Malaysian Grand Prix Qualifying - Rider Quotes
- Oct 24, 2015
- 5 min read
Dani Pedrosa will start on pole for the first time since Barcelona last year after a blistering lap of 1:59.053 saw the Spaniard annihilate the existing pole record by eight tenths of a second.
The Honda rider's race pace is also strong, in fact stronger than that of the chasing Marc Marquez, Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo. The former is a lot closer to his team-mate than the two Yamahas, but both Rossi and Lorenzo feel confident of being able to race the RC213V-mounted Spaniard's tomorrow.
Valentino has a chance of wrapping up the championship tomorrow if leaves Sepang with twenty-six points over his team-mate. The Italian has admitted that this will be difficult, but snatching a front row start away from Lorenzo right at the death by just under a hundredth will given him a tiny confidence boost.
Elsewhere, Cal Crutchlow impressed in fifth, as did Maverick Vinales in eighth and Hector Barbera in tenth.
So lets take a look at what some of the riders have had to say about their qualifying and their prospects for the race.
Dani Pedrosa, Repsol Honda Team: 1st – 1:59.053
“The team did a great job! We will have to concentrate a lot in the race, because the tyres are suffering at this track so there is a possibility of making mistakes, and we must be attentive on every lap. I will try to ride as best I can, but I'm sure that the bike and tyres will have a tough time. We will have to see how the track is tomorrow, because with so much heat we might not have as much grip as now; we will have to feel it out on the first few laps.”
Marc Marquez, Repsol Honda Team: 2nd – 1:59.462
“Dani did a great lap, which was difficult to beat! We will try to give 100% from the start of the race, which I think will be tough physically, but I think we are good in terms of our race pace. I am finding things harder with fresh tyres here – compared to other circuits – especially the front and that was seen when I came close to crashing! We have been doing quite well during the weekend; we're not totally comfortable but we're handling the situation well and finding our race pace.”
Valentino Rossi, Movistar Yamaha MotoGP: 3rd – 1:59.726
“It's just the practice, so nothing is done, but it's a very important first row. On the last lap I was able to improve my lap time a little bit and overtake Jorge. Starting from the first row will be very important, but winning the race is always difficult. Here with the heat and the tyres the race is even tougher. Anything can happen, but we are on the front row and this is important. Sepang is one of the toughest Grand Prix because it's very hot, but a lot of qualifying sessions have been more difficult than today's has been for me, because today I was competitive and I enjoyed it. I arrived at the qualifying ready with a good setting and pace, so I was able to push and already on the second tyre I was able to put in a 1:59s. I knew that I was able to do this, it was the target, but I was hoping for something a little bit more and on the last lap I was able to deliver thanks to good concentration and good grip from the bike, so I'm happy. Starting from the front row is always important, but here it's a bit more important because I beat Jorge, but the race happens tomorrow and it will be difficult for everybody. We will try to be ready.”
Maverick Vinales, Team Suzuki Ecstar: 8th, 2:00.478
“Finally today was better than yesterday, we have worked hard to find some solutions to fix the problems I had yesterday with the grip, we are not yet performing at our 100% but we could improve and this is important. For some reason I could not get the direct access to Q2, but strangely this turned to my advantage because during Q1 we could try some improvements in the machine's configuration and we found positive solutions. Maybe I'm not totally satisfied for the FP4 where we tried our race pace, but we already have some ideas about what to do and we still have the warm up to improve further. This will not be easy, the heat is killing all of us, therefore I will try to do my best for a good race. Probably the best strategy will be the same I had in Australia; try to take advantage of the position in grid and be fastest as possible in the very early laps, in order to keep in touch with the leading group. We still need to work more, in order to keep in touch with the leading group. We still need to work more, but I feel we have some directions and I'm confident we can improve.”
Andrea Iannone, Ducati Team: 6th – 2:00.224
“I think that today it was difficult for me to do anything more. I tried to give my maximum, but I'm struggling to get the bike through the turns and so was not able to go any quicker. Obviously we are not happy, but now we must stay focused and continue working to understand the right direction to take in order to reduce our problems to a minimum or at least manage to quick-fix them. I don't expect any big changes for tomorrow's race, but all things considered I'm not in such a bad position. As for our race pace in FP4, after Dani and Marc there are Jorge and me, then Vale, but we will have to see if and how much the situation will change with the race tyre.”
Cal Crutchlow, LCR Honda: 5th – 2:00.199
“We are happy with our position for tomorrow's race. I still believe I could have done a better lap time as I went quicker here during the tests at the start of the year, but we know the conditions are very different now so overall, to be on the second row, we are pleased. We now have to work hard ahead of tomorrow's race and look at the areas we can improve. We need to work on the rear grip during corner entry and corner exit, but I feel positive ahead of the race.”
Bradley Smith, Monster Yamaha Tech 3: 9th – 2:00.652
“I have to say that today as a whole went much better than yesterday and the end result is quite satisfying. The team worked really hard last night to give me a good bike that I felt much more confident with, so we have to say that we definitely made some significant steps forward as we found the best direction to head towards for this circuit. Of course, running in QP1 was never part of the plan, but actually I am pleased that I did as it gave us a bit more time to make some final adjustments before qualifying two. In terms of lap times, we partly closed the gap to the Factor Yamaha riders which is a real positive.
“The pole time was very quick today and for sure, it was out of reach for me, yet when we compare our best lap to the other riders on the same bike, we were close enough. The most significant aspect about today's result is that I will start on the same row of the grid as Dovizioso, who is my championship rival which means that I have a good chance of passing him on the run down to the turn one. We need to work a bit more on my rhythm in warm up, but I am confident about the race now as we definitely went in the right direction today. With a good start tomorrow, I am confident that I can get back into a position I want to be in and I will fight as much as possible in the twenty-lap battle.”
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