Casey Stoner has been on a hot streak since his return to the MotoGP series,
taking two of the last four poles and two wins (Australia and Malaysia)
and he now has his eyes set on a victory tomorrow in Spain. However,
after besting the Spaniards in qualifying at their home event, the
Valencian Grand Prix, he will have his work cut out for him on the
starting line.
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Casey Stoner, Ducati Marlboro Team. Photo by Ducati Corse.
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"I'm feeling pretty good and the bike feels good, we just need to make
sure tomorrow morning that everything's still going smoothly and we're
happy with the setting," Stoner said. "It's going to be a very hard
race, there are a lot of people going for this win and trying to get the
best result they can. There's hopefully going to be fireworks tomorrow."
The Aussie laid down a flying lap on his Marlboro Ducati at 1:32.256 to
seal his 18th career MotoGP pole and his third of the season. Even with
missing three events due to an anemia condition, Stoner sits third in
the points.
"I'm really happy, we had a bit of a bad run in Sepang, but this weekend
everything's gone really well and we've been quickest in every session,"
said Stoner. "We've made small improvements to the bike each day. The
only problem we've got now is the pretty windy conditions, which is
making it very difficult to ride and understand where the limit is. I
lost the front (of the bike) a few times on the last qualifying tyre,
but there's no way we're going to be pushing that hard in the race."
His bid for this year's second in the overall standings -- Valentino
Rossi already locked up the championship -- will be challenged in
Sunday's race by the two riders alongside him on the front row. Closing
out the 2009 season by riding his Desmosedici GP9 to victory on the
4.051 km (2.517 mi) Circuit de la Comunitat Valenciana Ricardo Tormo
will be icing on the cake, showing that the 2007 series champion is more
than 100 percent back to form.
"It's definitely not gone the way we wanted it to, but I'm very happy
with the way things have gone so far in this last period, and we'll just
have to see what tomorrow brings," said Stoner.
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Dani Pedrosa, Repsol Honda Team. Photo by Red Bull GmbH and GEPA pictures GmbH.
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Dani Pedrosa and Jorge Lorenzo are the two homeland riders who hope to
stop Stoner from scoring his third consecutive win. Pedrosa was second
fastest on his Repsol Honda with a time of 1:32.519, 0.263 seconds off
the pace of Stoner.
"At the end of qualifying we had a good lap time but we'll try to
improve our set-up a little bit. Lorenzo and Stoner are going a little
bit faster than me, but we're going to try and improve the main set-up,
said Pedrosa. "We will push (for the win) because I think the race is
not decided. Sure Stoner is in good shape but we will try to do our best
and hopefully we can have a great race."
Starting on the outside of the front row, Lorenzo laid down his best at
1:32.537, just missing second best by 0.018 seconds on his Fiat Yamaha.
Still he scored his 16th front row position of the year.
"I'm happy to have ended the season on the front row, where I have been
for all but one race! I am feeling very confident about a good race
tomorrow because my bike feels good and I am riding well here," Lorenzo
said.
"My number one aim tomorrow is to make sure I finish the championship in
second and I only need one point to do this, but of course I would also
like to finish the season with a good race so I will try to challenge at
the front as well," he added. "I'm looking forward to riding in front
of all the Spanish fans, it's always an amazing atmosphere here for the
last race!"
Like Lorenzo, Pedrosa too will focus on only one finish tomorrow: First! They
both will have the fans cheering them one, giving them a bit of extra
incentive. "To have them (the local fans) here is very important, and I
will push myself to be my best. But we are racing against other people,
so we will try to go with them," Pedrosa said.
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Jorge Lorenzo, Fiat Yamaha Team. Photo by Yamaha Motor Racing.
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The nine-time MotoGP champion, Rossi slots fourth on the grid with a
1:32.922. The Doctor appeared to be satisfied in giving the top three
riders the needed space to contest the final points for the runner-up
position. The Italian has placed his Fiat Yamaha M1 fourth in both
practices and now in qualifying but do not count Rossi out just yet,
even though he did state yesterday "It's really nice to be riding as the
world champion without having to think about points and now I just want
to finish the year with a good race."
For the Doctor, finishing first is the only way to have a good race.
Having the right setup is a key element as he stated after today's
qualifying. "We haven't found the right setting for the bike yet, we've
tried hard but we don't have enough grip yet to allow us to go fast.
