MotoGP: Simoncelli edges Spies for pole at Iveco TT of Assen

Marco Simoncelli (San Carlo Honda Gresini Team) displayed his determination for a first premier class podium by sealing his second pole position of the 2011 MotoGP season. The Italian’s hot lap of 1’34.718 left him just 0.009s clear at the top of the timesheet, ahead of Yamaha Factory Racing’s Ben Spies.

Spies stepped up his pace for the weekend, topping the timings at the halfway point of the hour long session and was the first to break into the 1’34s. Stoner clocked a time of 1’35.008 on his Repsol Honda to join the front row for the Iveco TT Assen race.

Casey Stoner-

“Today hasn’t been the best day for us, after this morning’s fall, our confidence was dented a little and we weren’t willing to push too hard. The only dry track time we’ve had is today which has meant we’ve had to do everything in one day.  We’re struggling with the left hand side of the tyre, we just can’t seem to get the temperature in to it, so I’m losing a lot of time on all the left hand corners. Also, we found it difficult to get the bike settled in the rear, so we have some work to do tonight and tomorrow in warm up but we’re confident we can find something and improve. Qualifying went ok, we’re happy with front row and I don’t think we could have matched Marco’s [Simoncelli] time, it was pretty impressive and he’s been consistently fast all weekend here, to be honest I’m a little bit disappointed with our race pace which we need to improve quite a lot so we’ll have to see what we can do for tomorrow”.

Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha Factory Racing) again set the fourth fastest time of the day, with a 1’35.143, followed by Andrea Dovizioso who was 0.101s behind the Mallorcan. Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team rider Cal Crutchlow, still nursing a broken collarbone from a crash at Silverstone two weeks ago, bravely rode to sixth on the grid, 0.085s behind the Repsol Honda of Dovizioso in fifth.

Valentino Rossi (Ducati Marlboro Team) 11th, 1:36.564

“We’re disappointed with qualifying because we had started quite well yesterday, so clearly, we expected things to go better today. We had a decent session this morning, but we weren’t able to improve, so we’ll start eleventh. The rear of the GP11.1 is better than the previous version, but we weren’t able to find a setup that allowed us to bring the tyres up to temperature, and at the moment, that’s making it difficult to find the feeling I need to ride hard and be strong on corner entry. I don’t think we’ve yet learned how to properly adjust the bike, and that’s something we knew could happen since we have so little time available. Still, this all helps us to gather experience for the future, and we have some ideas for tomorrow’s warm-up session that we hope will help us go faster in the race.”

Cal Cruchlow

“I was on the front row right at the end and it just got taken away, but I’m still really happy because I came here and didn’t think I’d even be riding at this stage of the weekend. I thought I’d only be able to do a few laps because of my collarbone injury and here I am fighting for the front row. I think I went for it on my last soft tyre a little bit too early to be honest but I can’t be disappointed. Sixth seems to be my position on the grid at the moment because that’s the third race in a row I’ve started from that place. My shoulder is really sore now too. The 90-minute session this morning followed by another hour this afternoon means I can really feel the collarbone throbbing. The fast changes of direction are the biggest issue. Flicking the bike through some of those fast kinks is hard enough when you’ve got full strength, so for me having a big operation to plate my collarbone only last week, it is really difficult. To be honest I hope it rains for the race tomorrow, but I’ll try my best for the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team whatever the weather.”

Karel Abraham (Cardion AB Motoracing) had a strong qualifying run, running as high as third in the timings fairly late in the session, to finally put his Ducati in seventh with a time of 1’35.742. Colin Edwards (Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team) followed the Czech by a margin of 0.076s with Nicky Hayden (Ducati Team) and Randy de Puniet (Pramac Racing) completing the ten fastest times.

Valentino Rossi made several visits to the garages, attempted to find a dry set up for the Ducati team GP11.1 though did not make great improvements and will be starting the race from 11th position. Standing in for Dani Pedrosa on the Repsol Honda team, Hiroshi Aoyama will start from 12th position.

A disappointing qualifying was had by both Toni Elías (LCR Honda) and Loris Capirossi (Pramac Racing) who both crashed out of the qualifying session, leaving Capirossi unable to participate in tomorrow’s race.

Assen MotoGP qualifying results:

1) M Simoncelli (It) Gresini Honda 1’34.718

2) B Spies (USA) Yamaha 1’34.727

3) C Stoner (Aus) Repsol Honda 1’35.008

4) J Lorenzo (Sp) Yamaha 1’35.143

5) A Dovizioso (It) Repsol Honda 1’35.244

6) C Crutchlow (GB) Tech 3 Yamaha 1’35.329

7) K Abraham (Cze) Cardion Ducati 1’35.742

8 ) C Edwards (USA) Tech 3 Yamaha 1’35.818

9) N Hayden (USA) Ducati 1’35.866

10) R De Puniet (Fr) Pramac Ducati 1’36.435

11) V Rossi (It) Ducati 1’36.564

12) H Aoyama (Jpn) Repsol Honda 1’36.580

13) H Barbera (Sp) Aspar Ducati 1’36.590

14) A Bautista (Sp) Suzuki 1’36.820

15) L Capirossi (It) Pramac Ducati 1’37.130

16) T Elias (Sp) LCR Honda 1’37.651

17) K Akiyoshi (Jpn) Gresini Honda 1’39.006

Moto2 qualifying result:

1) S Bradl (Ger) Kalex 1’39.305

2) M Marquez (Sp) Suter 1’39.600

3) S Corsi (It) FTR 1’39.700

125cc qualifying result:

1) M Vinales (Spa) Aprilia 1’44.597

2) J Zarco (Fr) Derbi 1’44.785

3) S Cortese (Ger) Aprilia 1’44.787