Casey Stoner takes pole today at Silverstone, his fourth of the season
Silverstone, Sat 11th Jun 2011: Casey Stoner’s dominant performance yesterday repeated itself in the two training sessions held today, where the Australian was once again able to outperform his rivals. The Repsol rider will start from the first position of the grid for the fourth time in six races, a row ahead of his team mate, Andrea Dovizioso, who will start from fifth position.
Stoner outran the competition to pole position in a spellbinding MotoGP qualifying session, setting a new lap record of 2’02.020, over a second faster than last year’s pole position record set by Jorge Lorenzo at the then brand new track. Simoncelli ran a close second with a qualifying time of 2’02.208, with Lorenzo in third, 0.029s behind the Italian.
Casey Stoner -“Everything has gone really well this weekend, we were lucky it stayed dry for qualifying but it doesn’t look so good for tomorrow. We’ve been competitive in each session and in various weather so I hope we have prepared ourselves for the race tomorrow, whatever the conditions. For the pole position we changed the set up and balance of the bike a little and on my best lap I closed the front a few times and wasn’t so confident with the balance, so I feel lucky to have got the pole but for sure it’s the best way to start the Grand Prix. We’ll see what the weather does tomorrow but I love this track and love this part of the UK and I’m really happy to be here!”.
Simoncelli leapt to the top of the timesheet at the start of the session, followed by Lorenzo at the 30-minute mark with a lap 1.5s faster than his best practice time, then by Stoner, who set a time of 2’02.442, and again by Simoncelli who overtook the lead with a lap of 2’02.389, only to have Stoner set an unstoppable lap that sent him to the front of the field.
The rest of the field set far faster times than those of the previous day, with Ben Spies (Yamaha Factory Racing) heading the second row for the AirAsia British Grand Prix race with a time of 2’02.677, over a second faster than his best practice time, followed by Stoner’s team mate Andrea Dovizioso in fifth with a time of 2’03.212. Karel Abraham (Cardion AB Motoracing), who had a crash in the morning session, finished qualifying in sixth, putting his Ducati in the last spot on the second row, with a time of 2’04.151.
Nicky Hayden will start in seventh position 0.153s behind Abraham, followed by Colin Edwards (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) who continued to improve his times while still recovering from a broken collarbone. Álvaro Bautista (Rizla Suzuki) qualified ninth, 0.012s behind Edwards, and Randy de Puniet (Pramac Racing) completed the top ten times with a 2’04.589.
Valentino Rossi (Ducati Team) finished the qualifying session down in 13th, behind Hiroshi Aoyama (San Carlo Honda Gresini) in 11th and Héctor Barberá (Mapfre Aspar) in 12th. The Italian has struggled all weekend to find a set up for the GP11 while simultaneously learning his way around the track after missing last year’s race due to injury.
Crutchlow to miss home race, pained Edwards seventh
The Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team suffered another cruel injury blow today after it was confirmed Cal Crutchlow will miss his all-important home MotoGP round at Silverstone with a broken left collarbone.
The home crowd favourite was just starting his third lap of this afternoon’s qualifying session when he lost control of his Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team YZR-M1 machine on the entry to the second corner.
He landed heavily on his left shoulder and was immediately assessed by trackside medical staff before he was transferred to the Silverstone Medical Centre. He was diagnosed with a broken left collarbone and concussion. The crash will unfortunately prevent the 25-year-old from starting tomorrow’s 20-lap British Grand Prix and he will now commence a period of rest and recuperation to regain fitness ahead of the next round of the 2011 MotoGP World Championship in Assen, Holland.
Crutchlow’s injury comes just eight days after team-mate Colin Edwards broke his right collarbone in a practice crash for the Catalunya race in Spain. The American was passed fit to ride in Silverstone and he produced a heroic performance this afternoon to secure a brilliant eighth position on the grid.
Colin Edwards – “My shoulder feels pretty much perfect but my ribs are killing me and that’s the biggest issue at the moment. I feel worse physically than I did yesterday but when I crashed at Catalunya I pulled some of the muscle away from my ribs and I’m finding it hard to do anything. If I breathe, cough, sneeze or do anything it hurts. So on the bike I just don’t have the strength I need to flick the bike in the fast changes of direction.
Top 5 Results
1. Casey Stoner (Repsol Honda Team)2:02.020
2. Marco Simoncelli (Honda)2:02.208
3. Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha)2:02.237
4. Ben Spies (Yamaha)2:02.677
5. Andrea Dovizioso (Repsol Honda Team)2:03.212
