MotoGP Red Bull Indy GP: Saturday (updated regularly)

NEWEST AT TOP

Pramac Racing

Qualifying session on dry track after yesterday’s rain that has characterized the first free practice session. Pramac Racing riders, Niccolò Canepa and Aleix Espargaro, have worked hard progressively improving during the session valid for the starting grid of the Indianapolis Grand Prix. Niccolò was in eighth position after thirty minutes, but notwithstanding he improved his best lap time he couldn’t manage to maintain the position concluding in thirteenth. His teammate has done quite well as first timer in MotoGP qualifying, finishing in sixteenth position. The white and red duo will try to improve tomorrow at the starting of the Indianapolis Grand Prix that will start at 3pm local time.

Niccolò Canepa – Pramac Racing rider – 13th in 1′41.910

“Unluckily I made a mistake as I didn’t change the front tyre that already had more than twenty-five laps on it. I wanted to follow someone at the end of the session, but if I had entered the box I would have lost too much time. Anyway we will start from an acceptable position on the starting grid. I want to do really well here: this is a track that I like and I know I can have fun on it. This will be a really important race for me.”

Aleix Espargaro – Pramac Racing rider – 16th in 1′42.577

“Today the weather helped us to ride for many laps. My feeling with the bike has improved even if I am not too happy: I hoped to do better in the classification. We have found a problem with the rear brake that has limited our performances. I wanted to ride with faster riders in the last couple of laps but I couldn’t make it. I feel good on the bike and I believe we can have a good race tomorrow. We will have to make a good start to stay with other riders and fight for good positions.”

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Rizla Suzuki

Rizla Suzuki racers Loris Capirossi and Chris Vermeulen will start tomorrow’s Indianapolis Grand Prix from the fourth and fifth rows of the grid respectively, after a disappointing qualifying session left them both with a lot of work to do in tomorrow’s race.

Capirossi (P11, 1′41.742, 26 laps) was satisfied with the new chassis and several other new parts that he used today from the recent test in Brno. He was over half-of-second quicker today than his qualifying performance last year – in similar conditions – and is determined to make up several places in Sunday’s 28-lap race to challenge for a much higher position.

Vermeulen (P14, 1′42.038, 29 laps) consistently improved his bike and times through both this morning’s free practice session and this afternoon’s qualifying,  but just couldn’t find the extra speed needed to push him further up the grid.  He knows he has a tough job ahead of him tomorrow, but will be giving it 100% to improve during the race.

Today’s qualifying was held in dry conditions – very different to yesterday’s torrential rain – with the track heating up to 50ºC, as the air temperatures rose to a comfortable 24ºC. Dani Pedrosa on his factory Honda took pole position for tomorrow’s race, which gets underway at 15.00hrs local time (19.00hrs GMT).

Loris Capirossi:

“Overall we have improved throughout the day, but it is not enough of an improvement to stay with the front guys, so will try to use tomorrow’s warm-up to set the bike up a bit more. We were able to use a couple of new parts alongside the new chassis and the feeling was good. We are still struggling a bit on the slow corners so we also need to work on that. It has been quite a difficult day today and I hope that tomorrow we will have good weather so we can try to improve in time for the race. I am still quite optimistic though because it is so close and if I improve a small bit I can be up in the top-five.”

Chris Vermeulen:

“In this morning’s session we worked a lot on the bike’s set-up and improved consistently, then in the afternoon I tried the harder compound tyre but I just didn’t seem to be able to make it work for me, so I used the softer one and it had good durability so I think that will be the tyre we will use tomorrow. We changed engine and suspension settings and improved the bike throughout qualifying, but I am quite frustrated because a few tenths-of-a-second would have moved me up and I was very consistent in reeling the laps off, but just not consistently fast enough. We will try some small changes for tomorrow and hopefully make things better.”

Paul Denning – Team Manager:

“It’s good that the weather changed for the better today, but unfortunately that was the only good news for Rizla Suzuki. There are always reasons and justifications for disappointing results and it is true that this is the first event that the new chassis layout has been used other than at the Brno test, so naturally we can expect it to take some time to find the best balance in the bike. However, the fact of the matter is that the end result - on a very difficult track to overtake on - is going to make tomorrow’s GP even harder. It is all very well to say that another two or three tenths would have got us into reasonable grid positions, but we didn’t get the job done and the result is not what any of us are looking for. We need to step it up tomorrow; it’s as simple as that!”

