This was a MotoGP qualifying session to savour and it was a triumph for Dani Pedrosa
(Repsol Honda RC212V) as he squeezed both former Champ Valentino Rossi (Yamaha)
and newly crowned World number one Casey Stoner (Ducati) into second and third slots
with a masterful lap of this challenging circuit.
Stoner had set the early pace with a swift 1m 29.998s lap and the order behind him was
Randy de Puniet (Kawasaki), Loris Capirossi (Ducati), then Rossi and local hotshot
Anthony West (Kawasaki). Dani lay ninth and his team-mate Nicky Hayden (Repsol
Honda RC212V) was seventh.
Marco Melandri (Gresini Honda RC212V) was holding eighth spot when with 15 minutes to
go the action got hotter in sunny, but chilly and windy, conditions with an ambient
temperature of 16 degrees and with the track surface at just 24 degrees.
With sticky qualifying rubber fitted for the final ten minutes of flat out flying lap mayhem,
Sylvain Guintoli (Yamaha) hoisted himself to seventh while Dani put a claim on the front
row with a lap good enough for third. Rossi lay fifth.
But with nine minutes of this hour-long session left to run, Rossi put in a 1m 29.816s time
of this 4.448km coastal track to grab pole. It looked as if these qualifying laps from the
front runners might hover around the high 1m 29s region as Stoner then replied to
Rossi’s marker with a 1m 29.816s time with six minutes left on the clock.
But Pedrosa was on a mission and Dani’s amazing talent yielded a 1m 29.201s lap to put
pole way beyond the reach of his rivals. Rossi came closest when he dislodged Stoner
from second on the grid with three minutes remaining.
Capirossi too was back in the mix and the veteran Italian elevated himself to fourth
before slipping down the order to fifth when Nicky posted a 1m 29.932s time to head the
second row of the grid for tomorrow’s 27-lap encounter at this imposing venue. full story
on world.honda.com
Phillip Island, Melbourne, Australia, October 13, 2007
2007 FIM MotoGP World Championship Round 16
Phillip Island Qualifying
1. Dani Pedrosa (Spain/Honda) 1.29, 201
2. Valentino Rossi (Italy/Yamaha) + 0,218
3. Casey Stoner (Australia/Ducati) + 0,615
4. Nicky Hayden (USA/Honda) + 0,731
5. Loris Capirossi (Italy/Ducati) + 0,889
6. Randy de Puniet (French Republic/Kawasaki) + 0,909
7. Alex Barros (Brazil/Ducati) + 1,214
8. Shinya Nakano (Japan/Honda) + 1,411
9. Sylvain Guintoli (French Republic/Yamaha) + 1,042
10. Anthony West (Australia/Kawasaki) + 1,448
11. Colin Edwards (USA/Yamaha) + 1,475
12. Marco Melandri (Italy/Honda) + 1,877
13. Carlos Checa (Spain/Honda) + 2,002
14. John Hopkins (USA/Suzuki) + 2,185
15. Makoto Tamada (Japan/Yamaha) + 2,394
16. Chris Vermeulen (Australia/Suzuki) + 2,609
17. Chaz Davies (Great Britain/Ducati) + 2,842
18. Toni Elias (Spain/Honda) + 3,241
19. Kurtis Roberts (USA/KR212v) + 3,747