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STONER JUST 0.094S OFF LE MANS POLE |
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Saturday, 19 May 2007 |
STONER JUST 0.094S OFF LE MANS POLE
 Ducati Marlboro Team rider Casey Stoner continued his remarkable run of
performances with a stirring ride in this afternoon's French GP
qualifying session that puts him second on the grid, just 0.094 seconds
off pole position. Team-mate Loris Capirossi had a tougher day, ending
up 15th fastest.
World Championship leader Stoner has now
qualified on the front two rows of the grid at all five races so far
this year, today's second place his best grid slot since the
season-opening Qatar GP. Even more impressive today was his pace in
race trim - a run of low 1m 35s laps that he finished off with an
amazing 1m 34.7s on well used tyres. Stoner's best lap on qualifying
tyres was almost three tenths inside last year's 990cc Le Mans pole,
highlighting the superb performance of Ducati's 800cc GP7 and its
Bridgestone tyres.
Capirossi was super competitive through the
faster sections of the Le Mans circuit today but struggled through the
slower parts. He finished the session 1.2 seconds off pole. Latest
weather forecasts suggest that tomorrow's French GP could be the first
wet race of the season.
CASEY STONER, 2nd fastest, 1m 33.710s
"I
haven't been off the front two rows this year which is a big surprise
for me because I'm not usually much of a qualifier. I thought we
might've had the pole today but Colin [Edwards] just pipped me at the
end. Anyway, the bike and tyres have been working brilliant all
weekend. Today we capitalised on the work we did yesterday - we made a
few more minor improvements, improving rear grip a little bit and
getting the corner entry a little better, so it's helping me all round.
This afternoon we were doing low 35s and I did a 34.7 with tyres that
had done over 20 laps so we're looking pretty strong. I'm not doing
anything much different myself this year but I've gone up a level in
team and found a bike and tyres that suit me, so the level of
everything has jumped up and we're able to keep that level through most
racetracks and most sessions, so it's real good. I've heard all sorts
of weather forecasts for tomorrow, so we'll just have to wait and see
what tomorrow holds, you never really know what it's going to do here
from hour to hour."
LORIS CAPIROSSI, 15th fastest, 1m 34.903s
"Qualifying
was difficult for me today, I'm not at all happy. What's really
disappointing is that I'm one of the fastest guys in the first two
splits, maybe even the fastest, but I'm losing a second through the
slower corners in T3 and T4. I've got no feeling with the gas, with the
throttle connection, so I'm struggling there. This is a big problem
that we need to work on. For sure this bike is a winning machine with
great potential but at the moment I can't use it at its best. For sure
I need to work on my riding style but I also need help from Ducati. I
have every confidence in them but we have to work on this engine. For
tomorrow I'm sure I'll be better in race conditions. I'll give my best
as always but starting from 15th will make my race very difficult."
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