Red Bull Indianapolis Grand Prix Qualifying Practice Classification:

1. Dani Pedrosa (Honda) 1′39.730: 2. Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha) +0.506: 3. Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) +0.879: 4. Alex de Angelis (Honda) +0.890: 5. Colin Edwards (Yamaha) +1.231: 11. LORIS CAPIROSSI (RIZLA SUZUKI MOTOGP) +2.012: 14. CHRIS VERMEULEN (RIZLA SUZUKI MOTOGP) +2.308:

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Bridgestone

Bridgestone slick compounds available: Front: Medium, Hard. Rear: Hard, Extra hard (asymmetric)

Repsol Honda’s Dani Pedrosa scored his second pole position and sixth front-row start of the season in definitive style today. Fastest in the morning’s free practice by just over a second, the Spaniard used the harder option front and softer option rear Bridgestone slicks to set a pole time 0.506seconds faster than the field.

In doing so he also set a new circuit fastest lap, one second faster than the pole position time of last year set by race winner Valentino Rossi on qualifying tyres. After Brno, this is the second pole position record to be beaten on Bridgestone’s race tyres since the demise of qualifying-spec rubber at the end of last season.

The Fiat Yamaha duo of Jorge Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi will start tomorrow’s race in second and third respectively, closely followed by San Carlo Honda Gresini’s Alex de Angelis in his best qualifying performance of the season. The top four all used the harder option front slicks and the softer option rear to record their fastest laps, and all went faster than the pole position record set last year.

As yesterday’s practice session was wet, and most of the weekend last year was also wet in the wake of Hurricane Ike, the teams and riders do not have a great deal of experience of dry running at Indianapolis so setup time was at a premium today.

Tohru Ubukata – Manager, Bridgestone Motorcycle Tyre Development Department

“For the second time this season we have seen a pole position record broken on our race tyres so I am pleased with their performance today on the first day of dry running here at Indianapolis. We do not have much experience of dry weather running in MotoGP at this circuit because of the inclement weather here this and last year, so the teams had not much time to get their setups perfected on our slick tyres.

“We do have quite a good understanding of this track from our work in the Formula One World Championship though, so we try to support all teams with the benefit of this knowledge. Tyre durability on the dry surface was reasonable today in the high temperature, and Jorge completed a long run of 20 laps on the harder front and softer rear Bridgestone slicks with a string of consistent times faster than the previous pole position record.”

Top ten from qualifying (Saturday 13:55 – 14:55 GMT-4)

Pos Rider Team Fastest lap Gap Compounds – Front, Rear

1 Dani Pedrosa Repsol Honda Team 1m39.145s Hard, Hard

2 Jorge Lorenzo Fiat Yamaha Team 1m40.195s +0.506s Hard, Hard

3 Valentino Rossi Fiat Yamaha Team 1m40.528s +0.879s Hard, Hard

4 Alex de Angelis San Carlo Honda Gresini 1m40.817s +0.890s Hard, Hard

5 Colin Edwards Monster Yamaha Tech3 1m40.954s +1.231s Hard, Hard

6 Nicky Hayden Ducati Team 1m41.108s +1.337s Medium, Hard

7 Toni Elias San Carlo Honda Gresini 1m41.775s +1.553s Hard, Hard

8 Andrea Dovizioso Repsol Honda Team 1m41.803s +1.579s Hard, Hard

9 Marco Melandri Hayate Racing Team 1m41.811s +1.800s Hard, Hard

10 James Toseland Monster Yamaha Tech3 1m41.994s +1.890s Hard, Hard

Weather: Dry. Ambient 24°C; Track 42°C (Bridgestone measurement)

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San Carlo Honda Gresini

Both San Carlo Honda Gresini riders will start the Indianapolis Grand Prix from top seven positions on the grid tomorrow after an exciting qualifying session that saw Alex de Angelis only denied a first ever MotoGP front row start by a last ditch effort from Valentino Rossi. After impressing in the wet conditions yesterday De Angelis was on the pace all day in the dry today, holding third place at the chequered flag this afternoon only for the reigning World Champion to usurp him by 0.011 seconds with a flying last lap.

