Andrea Dovizioso will start from the front row for the first time in his MotoGP career after qualifying third for the Red Bull U.S Grand Prix behind Jorge Lorenzo and Casey Stoner.
Lorenzo was the only rider to break the 1’21” mark as he edged out Stoner to take his fifth consecutive pole. Behind Dovizioso, team-mate Dani Pedrosa will head up the second row ahead of Ben Spies and Valentino Rossi.
'I’m very happy about this session because this is my first front row of the season' – Dovi
Despite riding in his third MotoGP season – and with a premier class win to his name – Dovizioso had never qualified on the front row prior to Laguna Seca. However, he put that right yesterday as he edged out Pedrosa by just 0.038 seconds to take third.
“I’m very happy about this session because this is my first front row of the season and qualifying was an area that we had to improve," the Italian said. " Yesterday and also today I have been losing some time in T4, but for the final qualifying lap I pushed at 100 per cent and did my best final sector time - which gave me my fastest lap time and a place on the front row.
"I have a good race pace but we still need to improve a little because Stoner and Lorenzo are very fast. There is still a gap but we are not too far away. I think the race pace tomorrow will be between the high 1m 21s and 1m 22 dead, and I’m confident I can fight with the others. Plus, starting from first row makes this easier.”
GEPA Pictures/Gold & Goose
Dovizioso will hope that he can stay in the top three on Sunday and end his three-race podium drought. He will face tough competition from Pedrosa though – who starts from the same position as when he won in the States 12 months ago.
“This afternoon with the soft rear at the end of the session we didn’t go quicker, but the front of the second row isn’t a bad place to start and we could probably have been further forward if we hadn’t had a bit of an issue with some chattering at the rear of the machine on my final run," said the Spaniard. "We put a lot of laps on the Bridgestone tyres this afternoon - more than 30 on the same tyre - and they are working well.
“In the warm-up tomorrow we need to make a few final adjustments to the machine settings to improve our race pace by a tenth or two - we’ve got a few things to try. The choice of race tyre will be important so that we have the best feeling for race distance. I think we can be competitive if we make the most of the warm-up well tomorrow.”
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