Comments (0) 1. Valentino Rossi ITA Fiat Yamaha 25 points
2. Jorge Lorenzo SPA Fiat Yamaha 20 points
3. Colin Edwards USA Tech 3 Yamaha 16 points
4. Dani Pedrosa SPA Repsol Honda 13 points
5. Chris Vermeulen AUS Rizla Suzuki 11 points
6. Andrea Dovizioso ITA JiR Scot Honda 10 points
7. Loris Capirossi ITA Rizla Suzuki 9 points
8. Nicky Hayden USA Repsol Honda 8 points
Repsol Honda riders Dani Pedrosa and Nicky Hayden put in storming performances during this afternoon’s French qualifying session, Pedrosa taking pole position and Hayden snatching a second-row start.
As ever, the MotoGP pack is tightly packed with Hayden just six tenths off pole and the fastest 12 riders covered by just 1.076 seconds. Hard-working Hayden and his crew have focused on improving corner-entry performance at this tight and complex track. The American moved up to sixth fastest in qualifying but his crew will make further changes overnight in an effort to improve his pace in race trim.
Weather conditions at Le Mans have been very changeable so far this weekend, with this morning’s third practice session getting underway on a damp track and this afternoon’s qualifying outing run in cool and mostly overcast conditions with the occasional sunny spell. There is still a possibility of rain tomorrow.
Nicky Hayden, 6th fastest, 1m 33.286s
1. Dani Pedrosa SPA Repsol Honda Team (M) 1’32.647
2. Colin Edwards USA Tech 3 Yamaha (M) 1’32.774
3. Casey Stoner AUS Ducati Marlboro Team (B) 1’32.994
4. Valentino Rossi ITA Fiat Yamaha Team (B) 1’33.157
5. Jorge Lorenzo SPA Fiat Yamaha Team (M) 1’33.269
6. Nicky Hayden USA Repsol Honda Team (M) 1’33.286
7. James Toseland GBR Tech 3 Yamaha (M) 1’33.396
8. Chris Vermeulen AUS Rizla Suzuki MotoGP (B) 1’33.440
Nicky Hayden had a complicated day and classified in a low fourteenth position in the morning, and twelfth in the afternoon. Unfortunately the American Repsol Honda rider had more setup problems than expected on the French track
Nicky Hayden:
“Things didn’t go as smooth as we’d have liked today. Braking at this track is so important and I don’t have a good feeling when I’m braking. Straight line or leaned over, the front end doesn’t feel so good. I don’t know why, but I was hurting a little bit in that area in China too.
We’re basically a full second off the pace and that’s a lot on a 1 minute 34 lap, so we need to sort something overnight. We really never found a direction all day, we were chasing our tails, so that makes it hard, and it’s never good to fall behind when there’s rain in the forecast. I know the team will work hard, so I’m confident in that.”
1. Dani Pedrosa SPA Repsol Honda Team (M) 1’34.227
2. Casey Stoner AUS Ducati Marlboro Team (B) 1’34.276
3. Colin Edwards USA Tech 3 Yamaha (M) 1’34.287
4. Jorge Lorenzo SPA Fiat Yamaha Team (M) 1’34.487
5. Chris Vermeulen AUS Rizla Suzuki MotoGP (B) 1’34.630
6. Valentino Rossi ITA Fiat Yamaha Team (B) 1’34.886 *
7. Shinya Nakano JPN San Carlo Honda Gresini (B) 1’35.047
8. Randy de Puniet FRA LCR Honda MotoGP (M) 1’35.073
