Repsol Honda's Casey Stoner rode to his fourth pole position of the year at Silverstone overnight also setting a new lap record at the newly revamped circuit.
The winner of last weekend's Catalan Grand Prix fought off a strong challenge from Marco Simoncelli to end the hour-long session a slender 0.188s in front. Final man on the front row is World Championship leader Jorge Lorenzo. Conditions were cool and cloudy at Silverstone today, with rain a real possibility for race day.
Stoner and Simoncelli were the star performers of the second half of qualifying. Lorenzo led at half-distance, but as the pace increased, first Stoner went ahead, by one tenth, then Simoncelli moved past Stoner by just 0.05s. The Italian held the advantage until the Australian launched into his final run after his crew had made adjustments to improve edge grip. Stoner's ultra-aggressive, inch-perfect riding produced the track's fastest-ever lap, almost 1.3s inside last year's pole time. It was a remarkable lap, Stoner controlling several front-end slides.
Simoncelli wasn't ready to accept defeat, however. After the first three sections of his final lap he was 0.001s inside Stoner's best, but he didn't end the lap as well as he had started it and so Stoner ended the day on top.
"Everything has gone really well this weekend. We were lucky it stayed dry for qualifying, but it doesn't look so good for tomorrow," Stoner said.
"We've been competitive in each session and in various weathers, so I hope we have prepared ourselves for the race, whatever the conditions. We haven't changed too much from the set-up we had in Barcelona, and this afternoon was important for us to see what we could get from the hard tyre, what our pace is and if we can find some more edge grip, and we definitely found some more traction so I'm very happy with how everything is working at the moment.
"For pole position we changed the set-up and balance of the bike a little and on my best lap I lost 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 a Grand Prix. We'll see what the weather does tomorrow, but I love this track and I love this part of the UK and I'm really happy to be here!" the Australian concluded.
After securing his first pole position in the elite class at last weekend's Catalan GP, Simoncelli was happy enough with second fastest, especially since he feels he is more comfortable with his race pace than he was this time last week. Simoncelli's aim for the race is the same as it has been at the last few events ‰ÛÒ to score his first MotoGP podium, or, if possible, his first win.
"I didn't get pole position today, but I am happier than I was last weekend because at Barcelona it was only my last lap of qualifying that was really fast. This time my race pace is better on both hard and soft tyres, and I feel confident I can be fast in the dry and in the rain," Simoncelli said.
Jorge Lorenzo set the early pace but could not match the Honda duo in the closing stages. Still on the front row the Spaniard sees consitency as one of the keys to his year.
"I am very happy because tomorrow we will start from the first row and today we got a lot closer to the Hondas," Lorenzo said. "I rode at a very high level today and I'm ready and focused for the race. I will do my best to make a good start tomorrow and fight for the front. At this moment our weapon is consistency. You try many things some days and some days you find a solution like today. I don't know if it is enough to fight for victory but we will give our best. I'm very proud of my crew, they really worked hard to deliver a great package for qualifying!"
An impressive effort by Karel Abraham will see him on the second row with Ben Spies and Andrea Dovizioso. The suprise of the session was Valentino Rossi being a whopping 3.7 seconds off the pace and down in 13th position.
"It's been a very difficult day‰ÛÓactually, a very difficult weekend," Rossi lamented.
"We were a long way off Friday, but in a way it was understandable since I didn't know the track. Today, though, I had hoped to do much better, but we only lowered our time by one second, while the others cut two.
"The gap is considerable, and we're even having trouble compared to the other Ducatis, so evidently we haven't managed to work well at this track. I'm having difficulty riding, I'm slow on corner entry, and I'm not able to take the lines I want. We found many things with the bike's settings, but without making progress. They're saying it's supposed to rain tomorrow, so we'll see. I don't think we can be as competitive in the wet as we have been on other tracks, but it would probably be a bit better than dry. Anyway, we have to do the best with what we have."
In a cruel blow Cal Crutchlow crashed early in the session and will miss his home GP after suffering a broken collar bone and concussion in the accident.
Main Photo: Casey Stoner
Qualifying position
1 Casey Stoner 2m02.020s AUS HONDA Repsol Honda Team
2 Marco Simoncelli +0.188s ITA HONDA Honda Gresini
3 Jorge Lorenzo +0.217s SPA YAMAHA Yamaha Factory Racing
4 Ben Spies +0.657s USA YAMAHA Yamaha Factory Racing
5 Andrea Dovizioso +1.192s ITA HONDA Repsol Honda Team
6 Karel Abraham +2.131s CZE DUCATI Cardion AB Ducati
7 Nicky Hayden +2.284s USA DUCATI Ducati Team
8 Colin Edwards +2.488s USA YAMAHA Monster Yamaha Tech 3
9 Alvaro Bautista +2.500s SPA SUZUKI Suzuki MotoGP
10 Randy De Puniet +2.569s FRA DUCATI Pramac Racing Team
11 Hiroshi Aoyama +2.899s JPN HONDA Honda Gresini
12 Hector Barbera +3.144s SPA DUCATI Aspar Ducati
13 Valentino Rossi +3.761s ITA DUCATI Ducati Team
14 Toni Elias +3.842s SPA HONDA LCR Honda MotoGP
15 Loris Capirossi +4.236s ITA DUCATI Pramac Racing Team
16 Cal Crutchlow +5.891s GBR YAMAHA Monster Yamaha Tech 3