Toni Elias was giving chase to Rossi on that final lap but lost touch with the Italian when he crashed early in the lap. It was a disappointing end to the session for the Spaniard, who nevertheless qualified in an encouraging seventh place despite not finding an ideal set-up with his factory-spec RC212V.

Alex De Angelis (4th; 1’40.620): “Clearly I would have preferred to start on the front row but this is still a wonderful day for me. The team have worked well and so far it has been a perfect weekend. It is never easy to get near the pace of the front three but I’m enjoying riding my bike here and we have never been this close, so I’m delighted. I could have gone even faster on a new tyre at the end but we had an electrical problem and I had to roll off the gas. It sorted itself out but by that time the tyre had gone cold and I couldn’t push. Anyway, I’ll be going on the attack in the race because this is a big opportunity for me to score a top result and to move up in the championship, with there being a small gap to the guys currently ahead of me. I have always believed I have the talent but it was good to show everybody today that when things are right I can be there.”

Toni Elias (7th 1’41.283): “We improved from the morning to the afternoon but I’m still not as comfortable as I would like to be with the set-up and at the end I crashed, purely because I was pushing too hard to try and stay with Valentino. Having said that seventh on the grid isn’t bad. The race will be pretty tough tomorrow so the target is just to get a good start and follow the group ahead of me.”

Fausto Gresini – Team Manager: “I’m very happy for Alex – he was fast yesterday and again today and he deserves this place on the grid. It is a shame he missed the front row by just 0.011 seconds but anyway Alex has again shown that he is in good form and I’m expecting a good race from him tomorrow. It was a shame that Toni crashed and it certainly won’t help him solve his set-up issues. We will try and make some adjustments to his bike tomorrow that will help him improve.”

1 Dani PEDROSA SPA HONDA 1′39.730
2 Jorge LORENZO SPA YAMAHA 1′40.236
3 Valentino ROSSI ITA YAMAHA 1′40.609
4 Alex DE ANGELIS RSM HONDA 1′40.620
5 Colin EDWARDS USA YAMAHA 1′40.961
6 Nicky HAYDEN USA DUCATI 1′41.067
7 Toni ELIAS SPA HONDA 1′41.283
8 Andrea DOVIZIOSO ITA HONDA 1′41.309
9 Marco MELANDRI ITA KAWASAKI 1′41.530
10 James TOSELAND GBR YAMAHA 1′41.620
11 Loris CAPIROSSI ITA SUZUKI 1′41.742
12 Randy DE PUNIET FRA HONDA 1′41.773
13 Niccolo CANEPA ITA DUCATI 1′41.910
14 Chris VERMEULEN AUS SUZUKI 1′42.038
15 Mika KALLIO FIN DUCATI 1′42.250
16 Aleix ESPARGARO SPA DUCATI 1′42.577
17 Gabor TALMACSI HUN HONDA 1′42.736

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LCR Honda

Indianapolis, 29 August: The sun shined at Indianapolis Speedway race track today for final qualifying and the LCR Honda MotoGP Team racer Randy De Puniet qualified in 12th position for tomorrow’s 28-lap race. After yesterday’s torrential rain which brought memories back of last year’s hurricane, blue skies and ambience temperature of 27°C welcomed the premier class riders today at the spectacular 4.216 Km American circuit which hosts the 12th round of the calendar.

Yesterday, in full rain conditions, the Frenchman aboard the Honda RC212V no. 14 set the 13th quickest time of the day at the rain-soaked Indianapolis as he wisely stopped the session earlier to protect his injured left ankle. The Indy layout, with 10 lefts and six rights, is taxing the limits of De Puniet’s pain threshold but he bravely gained the fourth row with a best lap time of 1’41.773. Today’s poleman Pedrosa set his fastest lap time of 1’39.730 followed by Lorenzo and Rossi.

De Puniet – 12th – 1’41.773

“As my ankle improved quite a lot after Brno race, we came here with better expectations but this circuit is very demanding with many left corners. That’s why I am struggling a lot and when it’s time to push on the foot rest I honestly do not feel comfortable. I must force with the arms to change direction in the corners and after few laps I feel tired. The Team will improve the machine a bit more to help me and I will attempt to end in the top ten once again. It’s important to score points to maintain my place in the classification”.

