Valentino Rossi an Nicky Hayden did not end qualifying in the position that they wanted to be in. Rossi and Hayden will both be starting from the third row, after earning a ninth and tenth place finish respectively.
But despite the disappointing qualifying at Le Mans, the Ducati team is confident that they can achieve positive results tomorrow at the French GP.
“Naturally, we’re not happy with our position,” Rossi said. “It’s not good because I had hoped to start from the second row. I’m pleased with the way we worked though, as well as with how I rode, because I was finally able to ride well. We solved some problems and we understood that other aspects of the setup weren’t going in the right direction, so we changed them.
“I think this was our best qualifying session since I’ve been at Ducati, because with just a few minutes left, I was inside sixth place. Unfortunately, when the moment to use the softer tyre came, we didn’t make a big enough step, so Sunday I’ll have to start from the third row, behind some riders who had a slower pace. We have a couple more ideas to try in the warm-up though and if they work, we can do better in the race.”
Nicky Hayden was also hoping to score a better position for tomorrow’s race. Hayden was running at the top of the pack during the first qualifying session, but couldn’t find the same pace today.
"This morning wasn’t bad, but I hoped for more in qualifying,” Hayden said. “The bike was working quite well at the pace I’ve been running, but when I tried to cut those last couple of tenths, it was moving around a lot. It’s unfortunate after being fourth yesterday and fifth this morning, I was hoping to be up a few spots, but I don’t really have a lot of excuses. I had a couple of good, clear laps, but I just didn’t put down the lap time I needed to. I'm starting tenth, and as bad as that sounds, it’s my best grid spot of the year. Anyway, tomorrow is what counts.”
