Championship contender Jorge Lorenzo topped the timesheets during Friday's first practice session as the FIM MotoGP World Championship hit Sepang.
The Fiat Yamaha rider is 38 points behind team-mate Valentino Rossi in the standings with just two races remaining and threw down the gauntlet to the rest of the field with a best lap of two minutes 2.180 seconds.
Marlboro Ducati rider Casey Stoner continued his fine form since returning from illness with second place, with Repsol Honda rider Dani Pedrosa in third and Rossi in fourth.
A fourth-place finish on Sunday will be enough for Rossi to take his seventh premier-class world championship even if Lorenzo wins, and the Italian was in relaxed mood as he lapped 0.684 seconds slower than his young rival.
Rossi said: "I am quite happy, even if the time and the position isn't perfect.
"We worked mainly with old tyres to understand the nature of the bike when it's sliding, which is important here, but actually my pace was very consistent and I think we can make another step on Saturday.
"We still need to find a little bit more grip so we will look to improve the setting of the bike for this on Saturday morning - it's going to be very important to be on the front row for Sunday.
"I think the race will be very hard and we will have to take care to prepare properly and drink a lot of water because it is very, very hot."
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Saturday, October 24, 2009
With track temperatures hot enough to fry an egg on, Fiat Yamaha's Valentino Rossi blazed to the top of the timesheets and captured the pole position start for Sunday's MotoGP round at Sepang. Teammate and rival, Jorge Lorenzo took second with Repsol Honda's Dani Pedrosa following up in third.
Fiat Yamahas Valentino Rossi captured fourth in the free practice on Friday at Sepang.
Fiat Yamaha's Valentino Rossi appears poised to take the MotoGP championship with one round left.
The Doctor appears driven to clinch the MotoGP title during the Sepang round as he set a new pole-position lap record during qualifying, beating his 2006 time by 0.087. If Rossi can finish here in fourth or higher, he will add yet another championship notch to his belt before heading into the final race at Valencia.
“My target was to try and go under 2’01, because in the winter test here I got to around that pace, but I managed to go even better and beat my own time from 2006 with a 990cc bike and qualifying tires. It was a great lap,” Rossi said.
During the early stages of qualifying, Lorenzo was posting slower speeds, but the Mallorcan pushed harder near the end of the session and earned the second-fastest time behind Rossi with Pedrosa taking the final spot on the front row.
Ducati Marlboro's Casey Stoner will start behind Rossi on Row 2 in fourth and will be joined by veteran racer Loris Capirossi on the Rizla Suzuki GSV-R. San Carlo Gresini Honda's Toni Elias rode well and grabbed the final spot on the second row of the grid after posting the sixth-fastest time.
Ducati Marlboro's second pilot, Nicky Hayden, put up the seventh-quickest time on board the Desmosedici followed by Randy De Puniet on his LCR Honda. The Frenchman is chasing his second-podium finish for 2009 and some much-needed points in the championship before the final round in Valencia as only one point separates the number seven through ten riders in the championship standings.
Monster Yamaha Tech 3 ace Colin Edwards will start on Row 3 in ninth behind Pedrosa and Elias. Heading up Row 4 is Alex De Angelis on his San Carlo Gresini Honda. The man from San Marino will be joined by another Honda rider, Andrea Dovizioso and Pramac Racing's Mika Kallio in 12th.
Scot Racing Honda's substitute rider, Aleix Espargaro, finished in 13th, ahead of MotoGP veterans Chris Vermeulen of Rizla Suzuki and Hayate Racing's Marco Melandri.
MotoGP Sepang Qualifying Results:
1. Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) 2'00.518
2. Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha) +0.569
3. Dani Pedrosa (Honda) +0.736
4. Casey Stoner (Ducati) +0.937
5. Loris Capirossi (Suzuk) +1.198
6. Toni Elias (Honda) +1.400
7. Nicky Hayden (Ducati) +1.462
8. Randy De Puniet (Honda) +1.580
9. Colin Edwards (Yamaha) +1.677
10. Alex De Angelis (Honda) +1.7
SEPANG, Oct 24 (Bernama) -- Fiat Yamaha Team riders, Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo will start the penultimate race of the 2009 MotoGP World Championship from the front row on Sunday.
In Saturday's qualifying round of the Shell Advance Malaysian Grand Prix at the Sepang Circuit here, Rossi clocked the fastest time of two minutes 0.518 seconds to book his berth on the pole for tomorrow's race.
The 30-year-old Italian, who is also known as "The Doctor", broke his own circuit best lap of 2:00.605s recorded in 2006 using the 990cc machine.
His team-mate Lorenzo came in 0.569s adrift to accompany Rossi in the front row.
"I am so happy with the results. My team and I have worked very well and get the good setting for the bike. It was a good tyre choice for the qualifying," said Rossi, who is vying for his seventh world championship title.
Rossi is currently topping the leaderboard with 270 points, a 38-point lead over Lorenzo, who accumulated 232 points after 15 rounds.