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Ducati Marboro

Nicky Hayden will start his home Grand Prix at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway from the second row of the grid after recording his best dry qualifying position of the season so far this afternoon. Sixth place for Hayden, who was second fastest in the dry free practice yesterday, means he will start from the second row although his stand-in team-mate Mika Kallio will be some way behind him in 15th after suffering a crash in the final phases of this afternoon’s single hour-long qualifying session.

NICKY HAYDEN – (Ducati MotoGP Team)  (6th; 1’41.067)

“It seems the story is always the same: even though this is my best dry qualifying result and second best grid position of the year I still feel I could have gone faster at the end and I’m not completely happy. I set a good lap chasing Dani (Pedrosa) but I think the tyre went off right at the end because it started to spin up in the last sector and it cost me some time. Anyway, I’m on the second row and we’re competitive so it’s not all bad. I’m using a slightly different set-up here than before Brno – something we found in the test there – and it’s definitely helping me through some of these flip-flop direction changes. I know what I’m in for tomorrow and I’m not expecting to find a full second in the morning. The main thing will be to see about the tyre choice if it is a lot cooler, as a lot of people are expecting. I’m really looking forward to racing in front of my fans, friends and family here at Indy and the plan is to get the best start possible, try to hang on to that front group as long as I can and just give the absolute maximum.”

MIKA KALLIO (Ducati MotoGP Team)  (15th; 1’42.250)

“We started the session well and my first outing on used tyres wasn’t too bad. We tried a different set-up in the middle of the session but it wasn’t as good and I switched back. When we put a fresh tyre on to push for a lap time I had to abort a couple of laps because there were riders in my way, then I tried to push again and crashed. It was a really similar crash to the one in qualifying at Brno – I just lost front grip and the next thing I knew I was on the floor. For some reason my feeling with the front is quite vague and it is an area we know we need to work on. Hopefully we can find something before the race tomorrow.”

RECORD
Circuit Record: Valentino Rossi (Yamaha – 2008), 1’49.668 – 138.395 Km/h
Best Pole: Dani Pedrosa (Honda – 2009), 1’39.730 – 152.186 Km/h
Circuit Length: 4.216 km
MotoGP Race 2009: 28 laps (84.32 km)
MotoGP Timetable 2009: 15:00 Local Time – 21:00 Central Europe Time

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Repsol Honda

Repsol Honda rider Dani Pedrosa today obliterated his MotoGP opposition to take pole position for tomorrow’s Indianapolis Grand Prix. The Spanish ace was easily fastest in both practice and qualifying sessions and looked completely untouchable aboard his factory Honda RC212V at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. His best lap of 1m 39.730s this afternoon was more than a second inside last year’s qualifying lap record and 0.506s clear of his nearest rival – Jorge Lorenzo who will start from second on the grid.

As well as ultimate speed, Pedrosa displayed consistency too – and it was the same story in the morning session. His quickest eight laps this morning were faster than any other rider in the MotoGP field could manage and his best lap this morning was a full 1.015s faster than his closest rival – Jorge Lorenzo once again. This is Pedrosa’s second pole position of the season after he started from front on the grid at the French Grand Prix at Le Mans in May.

Pedrosa’s Repsol Honda team-mate Andrea Dovizioso will start tomorrow’s 28-lap race from eighth on the grid and will be looking for a good start to take him from the third row and into contention with the leaders. The Italian set his fastest lap of 1m 41.309s on the last of his 27 laps this afternoon after a slow-speed fall early in the session. Dovizioso and his crew will use tomorrow morning’s 20-minute warm-up session to make further improvements to his machine set-up – particularly the feeling from the front end – and the former 125cc World Champion is confident of making up places when the lights go out to start the Indianapolis Grand Prix at 15.00 (GMT -4hrs).

