Yamaha does a spectacular job in the Qatar qualifying

During the qualifying session we witnessed yesterday, we realised the great job done by Yamaha ahead of the season. Despite not having the fastest bike and feeling, as Jorge Lorenzo put it, as if the Hondas were in a different category, the bike works very well in the corners so that all its riders can get the most out of it.

The big surprise has been seeing Cal Crutchlow on the front row of the grid behind Jorge Lorenzo and ahead of Casey Stoner, in second place. We could also call it a surprise that Jorge took pole from Casey, and even more so in Qatar, where he has dominated for several years, but the confidence we have placed in the 99 makes us believe he is capable of anything in any situation.

On the other hand, Ben Spies also had good pace and was very close to the leading times, but just when he was coming in for pole, a crash ruined his chances. In the end he will start from fourth place, where a good getaway would put him right in the fight for the race; nothing is lost yet.

Andrea Dovizioso, the last of the Yamahas, will start sixth, confirming the good form of the Japanese bikes and making it clear that for this race there are no satellite bikes in their brand; otherwise they could not have qualified so high.

His consistency of pace will be his great asset, since they initially have an engine that, in acceleration, is a little below the Honda.

This is how the Yamaha Factory riders feel:

Jorge Lorenzo (#99) (1st) – 1.56.634

I am very happy with the result tonight. I had to push over 100% to take pole position, but I pushed to the limit and managed to make a perfect lap. We still have to improve top speed and power on the straight, but in the rest of the track the bike is working very well. Tomorrow will be a hard race and the tyres will be very important, I think. Thanks to Yamaha and my team for giving me a good bike!

Ben Spies (#11) (4th) – 1.55.512

We were on a good lap until the crash; I lost the front. I have been complaining for the last couple of days that the front end simply doesn’t give me the feeling I wanted. When I went down I tried to slide away from the bike, but something trapped me and dragged me with it. I was looking at the front wheel and thought about trying to get back on when I couldn’t let go. We are going to try to make the bike better now; I know we can fix it, we can be up front. The M1 is clearly very fast on the track and I feel good on it, apart from that we have some good ideas to try in the warm-up, so we will see.

Monster Yamaha Tech3:

Cal Crutchlow (#35) (2nd) – 1.55.022

I am very happy and I think we can go into the race now with much more confidence. It is a great feeling to be on the front row with Casey and Jorge because everyone is aware of how fast they are. The time it took to get a result like this felt very long, but this is a fantastic reward for all the effort my Monster Yamaha Tech 3 team has put in all winter. They worked very hard with me to help me learn to ride in MotoGP, and tonight is a reward. I am happy with my performance, but to be fair, Jorge’s time is an impressive lap time. I always knew what I could do once they started putting on the soft tyres, and I thought I would have a gap on the front row. It is very positive to be on the front row for the first time in MotoGP; my race pace will be good enough to finish in the top six, and that is still my goal. There is no doubt we are getting the absolute maximum out of the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 package, and tomorrow I will give it my all. I would say I am three or four tenths per lap behind what Casey and Jorge are capable of, but that is much better than it was last year.

Andrea Dovizioso (#4) (6th) – 1.55.858

Tonight has not gone as well as I expected, but it was part of the learning process we have to go through in order to improve for the future. I am not disappointed to finish sixth, but I think we had a bit of bad luck tonight. I was a little inexperienced with the Yamaha in the crucial final minutes of qualifying, and we need to build a better understanding between the team and me. But that is completely normal and we know it will improve. We made a change to the bike from the previous day and unfortunately it did not give us the improvement we had expected, especially with the soft tyres. I am sure that for the race we will go a bit faster by switching back to last night’s set-up. I am still full of optimism, because my race pace with the hard tyres is not so far from Lorenzo’s, but it is vital to start as close to the front as possible, because I think the tyres lose grip quite quickly. The key will be to ride smoothly to save the tyres, and then we will see what happens in the final stages of the race.

Source and Photos | Yamaha Factory Racing and motogp.com