"It's very important to be on the front row here, so we have done our job well. I am confident about our setting and our race pace. We have a good strategy for the session and we are in the best position for starting the race tomorrow.
"My target for tomorrow is to get on the podium. What I need now is a good rest and be ready for tomorrow.
We have good advantage and I am really looking foward to the battle," said Rossi.
Lorenzo, who crashed on his MotoGP race debut at the same track last season, is followed onto the front row by Dani Pedrosa of Repsol Honda Team who clocked the third best time in the qualifying with 2:01.254s.
"It has been a good day. The conditions are basically the same as yesterday.
However, we are lacking pace compared to our rivals. Now, all we need is to study the data and work out what we can do during the warm-up tomorrow," said Lorenzo.
Pedrosa was the fastest in practice, but was unable to match the blistering pace set by Rossi.
Ducati Marlboro Team rider, Casey Stoner of Australia, who won the race here in 2007, will head up the second row after lapping at almost a full second slower than Rossi while Loris Capirossi of Rizla Suzuki MotoGP secured fifth spot on the grid on his Suzuki GSV-R.
Toni Elias (San Carlo Honda Gresini), Nicky Hayden (Ducati Marlboro Team), Randy de Puniet (LCR Honda MotoGP), Colin Edwards (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) and Alex de Angelis (San Carlo Honda Gresini) were among the top ten finishers at today's qualifying.
Rossi sets record lap in Fiat Yamaha qualifying one-two
Valentino Rossi smashed the pole record at Sepang this afternoon to take his sixth pole position of the season ahead of tomorrow's Malaysian Grand Prix, the Italian's first championship 'match point.' Jorge Lorenzo recovered from a difficult session to put in some good laps at the end and qualify second, making it the 12th time this year that the Fiat Yamaha Pair have shared the front row.
Temperatures during qualifying reached a sweltering 34 degrees at the tropical track but nothing hampered Rossi today and the 30-year-old was flying throughout, as he continued to work closely with his Yamaha and Bridgestone engineers in order to maximise tyre performance ahead of tomorrow's 21-lap race. The championship leader topped the timesheets early on, making way for Casey Stoner during the middle part of the hour but taking the lead again with 25-minutes to go and never looking in danger of being beaten. He continued to improve his time before a stunning last flying lap saw him beat his own pole position record, which has stood since 2006. Rossi can clinch his ninth World Championship title tomorrow simply by finishing fourth or better, regardless of where his team-mate finishes.
Lorenzo had looked in brilliant form yesterday but the youngster struggled more today, failing to make another step with his setting and losing some ground to his rivals. He could only manage fourth this morning and spent much of this afternoon's session uncharacteristically out of the top four. With the softer Bridgestone tyres at the end he was able to set some decent hot laps and his final effort, 0.569 off Rossi, was good enough for second, but he and his team will be working hard overnight and in tomorrow's warm-up in order to improve their race pace.
"I am so happy about that final lap! I couldn't believe it when I saw it on my dashboard, I thought it was possible to go faster but not by that much! My team and I have worked very well here and we've had a good strategy with Bridgestone, which left us with plenty of time at the end to try for the pole. It's very important to be on the front row here so we have done our job well, plus I am confident about our setting and our race pace. We're in good shape. It's incredibly hot and tomorrow will be hard for everyone, as it always is here, but we have a good advantage and I am really looking forward to the battle. Let's see where we are at this time tomorrow!"
Jorge Lorenzo - Position: 2nd Time: 2'01.087 Laps: 23
"Today hasn't been my best day and I have found things quite hard. The conditions are basically the same as yesterday so I can't blame them, but we just don't have the same levels of grip and confidence that we had before and it's hard to understand why. We didn't make the step we expected and we are lacking pace compared to our rivals. Now we all need to study the data and work out what we can do for the warm-up tomorrow. I am happy that we were able to be back on the front row as this will be important, now we will just try our best to be in better shape for the race."
Davide Brivio - Team Manager
"What a lap! We broke the best lap record with an incredible time from Valentino, who really wanted that pole position today. The team have worked very well during practice so far and the result is that we're starting tomorrow's race in the best place. We're in good shape and we're excited, let's hope tomorrow can be a good day for us!"
Daniele Romagnoli - Team Manager
"At the end Jorge was able to do some very quick laps and make the front row, which is key for tomorrow. Unfortunately we still need to find an improvement to our rear grip levels for the race, because at the moment we are not in perfect shape. The team have worked a lot to try to fix the problem but we still have more to do. Tonight we will have a good look at the data and try to find a way to give ourselves a better chance, then we will use the warm-up to try a few things."
Rossi sets new Malaysian record for pole
Racing series MOTOGP
Date 2009-10-24
Valentino Rossi shattered his own track record at the Sepang International Circuit to take pole for the Malaysian Grand Prix. Hoping to the clinch the MotoGP championship this weekend the Fiat Yamaha
rider let it all hang out in the hot and humid tropical weather. The official record now stands at 2:00.518, improving on the existing record Rossi set in 2006.
