Valentino Rossi and Nicky Hayden will start tomorrow’s Japanese Grand Prix from the third and fourth rows of the starting grid, respectively.
In today’s qualifying session, both riders improved their performance compared to the free practices, but while the Italian was relatively satisfied with the work carried out over the course of the four sessions, the American had hoped to find a better setup.
In tomorrow’s morning warm-up session, Rossi will look for a few final setting refinements, while Hayden will try to make some changes in order to improve his consistency.
Valentino Rossi (Ducati Team) 9th (1:45.976)
“The position, ninth place, certainly isn’t the greatest, as I had hoped to start from the second row. Still, I think that we worked well. We improved in every session, and again in qualifying today we made good progress. 1:45.9 is a nice time, half a second faster than last year, even though it wasn’t enough to be further forward. Anyway, we managed to lap at a decent pace and more consistently, and that’s positive. Tomorrow we’ll see if it will be enough and if we’ll be able to move up some positions. We’ll also have to decide tomorrow which tyre to use, depending on what the temperature is.”
Nicky Hayden (Ducati Team) 10th (1:46.461)
“Today didn’t really go any easier than yesterday. I had some problems at the start of qualifying and couldn’t get a good rhythm, but once I started putting the soft tyres in, the grip improved and the bike felt better and better. Then at the end, I had a lot of front chatter that was holding me back, including on my best lap, and there were a lot of waving yellow flags on my last run that didn’t help. Unfortunately, I didn’t really get in a good lap, and I didn’t have a good rhythm either. Still, the team is working hard and hopefully tomorrow we can improve and try to do a decent race.”
Matt Shine live from Motegi Japan
Qualifying Times
Front Row
1. Jorge Lorenzo (SPA) Yamaha Factory Racing 1'44.969
2. Dani Pedrosa (SPA) Repsol Honda Team 1'45.215
3. Cal Crutchlow (GBR) Yamaha Tech3 1'45.257
Second Row
4. Ben Spies (USA) Yamaha Factory Racing 1'45.336
5. Alvaro Bautista (SPA) Honda Gresini 1'45.481
6. Andrea Dovizioso (ITA) Yamaha Tech3 1'45.612
Third Row
7. Casey Stoner (AUS) Repsol Honda Team 1'45.745
8. Stefan Bradl (GER) LCR Honda 1'45.848
9. Valentino Rossi (ITA) Ducati Team 1'45.976
Fourth Row
10. Nicky Hayden (USA) Ducati Team 1'46.461
11. Katsuyuki Nakasuga (JPN) Yamaha YSP Racing Team 1'46.780
12. Hector Barbera (SPA) Pramac Racing Team 1'46.881
Fifth Row
13. Aleix Espargaro (SPA) Power Electronics Aspar 1'47.383
14. Randy De Puniet (FRA) Power Electronics Aspar 1'47.581
15. Karel Abraham (CZE) Cardion AB Motoracing 1'47.791
Sixth Row
16. Colin Edwards (USA) NGM Mobile Forward Racing 1'48.125
17. Yonny Hernandez (COL) Avintia Racing 1'48.513
18. Michele Pirro (ITA) San Carlo Honda Gresini 1'48.653
Seventh Row
19. Danilo Petrucci (ITA) Came Iodaracing Project 1'48.831
20. James Ellison (UK) Paul Bird Motorsport 1'49.023
21. Roberto Rolfo (ITA) Speed Master 1'49.183
Eighth Row
22. Ivan Silva (SPA) Avintia Racing 1'49.831