"I have to start on the second row and we have quite a big question mark
for tomorrow's race," Rossi added. "At the end of the session I was able
to do some better laps with the softer tyre but unfortunately with these
conditions we will have to use the harder tyre tomorrow. We will work
tonight and again in the morning warm-up and hopefully we can find a way
to improve so that we can race as we would like to."
Still the Italian was all smiles at the end of the day when he was
handed the keys to his new BMW M. The award is given for the best
qualifier of the season. "I like BMWs a lot because they are good fun
to drive, so that's one good thing from today and I'm happy about the
qualifying award," smiled Rossi.
Two Americans will be next to Rossi at the start line. Colin Edwards
showed the speed of his Yamaha Tech 3 to snag the fifth best time at
1:33.085. Stoner's teammate Nicky Hayden landed sixth on the grid with a
1:33.154 on his Ducati.
Edwards was pleased with his time, especially since his neck injury is again
causing him discomfort. "I seem to be pretty much stuck with that fifth
place! I know I run number five but it doesn't mean I have to qualify in
that place every race. But as I've said before, I've got to be pleased to be
finishing next best behind those four guys, or should I say aliens. They are
riding out of this world and to be right behind them means I'm doing the
best job I can and that's about as good as I can hope for at the moment.
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Colin Edwards, Monster Yamaha Tech 3. Photo by Bridgestone Corporation.
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"I'm sure my neck won't be a problem tomorrow," added Edwards. "I first hurt
it when I crashed in Germany last year and every few months I do something
to aggravate it. This time I was in the shower reaching for the shampoo and
the way I turned my head it just seized up. It won't stop me from trying to
end a brilliant season on a high and giving my guys at Monster Yamaha Tech 3
something to cheer about for all their hard work and effort in 2009."
Hayden reflected back to the opening race this season, "The bike was more
much enjoyable to ride today and after being fifth this morning I was hoping
for the same result this afternoon because that is my worst qualifying
result here at Valencia," he said. "We'll take sixth though -- it's not my best
qualifying position but from where we started the year in Qatar I think I
was last on the grid and in the hospital so to end it with a second-row
start is pleasing. Tomorrow is going to be a tough one as always but we'll
try to get a good start, make sure we don't get squeezed in down in turn one
and have some fun. I'm looking forward to it."
The third row held the surprise of the day. It was not unexpected to see
LCR Honda's Randy de Puniet in the top-10 and with a time of 1:33.391,
the Frenchman will start the final race of the season from seventh.
"Well.. we are not completely happy with our result but I am the second HRC
rider on the grid and this is very positive! This is a track I have gone
well at in the past and since the beginning of the week end I have been
lapping consistently fast," de Puniet said. "On race trim early in the
session I have been pretty fast and once I switched on qualifiers I started
to make my way up the timesheets. Unfortunately I came across a gear box
issue at 15 minutes to go and crashed at turn one. We will investigate later
this afternoon to see what happened. Anyway our race overall package is
quite good and hopefully we will be fighting at the front again".
Toni Elias wants to put on a good show in his home race and today he placed
his Gresini Racing Honda eighth on the grid with a 1:33.475. "That was much
better and I actually think we could have even finished fifth or sixth this
afternoon but it wasn't possible because of the amount of traffic out there
at the end of the session -- it was more like a 125cc race!", said Elias.
"Having said that the position is good enough to allow us to fight for a
good result tomorrow. I just need to get a good start and hope that the
front group can throw me a line and pull me along for a few laps!"
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Ben Spies, Yamaha Factory Racing. Photo by Yamaha Motor Racing.
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It was the wildcard for the Yamaha Factory Team who was the surprise
factor today. After getting use to his new ride for the 2010
MotoGP series, Ben Spies was low on the timesheets yesterday but with
determination and his own ability, the American landed on the third
row with the ninth fastest time of 1:33.539. While over one second off
the pace of Stoner, it is a good showing for the 2009 World Superbike
champion.
"It's better than I expected this early on, with just three hours on the
bike, but the package is great," smiled Spies. "The bike is great, the
tyres are great, it's just me now. I am slowly building up my faith in
everything. It is not going to happen overnight, but I am quite pleased
to be not so far off the other guys on the Yamaha."
The windy conditions continued today but the competitors also saw
a slight dip in the temperatures, a bit cooler than Friday. Both
elements -- wind and cold air -- could factor into tomorrow's outcome. It
would be a surprise to see anyone but the four on the grid to score the
final victory of the season but then again, anything is possible.
