Repsol Honda riders Dani Pedrosa and Andrea Dovizioso will start from third and fourth places in tomorrow’s German Grand Prix after a promising display at the Sachsenring today. Pedrosa will start from the first row for the fifth time this season, giving him a valuable clear run into the Sachsenring’s tight first corner. The 24-year-old Spaniard looked in with a good chance of pole position as he went to the top of the timesheets early in the session and stayed there until an incident at turn one halted proceedings for 20 minutes as oil was cleared from the track. In the closing 10 minutes he was edged into third place by today’s pole setter Jorge Lorenzo and Casey Stoner in second, but lap times today were typically tight at the Sachsenring and, with Pedrosa’s time just 0.131s back from pole, he is confident of his chances in the race.
Dovizioso was a further 0.315s behind his team-mate and will head the second row tomorrow after he and his crew made useful progress through today’s two sessions. Fourth place on the grid equals Dovizioso’s best qualifying performance in 2010 and with a few further adjustments to his race set-up the 24-year-old Italian is confident of repeating his front-running pace from the last race in Catalunya. The Repsol Honda Team enjoyed more dry practice time than was predicted today with the morning session starting wet, before the track dried quickly in the warm temperatures. By the afternoon the skies had cleared and qualifying was held in warm dry conditions, which are expected to continue for tomorrow’s 30-lap race - starting at 14.00.
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DANI PEDROSA – 3rd – 1m 21.948s +0.131s
“The main target today was to get onto the first row and we’ve achieved this so I’m happy. It’s important to start from the front row because the first corner is close to the starting grid and also the first few corners are very tight, so it’s better to be up front and try to stay out of trouble. Always at this track the lap times are very close and we often see a really hard fight in the race - and it looks like this could be the case again tomorrow. We were lucky with the weather today and we got more dry practice time than expected. Generally we did a good job in the two practice sessions and our race pace looks pretty reasonable. I didn’t see the crash at turn one but I saw the smoke and I thought maybe there’s some oil on the track. I think I was lucky not to be the first one through after Lorenzo’s problem. We’ll have to be very concentrated during all 30 laps tomorrow because it’s a short lap and there’s no time to relax. We’ll try to find a little something extra with the set-up in warm-up tomorrow but I’m confident we can have a strong race.”
ANDREA DOVIZIOSO – 4th – 1m 22.263s +0.446s
“I’m pretty satisfied to have qualified in fourth and to be only four tenths from pole position. We made constant improvements in both of today’s sessions and we’re in much better shape than we were yesterday. Being fast on this track is really important for me because previously I’ve struggled here a little bit in all the categories, but today we could go quickly and qualified pretty well. Fourth position equals my best qualifying position so far this season and I’m happy about this. We have a good race pace too. We are not as fast as the first three riders but I think we can improve in a few areas, close the gap, and fight for the top step of the podium. One of the areas where we are still losing out is in the middle of the turn with the bike wanting to go straight, so we’ll continue to try to improve this particular part of our set-up. I’m confident for tomorrow’s race.”
TOSHIYUKI YAMAJI - REPSOL HONDA TEAM MANAGER
“This was a solid performance from both riders today and I think we can be reasonably satisfied with how we’re shaping up for tomorrow’s race. Dani is on the front row which was mission number one for him, and his race pace looks good too, so I think he can have another strong race here. Andrea and his crew made good progress today and recovered well after losing some time yesterday. He is close to the front of the grid and a fast start will give him a chance of competing at the front again tomorrow. The lap times are close and our rivals are looking strong, but we can put up a real fight. Randy de Puniet was unlucky to have a high-speed crash today that wasn’t his fault, so Honda hopes he’s able to ride in the race.”
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