HONDA RACING INFORMATION 2014 FIM MotoGP/Moto2/Moto3 World Championships, round 18 Valencia Grand Prix, Circuito Ricardo Tormo Qualifying, Saturday, 8 November 2014 Weather: warm, light cloud Temperature: Ambient 20 degrees C / Track 27 degrees C HONDAS PEDROSA ON FRONT ROW AS MARQUEZ SLIDES OFF Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda RC213V) will start the final Grand Prix of a breathtaking 2014 MotoGP World Championship after qualifying a close third fastest at Valencias Circuito Ricardo Tormo this afternoon. The local hero will be joined on the front row by Andrea Iannone (Ducati) and pole position man Valentino Rossi (Yamaha), who scored his first pole position since May 2010. This was Pedrosas tenth front row of the season and puts him in an ideal position for the race, especially since Valencia is such a sinuous circuit which makes overtaking especially difficult. Strong winds were a problem for all riders during today, with Turn One a particular concern. Pedrosa said that the blustery conditions allowed him to get the right line through the crucial high-speed corner only once. However, the omens are good for the Spaniard who has enjoyed massive success at Valencia: in 2002 he took 125 victory, in 2004 and 2005 he won the 250 race and in 2007, 2009 and 2012 he triumphed in MotoGP. Recently crowned Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda RC213V) was running a close second fastest when he slid off with only a minute to go, preventing him from recording what should have been his fastest lap of the session. The twice MotoGP king slid off at Turn Four, the circuits first right-hander. He ended up fifth and will thus start the race from the middle of the second row, which will make a fast getaway more important than ever. Marquez has already won 12 races during his second MotoGP title-winning campaign and if he achieves a 13th win tomorrow he will take the most successful season record from former Repsol Honda rider Mick Doohan, who won 12 races during the 1997 500cc World Championship. Marquezs pre-race nerves usually start an hour or two before the 2pm start of the MotoGP race, but tomorrow its likely his biggest nerves will be saved for the 11am start of the Moto3 race, in which his younger brother Alex Marquez (Estrella Galicia 0,0 Honda NSF250RW) bids to win the Moto3 title against fierce opposition from Australian Jack Miller (KTM). Stefan Bradl (LCR Honda RC213V) completed the top ten in qualifying today, hampered by rear-end chatter with his second rear tyre during QP2. Alvaro Bautista (Team GO&FUN Honda Gresini RC213V) will start his last race on an RC213V from 13th on the grid after a difficult Saturday. Scott Redding (Team GO&FUN Honda Gresini RCV1000R) once again proved his speed by qualifying 14th and top Open Honda, just behind his RC213V-mounted team-mate, Bautista. Redding has already admitted that he is especially excited by this visit to Valencia, because on Monday he will get his first ride on a factory-spec RC213V. Nicky Hayden (Drive 7 Aspar Honda RCV1000R) wasnt entirely happy with his performance this afternoon - he found some traffic when using his second tyre and therefore was unable to get the lap time hed been aiming for. Hiroshi Aoyama (Drive 7 Aspar Honda RCV1000R) was 18th, two places behind his team-mate, as he gives Hondas brand-new Open-spec RCV213-RS its first run at a MotoGP event, prior to the machines full-time entry into next years World Championship. The machine is basically an RCV1000R with a revised engine, featuring pneumatic-valve springs, similar to the factory RC213V’s, and a revised chassis. Set-up time is obviously an issue on a brand-new motorcycle and thats what Aoyama lacks here. Karel Abraham (Cardion AB Motoracing Honda RCV1000R) was unhappy with his worst qualifying performance of the year which puts him 23rd on the grid. The battle for victory in the last Honda-powered Moto2 race of the year is tougher than ever with the fastest 22 riders separated by just 1.064 seconds. Pole went to newly crowned World Champion Tito Rabat (Marc VDS Racing Team, Kalex) for the 11th time this season. Joining him on the front row will be Johann Zarco (AirAsia Caterham, Caterham Suter) and impressive teenager Franco Morbidelli (Italtrans Racing Team, Kalex). Motegi race winner Thomas Luthi (Interwetten Paddock, Suter) heads the second row ahead of Xavier Simeon (Federal Oils Gresini, Suter) and Marcel