Yamaha Factory Racing rider Ben Spies took second place in today’s qualifying session at Mugello for the Grand Prix of Italy tomorrow. The Assen Grand Prix race winner took advantage of limited dry time at the beginning of the session to put in his fastest time on his tenth lap and final full lap of the heat. Spies then sat out the rest of the session, safe in the knowledge his grid position could not be beaten in wet conditions. The Texan had been fourth fastest in the dry morning final free practice as he continued to hunt the perfect set up for the Mugello circuit.
Jorge Lorenzo enjoyed a slightly more frustrating qualifying session. The Mallorcan rider was still hunting his fastest lap when the conditions changed, denying him the opportunity of a front row start and relegating him to fifth for tomorrow’s race. The result was doubly frustrating as the morning’s free practice witnessed a blistering pace from the World Champion, the fastest rider of the session with a 1.48.080.
Ben Spies
Position 2nd – Time 1.48.479 – Laps 11
“Everybody only got about ten laps in this afternoon, we only used on set of tyres so we have plenty for tomorrow. We’re pretty confident we know which rubber we want to use after the qualifying session. I wish we could have had the whole hour in the dry but there you go, it was the same for everyone. We think we can make the bike a bit better for the race so we’ll work on it and I’m looking forward to challenging for the podium.”
Jorge Lorenzo
Position 5th – Time 1.48.756 – Laps 14
“I’ve been riding pretty good this morning. The bike has been working well but at the end in qualifying I couldn’t improve. It is very complicated riding in wet conditions and the pole has been for the rider who took more risks. It’s a shame because I hoped for more! My aim is to try to be in front. For this it’s important to get a good start. All my team is focused to do another good race; they are working so hard for our home Grand Prix. After Silverstone and Assen we wish to come back to the podium!”
Wilco Zeelenberg – Yamaha Factory Racing Team Manager
“Qualifying was a little disappointing with fifth spot on the grid. We used a different tyre package in the afternoon compared to the morning which cost a little time and as soon as we were ready to go with a faster one it started to rain. We know there is a lot more to come; the package is very strong so we have all confidence that we can do a good race tomorrow.”
Massimo Meregalli – Yamaha Factory Racing Team Director
“It seems that the rain doesn’t want to allow us to work properly! We are satisfied we have both riders on first and second row. We improved the set up a lot from yesterday for both even with the limited dry time so far this weekend. I’m personally positive about tomorrow’s race I think both Ben and Jorge will be in front and both have the capability to fight for the podium.”
Second row for Edwards, Crutchlow claims seventh
Colin Edwards will start from a season best grid position in tomorrow’s Gran Premio d’Italia TIM after the American powered his Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team machine to a brilliant sixth place in a rain-disrupted qualifying session.
And British team-mate Cal Crutchlow will head the third row in seventh position after he finished just 0.047s behind Edwards in a session interrupted by the return of light drizzle that virtually wiped out the entire second practice yesterday afternoon at the Mugello circuit.
Light rain that fell during the earlier 125cc session had stopped ahead of MotoGP qualifying and Edwards and Crutchlow were able to take to the track on slick tyres as hot and humid conditions quickly dried the new Mugello tarmac.
But light rain began to dampen the technically challenging 5.245km track shortly after the halfway stage, preventing Edwards and Crutchlow from completing their final preparations ahead of tomorrow’s 23-lap race. Both did return to the track for the final minutes to complete two laps on Bridgestone’s rain tyres to gauge grip levels in case tomorrow’s race is staged on a wet track.
Edwards was fifth fastest this morning, the American shaving almost a second off his best time from yesterday, and he secured sixth with a best lap of 1.48.974.
Crutchlow was 11th quickest in warm and sunny conditions this morning, the British rider able to knock 0.6s off his best time from yesterday as he made big strides in gaining more confidence with the front-end of his YZR-M1 machine.
Despite his lack of track knowledge, Crutchlow was quickly able to lower his times into the 1.49 bracket early in qualifying to claim fifth. He ended with a best lap 1.49.021 to knock a further second off his previous best time and another outstanding display from Crutchlow maintained his impressive record of qualifying in the top ten for every race in his rookie campaign.
Colin Edwards
Position 6th – Time 1.48.749 – Laps 17
“That’s my best qualifying result of the season and I’m really happy with that. The start of the session was really tricky because we all went out on slicks but there were parts of the track that were still damp. Your brain is telling you it is raining but you go out and push on slick tyres and that can be a bit unnerving. I gradually built up my pace and the track dried really quickly. I was on the soft front and soft rear tyre but the front was pushing a bit too much. I came in and changed to the hard front, kept the soft tyre on and I felt much better and did my fastest time with that combination. I went out on the rain tyres right at the end just to check the bike balance with the wet setting. It also gave me a chance to check the grip in the wet and it felt awesome, just like in the dry. Once again I want to thank the people at the Mugello track because the new surface is just unbelievable. A lot of the big bumps that seem to upset my rhythm have gone and it feels much easier for me to lap at the pace I know I’m capable of here. I want to say hats off to my Monster Yamaha Tech 3 crew too because we changed the rear set-up of the bike for the dry and it gave me more confidence. I don’t think it gives me a major advantage but I’m just more feeling of what the bike is doing, so I’m looking forward to a strong race tomorrow.”
Cal Crutchlow
Position 7th – Time 1.49.021 – Laps 16
“We made a big step with the feeling from the front-end this morning and I was a second faster this afternoon. The changes we made gave me more feeling but I still feel very much on the limit with corner entry and mid-corner. I’m scratching my head a little bit searching for a solution but we need to analyse the data tonight and come up with a plan to improve for the race. Colin just took that second row from me before the rain came but it is great for the Team that both of us are up there and I’m in front of some riders who’ve got a lot of experience at Mugello, so that is satisfying. I’m frustrated again though because I’ve lost more valuable track time. This job of learning the track and trying to be competitive is tough enough as it is, but with the sessions being disrupted makes it very difficult. I only went out in the rain to do a practice start and it felt fine. I also checked the grip in t he rain and in places it felt really good and in other parts it felt a little sketchy, so I’m confident I can get a good result in the wet or dry.”
2011 MotoGP Italy
Mugello 02/07/2011
1 Casey Stoner Honda AUS 1’48.034
2 Ben Spies Yamaha USA 1’48.479
3 Marco Simoncelli Honda ITA 1’48.485
4 Andrea Dovizioso Honda ITA 1’48.640
5 Jorge Lorenzo Yamaha ESP 1’48.756
6 Colin Edwards Yamaha USA 1’48.974
7 Cal Crutchlow Yamaha GBR 1’49.021
8 Daniel Pedrosa Honda ESP 1’49.398
9 Nicky Hayden Ducati USA 1’49.509
10 Hector Barbera Ducati ESP 1’49.663
11 Karel Abraham Ducati CZE 1’49.678
12 Valentino Rossi Ducati ITA 1’49.902
13 Hiroshi Aoyama Honda JPN 1’50.156
14 Alvaro Bautista Suzuki ESP 1’50.460
15 Randy De Puniet Ducati FRA 1’50.651
Circuit Length:
5245
Temp:
21
Weather:
Wet
Lap Record:
1’50.117
(Max Biaggi, 1/1/2005)
Fastest Lap Ever:
1’42.837
(Valentino Rossi, 6/4/2006)
Last Years Winner:
Daniel Pedrosa
