MOTEGI, Japan: Andrea Dovizioso stormed to Ducati’s first pole position since 2010 and in record time yesterday as he eclipsed title-seeking championship leader Marc Marquez at the Japanese MotoGP.
The Italian set a new pole record of 1min 44.502sec at the Twin Ring Motegi circuit as he put Ducati at the front of the grid for the first time since Casey Stoner at Valencia in 2010.
Yamaha’s Valentino Rossi placed second and Dani Pedrosa was third in front of his Honda team-mate Marquez, whose bid to wrap up the title with three races to spare has been hindered by glitches. The 21-year-old Spaniard, who had a minor crash after a brake malfunction on Friday, had to pull off the track and switch to a new bike during yesterday’s practice.
He said he may be forced to ride for points rather than the win on Sunday, which he may not need to seal his second straight title. Marquez is 75 points clear of Pedrosa in the standings.
“If I feel good, obviously, I will try to push and try to go for the victory. But I will try to manage my limit,” Marquez said.
“If I feel that for some reason, especially Dani or Valentino, on that day, if they are faster than everybody, we will try to get points,” he said.
“Maybe the strongest one looks like (Jorge) Lorenzo. He is behind me and behind everyone on the grid, but for the race, (he could be) the strongest one,” Marquez added.
Meanwhile, Dovizioso used soft tyres to outshine rivals at Motegi circuit, known for its stop-and-go design with lots of hard braking and acceleration points.
“I was able to make the lap time... and it was not easy on this track,” the Italian said.
“We know the level of the competitors and it will be difficult to fight for the podium, but it is not impossible,” he said.
In dry conditions, Marquez was 0.273sec slower than Dovizioso and expected a tight fight today. Yamaha’s Lorenzo placed fifth.
“I am happy because we improved a lot compared with yesterday. The rhythm is really good. I feel good,” Marquez said.
“I will try tomorrow to fight for the victory, of course. We are really close compared with Lorenzo, Valentino and Dani.” AFP
Doha: QMMF Racing Team riders Anthony West and Roman Ramos had high hopes for the crucial qualifying session at the Grand Prix of Japan, but lost more ground to their rivals instead of gaining positions on the starting grid.
West had a bad start of the day when he suffered his second crash of the weekend in yesterday’s third free practice session, with the chattering problems that caused his first tumble on Friday afternoon being the cause of the incident once again.
For the afternoon, his technical crew had not only fixed the bike itself but the set-up as well and West was ready to fight. But on his decisive run with new tyres, he was unlucky with the timing of his attack and with traffic on the track.
Team-mate Ramos, a newcomer to the challenging Twin Ring Motegi, struggled with set-up problems and his own riding all day long and ran out of time just when his technicians had found the right direction with the settings for his Speed Up prototype. With his never-give-up attitude, Ramos now hopes to improve in the warm-up session on Sunday morning and to put up a good show in the race.
“The chattering problem that we had yesterday appeared again in the third free practice session this morning and for this reason, I had another crash. My mechanics did a great job fixing the bike in time and also in making some positive changes to the set-up for qualifying this afternoon,” West said.
“It was a difficult day. I was determined to improve in comparison to yesterday, but it wasn’t possible. I didn’t feel good with the bike and at the moment. Tomorrow, we will make a big change to the set-up,” said Ramos.
The Peninsula
