Oz GP: qualifying wrap

Qualifying is now over for the MotoGP and 125cc classes in the 2011 IVECO Australian Grand Prix at Phillip Island, and here's the full wrap. The Moto2 session is now being held, featuring Australians Anthony West, Blake Leigh-Smith and Kris McLaren.

Casey Stoner has set himself up for an assault on his fifth straight Phillip Island victory with his fourth consecutive pole position here and his 11th of a dominant 2011 season for the Honda star.

Stoner gave himself an early birthday present – he turns 26 on race day – by recording a best lap of 1m29.975s to beat closest challenger Jorge Lorenzo on the #1 Yamaha by 0.473 seconds, with Marco Simoncelli’s Honda rounding out the front row another 0.151 away.

“Once we put the soft rear tyre on we were able to go quite a chunk faster,” said Stoner. “Today we managed to get the bike really comfortable and turning the way we wanted it to. We’re still looking for a bit more rear grip but I think everyone’s in the same boat there.”

Stoner went to the top with 15 minutes of the one-hour session to go, and then improved with the first sub-90-second lap of the weekend, a 1:29.981, on his 19th tour of the 4.448km track. One lap later he had set the 1:29.975 that was good enough for pole.

On the second row, claiming his own best MotoGP grid spot and Suzuki’s best at the Island, is Alvaro Bautista, just 0.06 seconds clear of Andrea Dovizioso, whose Honda the Spaniard used to give him a highly effective tow on his best lap.

Just to underline how this track brings out the best in people, Nicky Hayden will start from his highest 2011 grid position after bringing his Ducati through to sixth spot and the outside of the second row.

The man who used to dominate proceedings here, Valentino Rossi, is still visibly struggling both with his Ducati and the injured finger that has the Italian taking painkillers in the attempt to get more comfortable in his work. The winner here from 2001-2005 will start from 13th.

Two riders came to grief in the session. First Ben Spies dropped his Yamaha at the super-quick turn three, went to the medical centre for a check-up and was able to get back into the session, ending up seventh.

Then Hiroshi Aoyama lost the Honda at the exit from Siberia and picked himself up gingerly, but was also able to rejoin and qualified 12th.

Australia’s Damian Cudlin, on the Ducati normally ridden by Hector Barbera, was spat off on the way into turn four in morning free practice and had a desperate struggle in the qualifying hour.

“I landed very heavily on my left side,” said the 28-year-old ruefully. “I feel like I’ve been shot out of a cannon – it’s taken a lot of bark off from below my ribs to the top of my thigh and I just can’t move around on the bike.”

Cudlin’s best time of 1:36.666 put him almost 0.4 seconds outside the 107 percent qualifying mark.

Moto2
Alex de Angelis claimed his second successive Moto2 pole position at Phillip Island as the weather played havoc with the 38-strong field’s one-hour qualifying session on Saturday afternoon.

De Angelis had already topped two of the three free practice sessions but was just one of many riders caught out when rain started falling early in the vital qualifying period.

That left young Englishman Scott Redding sitting pretty on a 1:35.129, posted on just his third lap of the session, which looked certain to give the Suter rider the first pole of his career in any world championship class.

But as the rain eased in the dying minutes there was a mad scramble that saw four riders bump Redding off top spot in the final 15 seconds.

The last of them was De Angelis, for whom this is only the second pole position of his Moto2 career – and it made the 27-year-old only the third rider other than Marc Marquez and Stefan Bradl to be on pole in the class in 2011.

“It’s amazing,” beamed De Angelis. “I made a very good weekend so far, just like last year. This is my favourite track, everybody knows that. I am very confident for tomorrow because I have been fast on the soft tyre and the hard.”

Now the San Marino man needs to complete the job by repeating his victory here in 2010 – also his solitary success in Moto2 to date.

Second, his best grid position of the year by a long way, is Frenchman Mike di Meglio on the Tech 3, with the front row completed by Japan’s Yuki Takahashi on a Moriwaki.
Redding, who will start fourth, took some consolation from the big improvement in his machine between practice and qualifying.

“We made quite a few changes,” said the 18-year-old, “and so it wasn’t too bad to make my best time within three laps of the session starting.”

He too can round off his weekend in style by finishing on the podium here again – he was second behind De Angelis in 2010.

Third last year was Andrea Iannone, but the Italian – winner of three races this year – will have his work cut out to make it to the podium this time after qualifying in a lowly 16th position.

Australia’s Ant West was badly caught out by the changing conditions, then struggled with the Honda when he did get back out and will start from 18th.

“The whole session was messed up,” he admitted, “and I just didn’t get a good run.”

Wildcard riders Kris McLaren and Blake Leigh-Smith will start from 32nd and 35th respectively after qualifying comfortably within the 107 per cent rule.

125cc
Frenchman Johann Zarco has taken pole position for Sunday’s 23-lap IVECO Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix in the 125cc class after topping qualifying on Saturday afternoon despite a late crash.

The Derbi rider, who won his maiden world championship race in Japan a fortnight ago, set his session-best time of 1:39.207 with seven minutes remaining in the 40-minute session, but was on course to improve his time further on his final lap before coming off at turn eight.

The Frenchman was able to walk away from the accident unscathed, and finished the session 0.351 seconds ahead of German Sandro Cortese (Aprilia), who set the pace in Friday’s practice sessions.

German teen Jonas Folger (Aprilia) rounded out the front row, 0.4 seconds behind Zarco, while title leader Nico Terol (Aprilia) was fourth, almost 0.5 seconds shy of the benchmark time.

Terol leads Zarco by 31pts with three races remaining, but the Frenchman continued his late-season surge, recording his fourth pole of the season and third in the last quartet of races.

Zarco controlled the session from the time he became the first rider to lap in the 1:39 bracket after eight minutes. His lap of 1:39.541 stood as the time to beat for much of the session, the large field struggling with the gusty wind sweeping across the Phillip Island circuit.

Cortese made a late charge, but couldn’t get closer than 0.3 seconds to Zarco in the frantic final minutes.
Zarco’s teammate Efren Vasquez (Derbi) did well to recover from a fall in the early stages of the session to qualify sixth, while his compatriot Luis Salom (Aprilia) recovered to 10th after crashing at Turn 10 nine minutes into the session.

Australian Jack Miller (Aprilia) qualified in 29th with a best lap of 1:42.833, while Nicky Diles (Aprilia) was the sole Aussie wildcard to qualify, finishing the session in 32nd place.

But he may be joined on the grid by fellow Aprilia riders Josh Hook and Alex Phillis, who are both currently stating their cases for special dispensation.

Hook didn’t make it onto the track in qualifying, but was well on the pace in the final practice session this morning, while Phillis just missed out by 0.043 seconds after only completing a handful of laps in the three practice sessions, also because of bike trouble.