Schrotter (Tech 3, Tech 3). Local star and Sepang winner Maverick Vinales (Paginas Amarillas HP 40, Kalex) could only managed eighth fastest today, albeit only four tenths off pole, so he will start the race from the middle of row three between Jonas Folger (AGR Team, Kalex) and Mika Kallio (Marc VDS Racing Team, Kalex), with whom he is disputing second overall. Much of the interest this weekend surrounds the Moto3 class, the only 2104 title that has yet to be decided. Marquez currently holds an 11 point lead over sole rival Miller, so if Miller wins tomorrows race, Marquez needs to finish second or third to secure the title. If he does so, he and brother Marc will make history as Grand Prix racings only sibling World Champions. Marquez ended qualifying a strong third fastest to give him a vital front-row start alongside rival Miller and pole-position man Niccolo Antonelli (KTM). Less than four tenths of a second cover the fastest three riders. Marquez did lead the session at one point, then slid off without injury. He soon returned to action but was unable to better his time. His team-mate Alex Rins (Estrella Galicia 0,0 Honda NSF250RW) was fifth quickest, which means he will take his place in the middle of the second row. Eighth-fastest John McPhee (SaxoPrint-RTG Honda NSF250RW) will start the race immediately behind Rins on the third row of the grid and alongside team-mate Efren Vazquez (SaxoPrint-RTG Honda NSF250RW) who was ninth. Czech GP winner Alexis Masbou (Ongetta-Rivacold Honda NSF250RW) was 15th and Zulfahmi Khairuddin (Ongetta-AirAsia Honda NSF250RW) 26th. Lady racer Maria Herrera (Junior Team Estrella Galicia 0,0 Honda NSF250RW) will start from 31st despite a crash in practice. There will be no peace for MotoGP riders after tomorrows season finale. Testing for the 2015 season is due to start at Valencia at noon on Monday. Honda MotoGP rider quotes Dani Pedrosa, Repsol Honda: pole position – 1m 30.999s “It was a difficult qualifying because there was much more wind than in the morning session. That made it hard to calculate the entry to corners and when to brake. As a result, I made a few mistakes and couldnt set a good lap at the beginning. Later, when I took the corners with a better line, the tyres were more worn down. At the end I was able to find those two tenths necessary to get onto the front row, so tomorrow we need to make the most of the position and have a good race.” Marc Marquez, Repsol Honda: 5th – 1m 31.144s “On the one hand Im happy, because we have a great pace and a great setup for tomorrow, but on the other hand I am a little annoyed that I made a mistake in qualifying. I apologise to the team, because we could have fought for pole position. I made one mistake on the first stint and another on the second, causing me to crash. You learn from these things and Ill go out tomorrow looking to enjoy the race, because we are ready to battle for the win.” Stefan Bradl, LCR Honda MotoGP: 10th – 1m 31.443 “I am totally unhappy because on our second rear tyre in QP2 I had some chattering so although I was pushing very hard I could not improve my lap time. I knew that the other guys would have pushed to improve in the last minutes and I wanted to do the same thing but at the end we are P10. It’s not the perfect position for the race tomorrow but Im thinking positively because the guys have a similar pace and I have a good pace too. I believe we can easily fight for a top six. Alvaro Bautista, Team GO&FUN Honda Gresini: 13th – 1m 32.160s “Our problem is always the lack of rear grip: the rear tyre looks like is cold every time, therefore I can’t push hard. Our race pace is limited: when I try to push to make one fast lap it’s impossible to go faster, because I lose the rear end everywhere. It’s a bit frustrating, but it’s the same feeling I had during almost all the second half of the season, and today the situation was not different. Tomorrow’s race will be again a difficult challenge: I will do my best to try to enjoy my last race with Honda. Scott Redding, Team GO&FUN Honda Gresini: 14th - 1m 32.315s “I’m happy because today we were able to keep the same good rhythm throughout the whole day, and moreover I did my best lap alone: this is important because it means that we can be fast in the race. At the moment we are still struggling a little bit with the front: in the qualifying we used the soft front tyre and the front was pushing, so we need to