Dani Pedrosa snatches Mugello pole position, Barbera on front row

Published on 14 Jul 2012 by Toni M.

Jorge Lorenzo seemed almost unbeatable in the start of the Italian GP weekend and everyone was expecting that the Yamaha rider would also take the pole position, instead in the finale of the session when he on route to confirm the top of the timesheets he was stopped by an electronics problem on his M1 that forced him to pit and unable to complete his last flying lap.

The pole position instead went to a fantastic Dani Pedrosa, who in the time attack stopped the clock with a blistering lap of 1’47″284 and breaking the Mugello pole position record by almost a second and take his second pole start of the season

Lorenzo’s previous lap before his problem was good enough for second - but his race pace is still easily faster than the rest of the field. The other upset of session was an amazing Hector Barbera who grabbed the final spot on the front row. The Pramac rider flying around the track without a tow (which he is notoriously known for) - to secure his first ever front row start in MotoGP. What was so amazing is that Barbera did it with the Desmosedici GP12 Zero (the same machine that was dropped by Rossi and Hayden after the post race Valencia tests last season).

Ducati factory rider Nicky Hayden took fourth, and the Kentucky Kid was just 0.381s from Lorenzo. If Barbera and Hayden shone on Ducati’s home circuti the same can’t be said the same for a bitter and laconic Valentino Rossi (10th and a massive 1.2s off pace) who said Barbera blocked him in his last lap and that he has no idea how to fix the situation he finds himself in.

Casey Stoner set-up and tire problems continued into the qualifying session as he finished ‘just’ fifth, and one of his worst qualifying sessions this season after the Jerez GP.

Yamaha Tech3s Cal Crutchlow took the sixth spot and this despite a crash at the Correntaio, the same turn that also saw Yamaha factory rider Ben Spies crash out earlier in the session - the American ended up 8th. Andrea Dovizioso ended up 7th hampered by James Ellison and Stefan Bradl brought his LCR satellite Honda into 9th.

If Rossi is having a bad weekend, it’s even worse for Alvaro Baustista who crashed in every single practice session, but avoiding it in qualifying and he ended up in 11th.

While many though the CRT machines would suffer mightly at the long Italian circuit, Aleix Espargaro proved it otherwise with his ART as he was 2.1 seconds from Pedrosa and less than half a second from Bautista.

MotoGP Mugello Qualifying Results:

01- Dani Pedrosa – Repsol Honda Team – Honda RC213V – 1’47.284
02- Jorge Lorenzo – Yamaha Factory Racing – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 0.139
03- Hector Barbera – Pramac Racing Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP12 – + 0.261
04- Nicky Hayden – Ducati Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP12 – + 0.387
05- Casey Stoner – Repsol Honda Team – Honda RC213V – + 0.405
06- Cal Crutchlow – Monster Yamaha Tech 3 – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 0.465
07- Andrea Dovizioso – Monster Yamaha Tech 3 – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 0.467
08- Stefan Bradl – LCR Honda MotoGP – Honda RC213V – + 0.573
09- Ben Spies – Yamaha Factory Racing – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 0.865
10- Valentino Rossi – Ducati Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP12 – + 1.218
11- Alvaro Bautista – San Carlo Honda Gresini – Honda RC213V – + 1.610
12- Aleix Espargaro – Power Electronics Aspar – ART GP12 – + 2.103
13- Randy De Puniet – Power Electronics Aspar – ART GP12 – + 2.166
14- Michele Pirro – San Carlo Honda Gresini – FTR Honda MGP12 – + 2.979
15- Yonny Hernandez – Avintia Blusens – BQR MotoGP – + 3.326
16- James Ellison – Paul Bird Motorsport – ART GP12 – + 3.528
17- Mattia Pasini – Speed Master Team – ART GP12 – + 3.669
18- Ivan Silva – Avintia Blusens – BQR MotoGP – + 3.958
19- Colin Edwards – NGM Mobile Forward Racing – Suter BMW – + 4.064
20- Danilo Petrucci – CAME Iodaracing Project – Ioda TR003 – + 4.189