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Hopkins grabs second row start in Misano
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Hopkins grabs second row start in Misano
John Hopkins will start from the second row of the grid for tomorrow's
San Marino
Grand Prix as he powered his Rizla Suzuki GSV-R to the fifth quickest
time in this
afternoon's qualifying session at Misano.
Hopkins (1'34.536, 26 laps) was on a flying last lap and looked likely
to claim
another front-row start, but a small mistake in the final section cost
him valuable
tenths of a second. Hopkins and his crew had worked tirelessly all day –
including
two gearbox changes during this morning's two-hour practice session – to
get the
optimum set-up for the GSV-R in readiness for Sunday's 28-lap race, and
will
continue to make more important changes throughout this evening and into
tomorrow
morning's warm-up session.
Chris Vermeulen (1'34.717, 30 laps) displayed podium race pace during
this
afternoon's qualifying session as he recorded some consistently fast
laps on his
Rizla Suzuki. Unfortunately he was held up by a slower rider on his
final
Bridgestone qualifying tyre and only finished in eighth place, giving
him a tough
starting position in the middle of the third row, immediately behind his
team-mate
Hopkins on the grid.
In stark contrast to yesterday's torrential rain, today's sessions were
held in dry
and sunny conditions with air temperatures reaching 23°C. Championship
Leader Casey
Stoner will start from pole position in tomorrow's race on his
Bridgestone-shod
Ducati.
The main event is round 13 of the MotoGP World Championship and racing
gets underway
at 14.00hrs local time (12.00hrs GMT).
John Hopkins:
"We managed to cram a lot of work in to one day today. Unfortunately
with the two
hours back-to-back we didn't really have a lot of opportunities to make
many big
set-up changes, which we would probably have done if the time had been
spaced out
more. We did make a few alterations and we changed two gearboxes during
this
morning's session! I think we have made the most of the time we've had
and my crew
has done a great job. This afternoon we worked with Bridgestone to get
the best tyre
solution out of my allocation for tomorrow's race and we still have a
couple of
things to try in the warm-up in the morning. On the qualifiers I turned
my brain off
for a bit and went wide and lost some time, but as a whole the bike felt
really good
and so did the Bridgestone tyres. We've made a few good starts from the
second row
so we've just got to do that, hang it out at the front and go for that
podium!"
Chris Vermeulen:
"It was the first dry time out on the track today and it was all new for
everybody.
We had a longer session this morning to make up for yesterday and the
team did a
great job on the bike to get it ready. Bridgestone has also done an
awesome job in
getting the tyres right for here without any data whatsoever - they are
working
really well. This afternoon we made some changes with the gearbox and
suspension and
it felt a lot better. I was more comfortable with the circuit and I feel
that my
race tyre times are very consistent and quite easy to do. On the
qualifiers it was
going well but a rider in front didn't see me and slowed me up a bit.
Third row is
not ideal especially as it will be quite hard to pass around here, so
I'll have to
sharpen up my elbows and go for it from the off and hopefully get a good
result."
Paul Denning – Team Manager:
"It's been an interesting and quite unusual MotoGP weekend so far in
Misano, and the
team and riders have responded very well indeed. I have to all commend
the crew.
John's guys managed to get through an enormous amount of work this
morning,
including two gearbox changes! That is an unusual thing to achieve, but
they got the
bikes turned around incredibly quickly.
"This afternoon's qualifying session resulted in high anticipation for
the race but
also some disappointment especially for Chris as his qualifying position
was not
where he deserved to be. He's really flying on the race tyres! John
rescued things
at the end to put together a great lap, which all things being equal
should have
been a front row start, but a mistake and a near crash put paid to that.
Middle of
the second row is not too bad and I'm sure he'll get a good start and be
right up
there battling. The track looks like it will be very difficult to pass
on, but both
our guys are pumped up and ready to deliver in full tomorrow!"
GP Cinzano Di San Marino E Riviera Di Rimini Qualifying Practice
Classification:
1. Casey Stoner (Ducati) 1'33.918: 2. Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) +0.176:
3. Nicky
Hayden (Honda) +0.551: 4. Randy de Puniet (Kawasaki) +0.588: 5. JOHN
HOPKINS (RIZLA
SUZUKI MOTOGP) +0.618: 8. CHRIS VERMEULEN (RIZLA SUZUKI MOTOGP) +0.799:
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