid though and I’m looking forward to the race.”
Circuit Length: 5548
Temp: 34
Weather: Dry
Lap Record: 2’02.993 (Nicky Hayden, 01/01/2005)
Fastest Lap Ever: 2’00.518 (Valentino Rossi, 25/10/2009)
Last Years Winner: Casey Stoner
| 2010 MotoGP Malaysia – Sepang 09/10/2010 |
| Qualifying 1 |
| Pos. | Rider | Manu. | Nat. | Total Time |
| 1 | Jorge Lorenzo | Yamaha | ESP | 2’01.537 |
| 2 | Nicky Hayden | Ducati | USA | 2’01.637 |
| 3 | Andrea Dovizioso | Honda | ITA | 2’01.829 |
| 4 | Ben Spies | Yamaha | USA | 2’01.993 |
| 5 | Casey Stoner | Ducati | AUS | 2’02.023 |
| 6 | Valentino Rossi | Yamaha | ITA | 2’02.030 |
| 7 | Colin Edwards | Yamaha | USA | 2’02.097 |
| 8 | Alvaro Bautista | Suzuki | ESP | 2’02.394 |
| 9 | Loris Capirossi | Suzuki | ITA | 2’02.522 |
| 10 | Marco Melandri | Honda | ITA | 2’02.624 |
| 11 | Marco Simoncelli | Honda | ITA | 2’02.690 |
| 12 | Aleix Espargaro | Ducati | ESP | 2’02.723 |
| 13 | Randy De Puniet | Honda | FRA | 2’02.775 |
| 14 | Hiroshi Aoyama | Honda | JPN | 2’02.778 |
| 15 | Hector Barbera | Ducati | ESP | 2’02.928 |