DANI PEDROSA – Pole – 1m 39.730

“I’m really happy with this pole position because we have been fast all weekend so far – in the we as well as the dry – so this is very positive. The lap times are quick and also consistent which should give us a good chance in the race tomorrow. I’ve been comfortable on the machine from the start and things have just clicked here – it’s not as if we’ve made any big changes for this race. We can’t relax at all though because I’m sure the other riders will improve and we know how strong our rivals have been this season. So we must make a few small adjustments to make sure we have the best possible package tomorrow. I’m really looking forward to the race because it looks like the weather should be good – a big contrast to last year – and it will be great to feel the race-day atmosphere at Indianapolis in more normal conditions than last year’s wash-out. Now we’ll just stay focused and concentrate on our preparation for tomorrow.”

ANDREA DOVIZIOSO – 8th – 1m 41.309

“I’d like to be further forward on the grid and I think eighth doesn’t actually reflect our potential here, so we’ll be aiming to improve the set-up for the race. My qualifying session didn’t go exactly to plan because I had a small crash near the beginning of the session in Turn 7. At that point in the middle of the turn there’s a change in the asphalt and you have to be more delicate on the brakes at the point. I didn’t change the lever pressure correctly which was the mistake that caused me to lose the front. In fact my feeling from the front end wasn’t perfect today, so this is what we’ll be working to improve for tomorrow. I think the front of the race is going to be run with laptimes below 1m 41s and I’ll need to get a good start from the third row to give me a chance of competing with the leaders. I’m confident we can take a step forward tomorrow.”

KAZUHIKO YAMANO – REPSOL HONDA TEAM MANAGER

“I have to say well done to Dani because he’s done an excellent job this weekend and taking pole position was the natural conclusion of his progress so far. He’s been top in every session and looks in with a good chance of winning tomorrow. We’ve not made big changes to the machine so this performance was down to him and the team. Andrea’s a little bit further back than he wanted, but with some changes to his machine set-up tonight I think he can move forward tomorrow. Also, we know our rivals are very strong so we won’t be relaxing at all.”

Qualifying Results

1 Dani Pedrosa 1m 39.730 SPA HONDA Repsol Honda Team

2 Jorge Lorenzo 1m 40.236 SPA YAMAHA Fiat Yamaha Team

3 Valentino Rossi 1m 40.609 ITA YAMAHA Fiat Yamaha Team

4 Alex De Angelis 1m 40.620 SMR HONDA San Carlo Honda Gresini

5 Colin Edwards 1m 40.961 USA YAMAHA Tech 3 Yamaha

6 Nicky Hayden 1m 41.067 USA DUCATI Ducati Marlboro Team

7 Toni Elias 1m 41.283 SPA HONDA San Carlo Honda Gresini

8 Andrea Dovizioso 1m 41.309 ITA HONDA Repsol Honda Team

9 Marco Melandri 1m 41.530 ITA KAWASAKI Hayate Racing Team

10 James Toseland 1m 41.620 GBR YAMAHA Tech 3 Yamaha

11 Loris Capirossi 1m 41.742 ITA SUZUKI Rizla Suzuki MotoGP

12 Randy De Puniet 1m 41.773 FRA HONDA LCR Honda MotoGP

13 Niccolo Canepa 1m 41.910 ITA DUCATI Pramac Racing

14 Chris Vermeulen 1m 42.038 AUS SUZUKI Rizla Suzuki MotoGP

15 Mika Kallio 1m 42.250 FIN DUCATI Pramac Racing

16 Aleix Espargaro 1m 42.577 SPA DUCATI Pramac Racing

17 Gabor Talmacsi 1m 42.736 HUN HONDA Scot Racing Team MotoGP

Circuit information

First race 2008

GPs held 1

Laps 28

Race distance 118.1km / 73.4miles

Track length 4.216km / 2.62miles

Track width 16m

Longest straight 0.644km / 0.4miles

Corners 16 (6 right, 10 left)

Pole position Left

4790 West 16th Street

Indianapolis

IN 46222

Website: http://www.indianapolismotorspeedway.com/

Circuit records

Pole position 1m40.776s (150.607Km/h) Valentino Rossi (Yamaha, 2008)

Race lap 1m49.668 (138.395Km/h) Valentino Rossi (Yamaha, 2008)

Race time 37m20.095s (135.508m/h) Valentino Rossi (Yamaha, 2008)

MotoGP Wins 1 (Valentino Rossi 2008)

2008 Winner Valentino Rossi (Yamaha)

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Monster Yamaha Tech3

The Texas Tornado, Colin Edwards, is targeting a top five result at his second home race of the season in tomorrow’s Indianapolis Grand Prix at the legendary Racing Capital of the World.

