After a disappointing first day, the MotoGP riders found their grip on the newly paved Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Casey Stoner claimed his 7th pole position of the season today with a new lap record at Indy.
Here is what the top 10 MotoGP qualifiers were saying after their second day of racing at the Brickyard.
Stoner - 1st - 1'38.850 - "I'm very happy with pole here in Indy, the team have been doing a great job under difficult conditions this weekend, but we will keep working right up until the last moment to try and get the set up right. Obviously without the bumps the track is a lot better, but the lack of consistency in the grip levels are causing issues, everyone is losing the front and it doesn't give you a lot of confidence, when you hit these patches the bike just seems to drop away from you. We haven't changed too much since FP1, just a few small steps and trying to get the front tyre to work more with such little grip, we are destroying it. For race distance we're looking pretty good, we did more than race distance on soft front and soft rear and had good stability, we'll wait and see what the conditions are like for tomorrow and decide from there."
Spies - 2nd - 1'39.373 - "It was good today, we didn't have a fast lap in the end but we got on the front row. We did over 30 laps on a set of tyres and went quite quick at the end, still able to do 39s which is good. The last couple of laps we tried our hardest to catch Casey but with five minutes to go I think I ripped my tank spacer off that holds me back on the bike which didn't help. I wasn't disappointed as I knew we had a gap to fourth so we'd be on the front row. It wasn't the perfect session and Casey was just too fast. I think the race will be different; the tyres will be pretty greasy after ten laps but my bike's working really well on used tyres so we'll see what happens."
Lorenzo - 3rd - 1'39.629 - "Qualifying was much better than the other three practices so far this weekend. I improved a lot and had a lot more confidence with the front, we changed one bike completely which worked. We are much more confident for tomorrow now. I would like to be closer to Casey, but seven tenths is better than one second and a half. It's going to be a very tough race for everybody. The front tyre, especially on the left side is graining from the fourth lap so it's going to be a complicated ride. Let's see what happens."
Pedrosa - 4th - 1'39.947 - "We had some issues in the session with the front tyre, I didn't feel very comfortable with it and we couldn't get the most from it. I wasn't going super fast and I missed the first row, but I'm not worried. We would like to be closer to Casey and Ben - they have been very fast and consistent, so I hope to find something more tomorrow morning in the warm up to help us fight for the podium. The race will be hard because it's very hot out there, and it will also be a big challenge for the tyres, but I hope we perform better in the race."
Dovizioso - 5th - 1'40.024 - "Starting from the second row tomorrow isn't too bad. It will be important to have a good start and ride consistently, trying to manage the tyres for the twenty eight lap race. The rear grip is too strong compared with the front which causes the front tyre to overheat, this remains the main issue so we need to continue working with the set up to rectify this. During qualifying the ground temperature reached fifty one degrees, these conditions are really demanding for the tyres. Concerning the pace, I have good rhythm and even though the gap to Casey remains too big for my liking, I think we can fight with Dani and Lorenzo for a podium position, this is our target and we will continue working to improve the machine for the race."
Edwards - 6th - 1'40.098 - "The weekend has been great so far and now I'm really looking forward to the race tomorrow. I haven't been out of the top six in every session and everything has been working fantastic. I feel great on the bike, my Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team have been working tirelessly again to give me a competitive package, and I'm sure a realistic goal is to finish in the top six. That would be a great result and I'm hoping to put on a good show for the Indy crowd tomorrow. The new pavement was a million times better today. Yesterday it was greasy and I was sliding around all over the place, but to finish third in that first practice session gave me a lot of confidence immediately and we have just built on that. The bike has felt the best it has for a few races and now I'm excited for the race. I need a good start but I'll be looking to have a good fight with Dovizioso and Simoncelli. In this heat it is going to be a long and tough race, but I'll be giving it my all for the American fans."
Simoncelli - 7th - 1'20.204 - "Obviously I was hoping to do better than this because things weren't going too badly or us in the first half of qualifying. I was optimistic because my pace on race tyres was good but when we put a new rear in to chase a faster lap time the front was completely destroyed within a couple of laps and I couldn't push the bike as I wanted to. Now we will have a look at the data and do some work for the race to and find a solution that will save on front tyre wear. As I said I am still optimistic about my race pace and even though a podium will be difficult and even more so the win, we have a good chance of improving on our starting position."
Hayden - 8th - 1'40.244 - "Compared to yesterday, we had wanted to take a step forward in qualifying, but I got a bit confused this morning, and my feedback to the team wasn't as good as it should have been. This bike is new for us, and we still need more experience with it. Anyway, we still salvaged the third row in the end, which is better than I was. Tyre wear is going to be a big question mark for me. I'm sorry for my fans and the Ducati supporters who want to see us qualifying up front, but we'll give it our best tomorrow. They say there may be cooler weather, which normally helps us a little bit, so maybe we'll catch a break"
Bautista - 9th - 1'40.333 - "The qualifying today was not too bad compared with the last few races, so this is a lot better for us. We tried a long run at the start of the session and the grip from the rear was no problem, but the front did not have enough life in it to make a full race length. This will make things difficult for tomorrow, because we have to try and preserve the front tyre and make sure we have enough durability for 28-laps. We are starting from the third row so the main thing will be to get a good start and stay with the front guys. We will look at today's data to see if we can use a setting that will give us more life in the tyre and stop it dropping off and sliding around. I am looking forward to tomorrow because we have a better grid position and I will give it full gas and 100% to get a good result."
Barbera - 10th - 1'40.360 - "We have a really good set-up now and that helped us get on the pace today. What is worrying me is that the tyres are completely destroyed after ten laps, especially the front. The rear tyre is a pretty obvious choice; it is just the front we need to decide so we'll work on that in the warm-up. We did a good job today and made more progress but I still think we have room for improvement and need to keep pushing. I had fun on the bike though and we have improved a lot from the morning to the afternoon so we'll keep going in the same way from here."
