2011 MotoGP
Although he finished in the top four at all three free practice sessions for this weekend’s Sachsenring MotoGP in Germany, Casey Stoner catch the riders on top.
But this wasn’t the case in qualifying for Round 9. Far from the case, actually. During Saturday’s qualifying session, the Australian piloted his Repsol Honda RC212V to his sixth pole of the season.
Stoner set a blistering lap of 1:21.681, which became the new fastest lap at Sachsenring. And nobody could catch him. His teammate Dani Pedrosa tried, but last year’s Sachsenring winner took second on the grid 0.252 of a second behind Stoner.
Taking the final spot on the German front row was the reigning MotoGP Champion, Jorge Lorenzo. The Spaniard posted a 1:21.933, which was 0.263 of a second slower than Stoner.
The man who lead the opening two free practice sessions, San Carlo Honda Gresini’s Marco Simoncelli, heads up the second row. The Italian was only 0.010 of a second behind Lorenzo. Joining Simoncelli on the second row will be Ben Spies (Yamaha Factory Racing YZR-M1) and Andrea Dovizioso (Repsol Honda RC212V).
As for Ducati Team’s Valentino Rossi, he will have his worst start of the 2011 MotoGP season. The Italian finished qualifying for Sachsenring in 16th place on the last row. Rossi experienced a rough crash in FP1 that upset his shoulder, and then could only finish 12th fastest in FP2 and FP3.
The Sachsenring MotoGP is set for 2 p.m. local time Sunday.
2011 Sachsenring MotoGP Qualifying Results:
Pos. | Num. | Rider | Nation | Team | Bike | Km/h | Time | Gap 1st/Prev. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1. | 27 | Casey STONER | AUS | Repsol Honda Team | Honda | 283.4 | 1’21.681 | Â |
2. | 26 | Dani PEDROSA | SPA | Repsol Honda Team | Honda | 283.8 | 1’21.933 | 0.252 / 0.252 |
3. | 1 | Jorge LORENZO | SPA | Yamaha Factory Racing | Yamaha | 279.2 | 1’21.944 | 0.263 / 0.011 |
4. | 58 | Marco SIMONCELLI | ITA | San Carlo Honda Gresini | Honda | 279.2 | 1’21.954 | 0.273 / 0.010 |
5. | 11 | Ben SPIES | USA | Yamaha Factory Racing | Yamaha | 275.6 | 1’22.056 | 0.375 / 0.102 |
6. | 4 | Andrea DOVIZIOSO | ITA | Repsol Honda Team | Honda | 283.1 | 1’22.157 | 0.476 / 0.101 |
7. | 5 | Colin EDWARDS | USA | Monster Yamaha Tech 3 | Yamaha | 276.6 | 1’22.368 | 0.687 / 0.211 |
8. | 69 | Nicky HAYDEN | USA | Ducati Team | Ducati | 277.6 | 1’22.388 | 0.707 / 0.020 |
9. | 14 | Randy DE PUNIET | FRA | Pramac Racing Team | Ducati | 274.8 | 1’22.503 | 0.822 / 0.115 |
10. | 19 | Alvaro BAUTISTA | SPA | Rizla Suzuki MotoGP | Suzuki | 279.9 | 1’22.604 | 0.923 / 0.101 |
11. | 8 | Hector BARBERA | SPA | Mapfre Aspar Team MotoGP | Ducati | 279.5 | 1’22.676 | 0.995 / 0.072 |
12. | 35 | Cal CRUTCHLOW | GBR | Monster Yamaha Tech 3 | Yamaha | 274.5 | 1’22.676 | 0.995 |
13. | 17 | Karel ABRAHAM | CZE | Cardion AB Motoracing | Ducati | 273.7 | 1’23.164 | 1.483 / 0.488 |
14. | 24 | Toni ELIAS | SPA | LCR Honda MotoGP | Honda | 280.2 | 1’23.201 | 1.520 / 0.037 |
15. | 7 | Hiroshi AOYAMA | JPN | San Carlo Honda Gresini | Honda | 280.2 | 1’23.248 | 1.567 / 0.047 |
16. | 46 | Valentino ROSSI | ITA | Ducati Team | Ducati | 279.1 | 1’23.320 | 1.639 / 0.072 |
17. | 50 | Sylvain GUINTOLI | FRA | Pramac Racing Team | Ducati | 273.8 | 1’24.707 | 3.026 / 1.387 |