Reigning World Champion Jorge Lorenzo kept the pressure on today in qualifying at Phillip Island, taking second on the grid for tomorrow’s Grand Prix of Australia. The Yamaha Factory rider came out fighting at the beginning of the qualifying session, immediately the fastest man on track, a position he held for well over half the session. The Mallorcan conceded pole to rival Casey Stoner as the session drew to a close but prepares for tomorrow’s race in confident mood with a fast consistent race pace.
Ben Spies crashed out on his third qualifying lap in dramatic fashion, low siding at over 250km/hr and sliding off into the gravel. After a check with the medical centre the Texan was back on his second bike with heavily bruised ribs and body, venturing out on track to score a third row start with seventh on the grid for tomorrow’s race.
Jorge Lorenzo
Position 2nd – Time 1.30.448 – Laps 24
“We did a very good job today. We tried many things and I believe we have the right set up for tomorrow. I have to thank my team who worked hard to make sure I have the best possible bike to fight with. The race will be very tough, it will be very important to be consistent with a good race pace. I will try to win, I know it will be very difficult here with Casey but I will try!”
Ben Spies
Position 7th – Time 1.30.835 – Laps 20
“I got a little bit off line in qualifying this afternoon and hit a big bump, losing the front. It’s unfortunate as we were trying a different bike set up which was looking pretty good. It happened on the third lap, according to the data I came off at 270km/hr so I went through the gravel trap pretty quick! My knees, ribs and elbows are all pretty banged up but that’s normal, that’s how it is. The bike is working well so we need a good start; we’re in a good position on the grid for it so we’ll see what happens.”
Wilco Zeelenberg – Yamaha Factory Racing Team Manager
“A good qualifying for us, Jorge was more than half a second quicker than this morning’s final practice so we are quite pleased. Again another strange session, some parts of the track lost some grip which seemed to affect everybody. We haven’t decided on tyres for tomorrow yet but the bike feels good for him and we are looking forward to the race. It’s going to be difficult to stop Casey but we’ll do our best.”
Massimo Meregalli – Yamaha Factory Racing Team Director
“The race is not going to be easy tomorrow. Jorge is starting from the first row which is important, I’m sure he won’t give up until the end and he will have to put all his efforts in for the whole 27 laps. Despite a bad crash Ben managed to qualify in seventh. This wasn’t so bad considering, as I didn’t expect that result. He’s very sore all over but he still pushed hard and did all he could. Tomorrow will be tough and painful for him but we know him and we know he will give 100%.”
Edwards confident of top 10 at Phillip Island
Colin Edwards is confident he can put his Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team machine in contention for a top 10 result in tomorrow’s Australian MotoGP race after a promising ride to ninth position in this afternoon’s qualifying session.
In cool and windy conditions that made riding the super-fast 4.4km Phillip Island circuit a difficult challenge, Edwards mastered the unpredictable conditions superbly to clock a best time of 1.31.237 that put him on the third row of the grid.
The 37-year-old finished less than 0.7s away from the front row and once again the American was comfortably the fastest of the non-factory riders as he concentrated on finding the best possible set-up with Bridgestone’s s oft compound front and rear tyre options.
Edwards finished seventh in last year’s Phillip Island race and he is confident he can fight to better that result in tomorrow’s 27-lap race, which is round 16 of the 2011 MotoGP World Championship.
British rider Cal Crutchlow had a disappointing qualifying session and the 25-year-old was unable to find a comfortable set-up, despite the hard work of his crew to improve his feeling with the YZR-M1 machine.
The bumpy sections of the spectacular Phillip Island circuit and a lack of front and rear grip have prevented Crutchlow from showing his true potential and he will start the race from 14th on the grid.
He set a best time of 1.32.023 in his 28-lap run to finish just 0.043s behind nine-times world champion Valentino Rossi, and Crutchlow is optimistic that further set-up modifications overnight will strengthen his quest to claim a top 10 finish.
Colin Edwards
Position 9th – Time 1.31.237 – Laps 29
“I’m pretty happy to be have finished on the third row because conditions were pretty tough out there. The track is really bumpy but the issue today was the wind. It was really blowing hard in some places and it is just so unpredictable. One lap you get a big gust hit you from the right, so you prepare for that next time round and you get slammed on the other side. If you could put the bike where you want every lap you could easily go half-a-second faster, but the wind just doesn’t allow you to do that. The bike is working good and the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team is working fantastic as always for me, so I’m ready for a good race tomorrow. We’ve got to run the soft front and rear tyres for the race and my bike works pretty good with those options. I tried the hard tyres ye sterday and couldn’t get them to work at all. I’ll have to take care at the start of the race to make sure we don’t abuse the tyre too much at the beginning but I’m looking forward to having some fun and getting a good result.”
Cal Crutchlow
Position 14th – Time 1.32.023 – Laps 28
“There is not much to say other than I am very disappointed because I expected to be competing for a place inside the top 10 here and it has been a struggle to find a good set-up with the bike. We spent a long time analysing the data last night because yesterday I didn’t have good front or rear grip and turning was also an issue. We made a lot of changes to the bike today and to be honest we didn’t find any improvement and I’ve got the same issues. The track is really bumpy and I can’t get the bike to absorb them smoothly and we just don’t have the grip we need to go faster. We’ve tried a lot of things to make it better but for some reason nothing seems to be working. I went just as fast with a set of tyres that had 30 laps on them as I did with two brand new tyres, so we need to sit down again tonight and work through the data and see if there is something we can improve for the race.”
2011 MotoGP Australia
Phillip Island 15/10/2011
1 Casey Stoner Honda AUS 1’29.975
2 Jorge Lorenzo Yamaha ESP 1’30.448
3 Marco Simoncelli Honda ITA 1’30.599
4 Alvaro Bautista Suzuki ESP 1’30.714
5 Andrea Dovizioso Honda ITA 1’30.780
6 Nicky Hayden Ducati USA 1’30.792
7 Ben Spies Yamaha USA 1’30.835
8 Daniel Pedrosa Honda ESP 1’30.871
9 Colin Edwards Yamaha USA 1’31.237
10 Loris Capirossi Ducati ITA 1’31.583
11 Randy De Puniet Ducati FRA 1’31.635
12 Hiroshi Aoyama Honda JPN 1’31.889
13 Valentino Rossi Ducati ITA 1’31.980
14 Cal Crutchlow Yamaha GBR 1’32.023
15 Karel Abraham Ducati CZE 1’32.054
Circuit Length:
4445
Weather:
Dry
Lap Record:
1’30.059
(Nicky Hayden, 1/1/2008)
Fastest Lap Ever:
1’28.665
(Casey Stoner, 10/5/2008)
Last Years Winner:
Casey Stoner
