Dani Pedrosa continues to be faithful to the front of the grid and he will start there for the ninth time this season tomorrow after only missing out at Mugello, where he went on to win the race.
The double World Champion has made maximum preparations for the Czech Republic Grand Prix, where victory will not come cheaply.
Pedrosa fired the starting gun with five minutes remaining of an exciting qualifying session and was the first rider to smash the pole record which had belonged to Tetsuya Harada since 2000. Dani posted a lap of 2’02”2 four laps from the end and from that point onwards the battle for pole began. In the end he missed out by just 0.003 seconds but the configuration of the bike and his race pace make him one of the favourites for victory tomorrow.
Hiroshi Aoyama, meanwhile, will start from eighth on the grid. The Japanese rider was unable to hold his place on the front row but did improve his best time from yesterday in the final stages of the session. Hiro also expects to stick with the front group and continue with the progression he has shown in recent races.
DANI PEDROSA (2nd, 2’02”264): “It’s gone quite well today; I’m happy with the whole weekend so far. We continued to improve the bike and cleared up a few doubts that we had yesterday so the configuration is now good. The tyres are also chosen provided the conditions stay like this and it doesn’t rain. I hope to get a good start. I know it will be a group race and everything could be decided at the end so we’ll have to be ready.”
HIROSHI AOYAMA (8th, 2’03”131): “I finally managed to improve my time from yesterday in the last few minutes but I lost some places on the grid so I can’t be completely satisfied. But I have it clear that the important thing is the race and I know that I can do better than eighth place on the grid suggests. This afternoon I felt good and I’m confident I can run with the front group from the start. We’ll have to confirm the setting in the warm up and just go for it.”
LAP TIMES
1. Jorge Lorenzo (Esp/Honda)2’02”261
2. Dani Pedrosa (Esp/Honda)& + 0”003
3. Casey Stoner (Aus/Aprilia) + 0”207
4. Andrea Dovizioso (Ita/Honda) + 0”232
5. Randy De Puniet (Fra/Aprilia) + 0”552
6. Sebastián Porto (Arg/Aprilia) + 0”561
7. Alex De Angelis (RSM/Aprilia) + 0”590
8. Hiroshi Aoyama (Jap/Honda) + 0”870