Edwards qualified fifth fastest today with a slick performance that could have been even better except for a harmless crash with eight minutes remaining.

Edwards had just posted his fastest time of 1.40.961 and was on the pace for a possible front row start when he crashed over a bump at turn six. Edwards had been comfortably in the top five throughout the one hour session.

Meanwhile Briton James Toseland is also in stron g position for a top ten result in tomorrow’s 28 lap race following a confidence boosting set-up change to his Monster Yamaha Tech3 YZR-M1.

Toseland sliced a massive 1.5s off his morning free practice time to qualify tenth. He was bumped from a certain 8th position when he was slowed by traffic on his final lap.

Qualifying was run in warm and sunny conditions, a dramatic contrast to yesterday’s gloomy and wet opening practice session for the 12th race of the season.

Colin Edwards 5 th.1.40.961 — 21 laps

“I’m excited, I’m starting on the second row and I ‘I’ve got a good race pace and if I keep today’s pace it should be an easy top five, maybe even a fight for the podium. We’ve got a good direction with Bridgestone on tyres and have a choice of either the hard or soft option, depending on the weather. I felt really c omfortable and confident the whole session. I would like to say that I didn’t do anything wrong when I crashed but I guess I did, I hit the one bump that is in turn six. With the suspension compressed, the bike leaned over and big bump the two didn’t mix. It’s kind of deceiving, you don’t know where you are, the corner has a decreasing radius. I can’t decide whether to go around the bump or inside it. I had just just done my fastest lap and I felt I had more in it and I was already 0.2s faster on the first split so I thought a 1.40.4 was possible but I didn’t do it.”

James Toseland 10th. 1.41.620 — 26 laps

“I’m confident for race, I was good in the wet yesterday and now we have a strong set-up for the dry and the changes have given me a better feeling. I’ve gone nearly two seconds quicker than I did this morning and I’m really pleased with that, so thanks to the team for all their wor k. It’s just shame that I caught Marco Melandri on the last lap and he made a mistake at the last corner and unfortunately just slowed me up a bit, It wasn’t Marco’s fault I was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. We were both pushing. I was 0.3s up on Marco at that point and still did my equal best lap of the session so I reckon I could have be 0.4s.faster overall. We’ve made a really positive change to the front-end geometry, just raked it out a bit .I’ve sacrificed some weight on the front to get more rear traction and that’s where time is coming from.”

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DeGraaf Team

During the qualification session of the Red Bull Indianapolis Grand Prix the DeGraaf Grand Prix rider Danny Webb qualified himself at a nice third row with a 11th position. Randy Krummenacher didn’t have luck during this session and crashed in the last 15 minutes of the session. Krummenacher couldn’t continue the session and finish at a disappointed 25th position.

After a couple of showers at the Friday session, today it was dry at the Indianapolis Speedway. In the free practice this morning both riders tested a different set-up of the front fork and this was a big step in the right direction. Danny Webb was able to ride a faster lap time than his time of the Friday and ended the session on a 13th position. Randy Krummenacher was even more than a second faster than the Friday and closed the session at a 20th position.

The qualification session started well for the British teenager Danny Webb. In the first ten minutes of the session Webb was leading the pack and could hold this position a couple of minutes. After Webb came in for a small adjustment of the suspension Webb was able to ride consistent fast lap times on his own. In the last ten minutes Webb took nearly a second of his lap time and moved up to a 7th position. In his last flying lap Webb was able to take a tow of Ianonne but couldn’t improve his lap time. Webb closed the session on an 11th position with just 0,6 seconds behind pole position man Julian Simon.

Randy Krummenacher impresses the team with the fast lap times he is doing at the Indianapolis Speedway. For the Swiss rider it is the first time riding at this track and is riding very competitive lap times. Every lap Krummenacher is improving his lap times and was able to run in the top 15 positions. In the last 15 minutes the bike seized up for a moment and crashed out Krummenacher. For Krummenacher it was the end of the session and dropped back into the 25th position. The rider from Switzerland didn’t injured himself and will start fully fit the race tomorrow.