In fact, the top five riders in qualifying all set times under the old record. Jorge Lorenzo was half a second slower than his teammate and championship rival, but it was good enough to take second for tomorrow's race. Dani Pedrosa will be outside on the front row, a further two tenths off the Doctor's pace.
All Rossi has to do tomorrow is finish fourth or higher in order to wrap up the 2009 crown. Starting from pole with a pace half a second faster then anyone else means that so long as the bike keeps both wheels on the track the Italian is solid as gold.
"I am so happy about that final lap! I couldn't believe it when I saw it on my dashboard, I thought it was possible to go faster but not by that much!" smiled Rossi.
"It's very important to be on the front row here so we have done our job well, plus I am confident about our setting and our race pace," added the Doctor. "We're in good shape. It's incredibly hot and tomorrow will be hard for everyone, as it always is here, but we have a good advantage and I am really looking forward to the battle. Let's see where we are at this time tomorrow!"
Lorenzo's pace looked strong in yesterday's practice but the Spaniard wasn't able to keep the momentum for most of Saturday. At one point in qualifying it looked like the Yamaha rider might miss the front row. However, using the softer Bridgestone and making a few changes was enough to put him best of the rest, just edging out Pedrosa.
"Today hasn't been my best day and I have found things quite hard," admitted Lorenzo. "The conditions are basically the same as yesterday so I can't blame them, but we just don't have the same levels of grip and confidence that we had before and it's hard to understand why. We didn't make the step we expected and we are lacking pace compared to our rivals. Now we all need to study the data and work out what we can do for the warm-up tomorrow. I am happy that we were able to be back on the front row as this will be important, now we will just try our best to be in better shape for the race."
The fight for third in the championship has heated up this weekend as well. Pedrosa will be pushing hard to score points over Casey Stoner and take the position in the standings back for himself. Starting on the front row with Stoner launching behind puts the Spaniard in a strong position to take this battle to the final in Valencia.
"I'm happy to be on the front row again because, as always, this gives you a clear getaway
when the start lights go out. I think we've got a good machine setting for the race tomorrow and we just need to adjust it a little bit during the warm up," said Pedrosa. "I'm very motivated for this race."
Stoner might have been on the front row, even pole, if not for a vibration in his primary bike. The Australian switched to his backup ride but the setup was less then optimal and could only manage fourth today. Stoner will look to improve the setting in tomorrow's warmup to dial in the bike and bring a fight to the front row.
"Everything that could go wrong in the crucial second part of the session did go wrong but if we can fix this problem then we'll be in good shape for tomorrow," resolved Stoner. "Anyway I'm happy with my pace in race conditions and I look forward to tomorrow"
The Rizla Suzuki of Loris Capirossi had a strong qualifying session and scored fifth on the grid, under Rossi's old track record. Toni Elias for Gresisni Racing rounds out the top six and the first two rows. American riders Nicky Hayden and Colin Edwards will start on the third row, with Frenchman Randy De Puniet sandwiched in between.
Stay tuned for tomorrow's report, it will either be about Rossi's newest championship or how his day went wrong enough to keep Lorenzo in the title fight.
Valentino Rossi sealed his second successive MotoGP world championship after finishing third at the Malaysian Grand Prix.
The championship was Rossi's fourth for Yamaha, his seventh premier class world title and his ninth overall.
Ducati rider Casey Stoner made light of wet conditions at the Sepang circuit in Malaysia, snatching the lead from Dani Pedrosa on the first lap and then powering away from the Spaniard.
Pedrosa finished in second place while Jorge Lorenzo, the only rider who had any hope of catching Rossi in the title race, finished fourth.
Needing only a top four finish to seal the title, Rossi's title hopes were further bolstered when Spaniard Lorenzo was penalised for failing to take his starting position on time and made to start at the back of the grid.
Lorenzo, who had qualified second behind Rossi, battled his way up the order but his efforts came to nothing as Rossi settled after an early error and came home safely to win the title.
"It was a difficult year. This race reflected how the season went - very tough, with some mistakes, some disappointing results," Rossi said.
"But I won six races, I was consistent and it's another world championship. I thank all the team and everyone who's helped me."
Rossi has an insurmountable 286 points in the world title standings with Lorenzo on 245 and Stoner on 220 with the final race taking place in Valencia, Spain next month.
Honda rider Hiroshi Aoyama earlier celebrated his 28th birthday in style with victory in the 250cc category ahead of second-placed Spaniard Hector Barbera and Italian champion Marco Simoncelli.
Aoyama holds a comfortable 21-point lead over Simoncelli going into the last race in Valencia.
Aprilia rider Julian Simon of Spain, who secured the championship with victory at the Australian Grand Prix last week, held off British team mate Bradley Smith to win the 125cc category. Derbi-riding Spaniard Pol Espargaro took third.
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