Dani Pedrosa takes first 2012 pole position at Le Mans
Published on 19 May 2012 by Toni M.
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In wet, then drying and dry conditions of this afternoon’s MotoGP qualifying session at Le Mans saw an in house Repsol Honda battle between Dani Pedrosa and Casey Stoner for the pole position, with the Spaniard delivering a blistering 1’33″638 lap in the last two minutes that sealed the 1st place on tomorrow’s starting grid, and his first pole position of the season (his last was at Brno last year). Stoner was unable to replicate and finished in second and was 0.303s adrift.
Closing the front row will be Tech3’s Andrea Dovizioso who was just 0.035s from Stoner and could have probably pipped the Australian if he didn’t find Hector Barbera bothering him. The second row is all Yamaha, with Jorge Lorenzo in fourth after having to abort his last flying lap due to the usual traffic, with Cal Crutchlow in fifth and factory team mate Ben Spies in sixth, but the American was half a second adrift from his satellite counterpart.
Valentino Rossi qualified 7th - his best so far this season - and he was one of the several riders that topped the timesheeets when the track was still wet. Alvaro Bautista had another impressive session but then slipped to 8th and with a crash in the finale. Following the Gresini rider was a small bevy of Ducati’s lead by Hector Barbera and Karel Abraham who shined in the beginning of the practice, while factory rider Nicky Hayden fell back to 11th as lap times dropped and everyone pulled out their slicks.
Randy De Puniet qualified 12th, ahead of Stefan Bradl’s Honda prototype, but the rookie rider had a massive highside at Musée turn after he switched to his slick tire that left him limping.
Mattia Pasini who suffered a big crash this morning which left him with a fracture to his fourth metatarsal bone in his left foot and a wrist injury, qualified only 20th, but on the wet the Italian had made it into the top ten.
MotoGP Le Mans qualifying results:
01- Dani Pedrosa – Repsol Honda Team – Honda RC213V – 1’33.638
02- Casey Stoner – Repsol Honda Team – Honda RC213V – + 0.303
03- Andrea Dovizioso – Monster Yamaha Tech 3 – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 0.338
04- Jorge Lorenzo – Yamaha Factory Racing – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 0.466
05- Cal Crutchlow – Monster Yamaha Tech 3 – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 0.540
06- Ben Spies – Yamaha Factory Racing – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 1.031
07- Valentino Rossi – Ducati Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP12 – + 1.269
08- Alvaro Bautista – San Carlo Honda Gresini – Honda RC213V – + 1.284
09- Hector Barbera – Pramac Racing Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP12 – + 1.312
10- Karel Abraham – Cardion AB Motoracing – Ducati Desmosedici GP12 – + 1.612
11- Nicky Hayden – Ducati Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP12 – + 1.653
12- Randy De Puniet – Power Electronics Aspar – ART GP12 – + 2.056
13- Stefan Bradl – LCR Honda MotoGP – Honda RC213V – + 2.224
14- Michele Pirro – San Carlo Honda Gresini – FTR Honda – + 3.008
15- Yonny Hernandez – Avintia Blusens – FTR Kawasaki – + 3.564
16- James Ellison – Paul Bird Motorsport – ART GP12 – + 4.028
17- Aleix Espargaro – Power Electronics Aspar – ART GP12 – + 4.122
18- Danilo Petrucci – CAME Iodaracing Project – Ioda TR003 – + 4.129
19- Ivan Silva – Avintia Blusens – FTR Kawasaki – + 4.560
20- Mattia Pasini – Speed Master Team – ART GP12 – + 4.873
21- Chris Vermeulen – NGM Mobile Forward Racing – Suter BMW – + 5.020
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Tim Marcelo Louis
19 May 2012 - 19:00 - #1How long are we going to have to wait until we hear Stoner tell us about how his arm pump, chasis chatter, flu, air pressure, competitors slowed him down etc. LOl