Laguna Seca : Repsol Honda – Day TwoMotoGP never looks less than spectacular here at Laguna Seca and under azure skies the final hour of qualifying showed just why.
Casey Stoner (Ducati) upped his game twice in the final moments of this session to start from the
front row. Alongside him as second fastest man is Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda RC212V) and Chris Vermeulen (Suzuki) the third quickest contender.
And with Nicky Hayden (Repsol Honda RC212V) finishing up as the fourth fastest qualifier to head row two of the grid. This starting line-up has all the hallmarks of an intense race to come tomorrow. With Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) fifth on the grid and Stoner's team-mate Loris Capirossi in sixth on row two, there are so many proven and potential race-winners set to fire it off the line.
The first 15 riders on the grid are covered by less than a second and spectacularly involving as the racing invariably is here, this also promises to be one of the more critical races in terms of the momentum of the World Championship before the summer break.
Second fastest man Dani said: “Today we improved the set-up a lot, which was the most important target of the day. I'm also happy to be starting from the front row of the grid again because that's always an advantage and gives you a chance of getting in front in the first few laps. The race set-up we've found is not bad and we've got a good idea on the race tyres too so we'll just be making a few minor adjustments according to what we've learned today. My qualifying laps weren't bad, but I hit some traffic on the first one which cost me time - the second qualifying lap was a little better."
Nicky, heading row two, as fourth fastest qualifier, said: "In the morning we made quite a lot of progress and put in some decent lap times. Thanks to Pete and the boys because they did an awesome job to improve things this morning. When the conditions change in the afternoon it seems to go away from me though and I'm a little way off with the race set-up.
I really wanted to get a little higher in qualifying today and I think we had the bike and the tyres to do it - I just didn't get the most out of the package. I'm a little worried about the race because I seem to be struggling in the afternoons."
Honda Motor Sports
