he predicted rain during the MotoGP series qualifying stayed away until the final minutes but neither it nor the 2010 champion could have stopped Casey Stoner from laying down a final blistering lap time to score his third consecutive Australian Grand Prix pole.
We have had two good sessions today, making progress in the last half an hour of this morning and another big step again in the last half hour of the afternoon." said Stoner. "With the last two soft tyres I was able to make a substantial improvement to the lap time and we're in the best possible position for tomorrow so I'm pretty happy so far."
Riding his Ducati to a 1:30.107 in the closing minutes on the Phillip Island Circuit guaranteed him not only his third pole of the season but a good chance to land his fourth consecutive victory in his home race.
At one point, 2010 champion Jorge Lorenzo put his Fiat Yamaha on the provisional pole by laying down the first sub 1 minute, 31 second lap. With 14 minutes remaining in the session, the Spaniard laid down a 1:30.775. Stoner replied back within four minutes. To ensure his 25th career pole on the same day he turned 25, the Aussie continued to turn hot laps and was 0.668 seconds faster than the new champion.
"I always seem to celebrate my birthday here at Phillip Island but I guess there are worse places to be!" smiled Stoner. "We have had virtually every single condition you could imagine thrown at us this weekend so we'll have to wait and see what happens tomorrow before we make any decisions on set-up but so far I think we have done the best possible job in every condition. I'm quite happy with the setting in the wet even though we haven't had a fully wet session, which made it difficult to get a good reading from the bike."
Lorenzo will start in the middle of the front row. "These conditions were really risky because it was so cold and also incredibly windy," said the new champion. "It was hard to stay on the bike sometimes! I'm happy with my race pace which is unusual for me here because I've never been so strong in MotoGP at this track, but I think we've done a good job.
"I wanted pole today but the weather and Casey stopped me - he is so quick here. We have the second best time so it is okay and I am feeling very calm after last weekend. We hope the weather is like this or better tomorrow, with no rain, and then we will go for it and see what happens in the race. I am ready for the race; I just want to enjoy it," added Lorenzo.
On the outside of the front row is Ben Spies for the Tech 3 Yamaha team. The American's best was a 1:31.386, six-tenths slower than Lorenzo and over one second off the pace of Stoner's pole winning time.
"I'm really happy to be on the front row again but a little bit surprised," Spies said. "I was really happy with my pace and the lap times earlier in the session but each time I tried to go quicker in the last part I'd have spots of rain on my visor. I'd warm up the tyres and see nothing but as soon as I'd push going into the first corner to start a fast lap, I was getting a lot of rain on my visor. I didn't want to take a big risk when I knew I was already pretty close to the front row."
Spies goal is not just to finish high up in the final standings before he makes his move to the factory team next year but he also has a good chance to clinch the Rookie of the Year title tomorrow.
"My qualifying time is a pace that I can run in the race, so I'm happy with that," added the American. "I'm confident because I haven't finished a session thinking I put in a great session. So if we can put everything together and ride really well and the bike is working good, maybe I can fight for the podium. I've got the lap time to make the podium but I just want to make the bike better for the last ten laps of the race. It would be nice to clinch the Rookie of the Year title tomorrow. It would be another box ticked in what has been a really positive season so far."
Marco Simoncelli had his best qualifying run with a 1:31.402 for the Gresini Racing team. The Italian nearly had his Honda on the front row missing third by 0.016 seconds.
"I am really happy because we have qualified on the third row for the last few races but today I managed it and with a little bit more I could have been on the front row!" beamed Simoncelli. "I'm really pleased with this although being honest I have to admit that Spies is probably a bit faster. We have made a good step this morning though and now all we have to do is look ahead to the race. The wind was a bit of a problem today, especially when I was on my fast lap. I was behind Stoner at that point and I honestly cannot understand how he manages to go so fast!"
The rest of he field was fairly close in time to fill out the grid. Tech 3's Colin Edwards turned a 1:31.415 followed by Nicky Hayden (Ducati) with a 1:31.530 to finalize the second row. Three riders who are more use to being in the top six ended up on the third row: LCR Honda's Randy de Puniet, Valentino Rossi who recently earned his 46th premier series victory on his No. 46 Fiat Yamaha and Andrea Dovizioso for Repsol Honda.
Two riders crashed during qualifying but both appeared to walk away okay: Rizla Suzuki's Loris Capirossi and Team Aspar's Hector Barbera. They sit 17 and 16 on the grid, respectively. Dani Pedrosa continues to hold down the sub-champion slot in the standings but the Spaniard missed two races due to a broken collarbone in Japan's first practice and his first ride on his Repsol Honda was yesterday in the rain. He qualified 15th.
"The plan today was simply to check my condition on the bike - in these conditions I didn't want to take any unnecessary risks," said Pedrosa. "What I can say is that I had some strength to move on the bike and put pressure on the handlebars which is good. However, I didn't feel very comfortable with the leathers because they were tight and there was pressure - but even with that I could do some laps and tomorrow I will try again - we will go step-by-step. Now it's quite painful but we will see how the pain goes through the night and tomorrow we will take another step."
[UPDATE FROM PHILLIP ISLAND]Capirossi appeared okay after his crash during qualifying and had planned to ride on Sunday even after MotoGP's Clinica Mobile diagnosed an injury to his left groin. However, further examination late Saturday showed that he an "a strain to the Adductor muscle at the top of the left thigh" per Rizla Suzuki spokesperson.
The Italian has withdrawn from the Australian GP to to return home for treatment. "I am so disappointed that I have had to withdraw from the race, I did not want to, but the doctors said that the strain would have made it difficult for me to hang on to the bike and control it for the whole race, so they had to declare me unfit," he said. "It was been quite a miserable three races for me and now I need to get back home and make sure I am as fit as possible for the last two races. I still have a lot to do this season and I want to end the year as competitive as possible."