Untukmu Para Pengunjung

Letztes Jahr begann die Saison für Nicky Hayden mehr oder minder in Assen, denn ab dem Rennen in den Niederlanden sprach der US-Amerikaner damals davon, dass er die Ducati Desmosedici GP9 langsam verstehen lerne und in den Griff bekomme. Nun, ein Jahr später, kämpft er wieder an vorderster Front der MotoGP-Weltmeisterschaft. Ins Dutch TT-Wochenende startete der Weltmeister von 2006 mit Rang drei hinter seinem Teamkollegen Stoner.

"Das Motorrad fühlte sich heute aus der Box heraus gut an und wir konnten ein paar Änderungen finden, die es noch besser machten. Aber die Lücke zur Spitze ist noch ziemlich groß und darum haben wir noch Arbeit vor uns", kommentiere das Kentucky-Kid die 0,517 Sekunden, die er auf Jorge Lorenzo auf eins verlor.

"Wir probieren immer neues Zeug aus und das war heute nicht anders. Und das was wir ausprobiert haben schien zu funktionieren und darum bin ich Ducati sehr dankbar. Hoffentlich können wir morgen darauf aufbauen und versuchen, eine ähnliche Position im Qualifying - dann mit einer kleineren Lücke zur Spitze - herauszufahren."

DANI PEDROSA – 3rd – 2m 03.586s +0.278s
"Today we were quite fast in both sessions and we have a good machine setting, so I think we have the potential for a strong race. We still need to decide which of the Bridgestone tyre options we’ll use because tomorrow it looks like it may be warmer than today. I crashed when I was on my last qualifying lap as I braked going into a left hander. I hit some bumps and then the front started to move a lot and then had a little slide. Maybe the bike went over me and at that moment it hurt, but afterwards the pain went away so I’m ok for tomorrow. The lap times were getting faster in each session and I think I’m still learning the track - every time you go out you learn more about the line, the braking points and the corners where the bumps are - and that’s normal on a new track. We’re on the front row which is always important for a good getaway, so tomorrow I hope we can have another good performance.”

ANDREA DOVIZIOSO – 4th – 2m 03.995s +0.687s
“I’m happy with qualifying in fourth place and starting from the front of the second row. I wanted to be a little bit closer in terms of lap times and we still need to improve the pace for tomorrow so that we can fight for first place, but I’m satisfied with the result today. This morning I crashed, fortunately without hurting myself, and I was able to get straight back on my second bike and be back on the pace immediately. Because of this crash we couldn’t do so much comparison work between the two chassis we had available, and so during qualifying I only used the new one, which seems to work well. The track layout is really fascinating - I like it a lot - but the main issue remains the bumps. We’re quietly confident for tomorrow and I’m definitely looking for another podium finish - at least.”

TOSHIYUKI YAMAJI - REPSOL HONDA TEAM MANAGER
"We are actually looking in good shape for the race here at Silverstone tomorrow and I think Dani and Andrea have a chance to fight for the win tomorrow. Considering that both riders fell at quite high speed today, this is fortunate for us and I’m happy that neither rider was hurt badly. The conditions today were cold and this, combined with the bumpy surface, means that finding the optimum machine set-up is a challenge, and we still have some areas to work on this evening. But I think we can use the warm-up to good effect and the Repsol Honda Team is determined to get a result to match the last race in Italy.”