Danny Webb (11th, 1:49,982): “This qualification it is really tight with the lap times. I have to give in 0,6 second to the fastest rider Julian Simon but I’m still at the third row. Last year I was also 0,6 seconds slower than the fastest rider but I could start the race from the front row. But I’m satisfied. The adjustments we made with the front fork give me a very good feeling and I can do more things with the front now and I have more confidence. Also the bike is very fast! At the straight it is easy to pass several riders before the first corner. I think with a good start in the race I can be up there with the leaders. We will see what happens tomorrow.”

Randy Krummenacher (25th, 1:51,546): “It is really a shame that I crashed out in the last 15 minutes. I don’t know what happened but suddenly my bike seized up and I was of the bike in the gravel. Luckily I didn’t hurt myself and can race tomorrow. I had a good feeling with the bike and the track and was looking forward to do very fast lap times. I like the track and we have a good set-up. Now I have to start from the 7th row but we still have a warm-up session tomorrow. In this session I’m sure I can do a faster lap time than the today’s session. With a good start I van battle for a top 15 position.”

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KTM

Marc Marquez of the Red Bull KTM Moto Sport factory team bounced back from a qualifying crash to snatch ninth place on the 125 cc grid in Indianapolis in a tightly fought session that saw less than 3 seconds between the top six riders.

The 16-year-old talent had already come down hard on the Indianapolis Moto Speedway in free practice in the morning session in a huge high side after engine failure but was back with his usual passion in the qualifying. Then after Marc’s crash half way through qualifying, the team worked at a furious pace and had him back on the track for the vital final 10 minutes of the session. He secured his fastest lap in lap 12. The toughness, resilience and determination of the young Spaniard drew praise from team technical director Harald Bartol while Marquez remains determined to be up with the front runners in Sunday’s race.

Red Bull KTM teammate American Cameron Beaubier was back in action on the famous 4.218 km circuit for his home race after sustaining a cracked collar bone in Brno, Czech Republic. He admitted that his shoulder was still giving some difficulties but is also determined to put in a good performance in Sunday’s race, well supported by family and friends. Beaubier finished qualifying in twenty third place in the field of 32 riders.

While Friday’s practice was run in the wet, on Saturday the weather was fine and the forecast was positive for Sunday.

What the riders and team officials said

Marc Marquez: “My crash this morning was really heavy, so I didn’t have the usual confidence at the beginning of this afternoon’s final practice session and I needed a few laps to get back up to speed. I then crashed again, which was a bit silly because I just got onto a dirty patch on the track when I was leaning over hard on the bike. Luckily nothing much happened, so I was able to continue and to improve my lap time. We went a second faster with yesterday’s setting which threw the bike a bit out of balance so we’ll have to compensate for that. Once the set-up is right again, I’ll aim to get a good start and hang on to the leading group!”

Cameron Beaubier: “I’ve been struggling this weekend because I don’t have so much power in my shoulder. It got better from session to session, but it still isn’t one hundred per cent. Hopefully I will get a good start and move up a little bit. In the pits garage it’s a normal race for me, but outside it’s really nice to be at my home Grand Prix because my family is around and I have many supporters in the crowd!”

Harald Bartol: “Marc just keeps amazing us. He crashed this morning due to an engine failure, and he lost the front now in the afternoon and crashed again. But as soon as the bike was repaired and he could go out again, he blitzed it with the fastest time at that stage. Falling off doesn’t seem to worry him at all! He is a bit concerned about the front end set up, which we will try to sort out in tomorrow’s warm-up session. Once that’s done, things don’t look that bad for the race, because we are not so far behind the fastest guys out there.”

Qualifying Results

1. Julian Simon, Spain, Aprilia, 1:49.337

2. Sandro Cortese, Germany, Derbi, 1:49.387

3. Nicolas Terol, Spain, Aprilia, 1:49.537

4. Pol Espargaro, Spain, 1:49.577

5. Bradley Smith, Britain, Aprilia, 1.49.585

Other KTM

9. Marc Marquez, Spain, KTM

23. Cameron Beaubier, USA, KTM