keep working to fix this issue. The choice of the front tyre for the race is going to depend a lot on the temperature, so we will see tomorrow”. Nicky Hayden, Drive 7 Aspar Honda: 16th - 1m 32.395s “Yesterday I was struggling into corners but we discovered that was something to do with the brakes after my Sepang crash. With that fixed, today was better. But I couldnt improve like I usually do with my second on qualifying - there was too much traffic and maybe I was trying too hard. The wind was a problem, especially into Turn One. Hiroshi Aoyama, Drive 7 Aspar Honda: 18th - 1m 32.449s “We lost some time this morning with a back-brake issue, which was important because we need maximum track time with a new machine. We also adjusted chassis set-up but came back to our original setting. I want to have a good race tomorrow. It may be my last MotoGP race so I want to finish it with a smile! Karel Abraham, Cardion AB Motoracing: 23rd – 1m 33.019s “Of course I know that is bad and Im mad about that. It is the worst qualifying result of the season, even though after Friday everything was going well. I wont blame anyone or anything; today it just didnt not go well, even though I tried to give it everything. My crash in FP4 did not help and we had to improvise a little bit. It was also a shame that Valentino went straight onto my line directly from garage. I had to swerve to not hit him. Tomorrow it wont be easy, but the bike is well prepared and we don’t have any real problems, so not all is lost. Moto2 rider quotes Tito Rabat, Marc VDS Racing Team: pole position - 1m 35.199s “Im so happy to be here and racing without the pressure of the title. I just want to enjoy myself this weekend and in the race tomorrow I will push, push, push. In qualifying it was so windy and I was sliding a lot. But the team did a great job and tomorrow I will do my best, enjoy myself and try and win the last race of the year. Johann Zarco, AirAsia Caterham: 2nd – 1m 35.242s “We were so strong yesterday, less so today, but the team worked really well. The start of qualifying wasnt great for us but I worked on my pace, kept calm and although it was a shame not to get pole, its great to be second. Tomorrow we will try to win because its always great to win the last race of the year. Franco Morbidelli, Italtrans Racing Team: 3rd – 1m 35.420s “This is a fantastic way to go into the last race of the year and tomorrow we will be working very hard to win my first race in Moto2. That would be an incredible way to start the winter. My thanks as always to my team, who have supported me so well this season! Honda Moto3 rider quotes Alex Marquez, Estrella Galicia 0,0: 3rd – 1m 39.556s Today went pretty well. In the morning it was colder, but we had a very good pace despite not setting any perfect lap. For the qualifying session we knew that if we went out with the same mentality we would manage to finish high up. The conditions changed a lot, because there was a lot more wind, but I think in the end we did very well. Wed talked within the team and we were both willing to help each other out. We did a very good job for both of us to qualify on the front two rows, so I thank Alex [Rins] for his help. I will start from third and have a good pace, so we are optimistic about tomorrow. Alex Rins, Estrella Galicia 0,0: 5th – 1m 39.716s “Today I felt pretty good and we have taken a step forward compared to yesterday, but we are never satisfied and always want to improve more. For tomorrow we have to work hard on the race. We have also used a bit of teamwork with Alex [Marquez], because in this category slipstreams are very important and we went out together, putting me ahead first and then him. Its what others do as well. Things are very tight and, although there are no team orders, if need be I will help Alex because we do not want to lose a championship over anything stupid. John McPhee, SaxoPrint-RTG: 8th - 1m 39.775s “That was okay. I had a good rhythm in FP3 and I carried that into qualifying with the bike feeling good. Mid-session I got in a good banker lap, then at the end there were a lot of people looking around for a tow and then someone ran me off the track on a good lap. Obviously Marquez is trying to win the title for Honda and if theres anything I can do to help... but at the same time Ill be riding my own race.
Posted on: Sun, 09 Nov 2014 13:15:40 +0000
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