Dani Pedrosa will start the Cardion ab Grand Prix Czech Republic from pole position on Sunday after a fantastic qualifying effort at Brno. The Repsol Honda rider’s best lap of 1:56.508 delivered his third pole of the season and placed him just over three-tenths of a second clear at the top of the timesheet in a session that had a dramatic climax.
American rookie Ben Spies had looked to be on course for a sensational first ever MotoGP pole when he assumed the lead time with only a few minutes remaining. The Monster Yamaha Tech 3 rookie will not be disappointed with second spot on the grid next to Pedrosa as he starts a premier class race from the front row for the first time.
Championship leader Jorge Lorenzo will attempt to achieve his seventh win of the campaign from the final front-row spot having qualified at 0.357s off Pedrosa’s pace. The Fiat Yamaha rider had a fall right at the end of the hour-long session when pushing through turn 11, a crash which did not result in any side effects.
Casey Stoner was not satisfied with his Ducati Team machine as he struggled with corner exit, but a determined final push at the end of session placed the Australian fourth and he and his team will work hard overnight to correct the rear grip issues he appeared to be having. Valentino Rossi (Fiat Yamaha), at just over half a second off pole, will start from fifth and the reigning World Champion was extremely frustrated to have a fall at turn 13 just moments after Lorenzo went down. Repsol Honda rider Andrea Dovizioso will complete the second row after taking his factory RC212V round in the sixth best time.
The third row will comprise Colin Edwards (Monster Yamaha Tech 3), Nicky Hayden (Ducati Team) and rookie Héctor Barberá (Páginas Amarillas Aspar), with Loris Capirossi (Rizla Suzuki) tenth. Randy de Puniet (LCR Honda) will start from 11th on his return from injury.
Marco Simoncelli (San Carlo Honda Gresini Team) had a fall inside the opening ten minutes but returned to the track to qualify 12th, whilst Hayden had a crash at turn three with 15 minutes remaining which resulted in a chipped radius in his left arm – the American will be fit to race. Absent from the session was Álvaro Bautista (Rizla Suzuki) following his crash in the morning practice, and a decision on his participation in the race will be made on Sunday morning.
