Casey Stoner took his first pole position of the season in what turned out to be an exciting and very tight qualifying at Estoril for the top riders, with nine riders in less than a second, but we will be hearing several angry complaints regarding slower riders after today.
The session however was red flagged with only eleven minutes left, when Randy de Puniet came in too hot at turn 4 and in the change of direction lost control of his Aprilia CRT and went down wiping out an unsuspecting Colin Edwards who hit his head hard on the asphalt.
Edwards was stretchered off to the medical centre with a probable left collarbone fracture, while a groggy De Puniet made was able to get there under his own steam with some bruised ribs and a small finger injury.
The Repsol Honda rider layed down a stratospheric 1′37.
188, but it wasn’t easy as he struggled with fourth sector where he would lose all the advantage, but in the end he managed to pip his team mate Dani Pedrosa by just 0.
013s, however the Spaniard was baulked by traffic in his last flying lapTaking off on the first row will be the ‘new’ alien Cal Crutchlow who finished ahead of Yamaha factory rider Jorge Lorenzo who ‘only’ qualified fourth.
This is the first time in four years that the Spaniard has been off the pole position at Estoril!Ben Spies was baulked by James Ellison in his best lap and inside the pole position benchmark and ended up 5th while Alvaro Bautista took 6th.
Andrea Dovizioso was seventh and he had a slight altercation with Ben Spies who slowed him down in his fast lap.
Following the Honda’s and Yamaha’s is a gaggle of Ducati’s with Hector Barbera in 9th with his satellite GP12 Zero who grabbed his ti,e early in the session with a tow from Jorge Lorenzo.
The Spaniard out qualified factory riders Valentino Rossi (9th) by just 0.
053s and had a slight improvement while Nicky Hayden closed out the top ten.
With Randy de Puniet out of action, his team mate Aleix Espargaro claimed top CRT honours in 12th, outqualifiying Ducati rider Karel Abraham who is suffering from severe neck problems, the Czech rider even cut short several of his practice sessions.
Ivan Silva was the last rider to qualify but will be probably be picking a video prize for his massive rodeo-style save.
MotoGP Estoril Qualifying Results:01- Casey Stoner – Repsol Honda Team – Honda RC213V – 1’37.
18802- Dani Pedrosa – Repsol Honda Team – Honda RC213V – + 0.
01303- Cal Crutchlow – Monster Yamaha Tech 3 – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 0.
10104- Jorge Lorenzo – Yamaha Factory Racing – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 0.
27805- Ben Spies – Yamaha Factory Racing – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 0.
53506- Alvaro Bautista – San Carlo Honda Gresini – Honda RC213V – + 0.
72907- Andrea Dovizioso – Monster Yamaha Tech 3 – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 0.
75508- Hector Barbera – Pramac Racing Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP12 – + 0.
81809- Valentino Rossi – Ducati Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP12 – + 0.
87110- Nicky Hayden – Ducati Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP12 – + 1.
06511- Stefan Bradl – LCR Honda MotoGP – Honda RC213V – + 1.
07712- Aleix Espargaro – Power Electronics Aspar – ART GP12 – + 2.
16513- Karel Abraham – Cardion AB Motoracing – Ducati Desmosedici GP12 – + 2.
21014- Randy De Puniet – Power Electronics Aspar – ART GP12 – + 2.
39815- Yonny Hernandez – Avintia Blusens – FTR Kawasaki – + 2.
84116- Michele Pirro – San Carlo Honda Gresini – FTR Honda – + 3.
03717- Mattia Pasini – Speed Master Team – ART GP12 – + 3.
19918- Colin Edwards – NGM Mobile Forward Racing – Suter BMW – + 3.
77619- James Ellison – Paul Bird Motorsport – ART GP12 – + 4.
20620- Danilo Petrucci – CAME Iodaracing Project – Ioda TR003 – + 4.
29821- Ivan Silva – Avintia Blusens – Inmotec MotoGP – + 4.
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