MotoGP News
Date: 20/October/2012
Jorge Lorenzo deprived MotoGP title rival Dani Pedrosa of pole position by delivering a record-breaking lap at the end of Saturday’s qualifying session at Sepang, Malaysia.
Yamaha star Lorenzo claimed his seventh pole of the season by just 0.158 over his Honda opponent.
However the post-qualifying talk centred on ‘chatter’ problems, which tormented almost every rider as circuit grip levels evolve.
Chatter is a hard-to-cure handling issue, related to grip, which causes a motorcycle to shake up-and-down when it is leaned over during cornering.
Although chatter does not necessarily lower the performance of a bike, it can be a massive distraction for a rider and mentally draining over a race distance.
“With the new tyre I felt great, strong and pushed for two laps to get pole at the end,” said Lorenzo. “But before that, with the used tyre, I had much more chatter and also wheel spin on the exit of the corners.
“So we need to improve the set-up because it would be difficult to keep the pace all race like this, but other riders have similar problems.”
Sunday’s race will mark the first of three chances for Lorenzo, who clinched the 2010 MotoGP title at Sepang, to wrap up the 2012 title. However he would need to increase his points advantage from 28 to 51.
“It’s possible, but very difficult to win the title tomorrow,” said Lorenzo. “Dani must crash and I must win the race. Let’s see what happens.”
Pedrosa had been fastest in practice, but also struck chatter problems in qualifying - his factory RC213V even vibrating along the straights, a highly unusual occurrence.
“Today was hard because we had a lot of chatter. We don’t know why. It was chattering even on the straight and it was really difficult to ride like that,” said Pedrosa.
“But we still managed the front row and hope it’ll be better for tomorrow. We need to see about the weather as well…”
Tropical storms have soaked the Sepang circuit every day this week and the 4pm MotoGP start time, to better suit European TV viewers, increases the chance of rain still further.
Joining Lorenzo and Pedrosa on the front row will be satellite Yamaha rider Andrea Dovizioso, who lapped just 0.233s from pole.
The Italian will be seeking his seventh podium of the season on Sunday and believes he even has a chance of victory, whatever the weather. To put that into context, a non-factory rider hasn’t won a MotoGP race since 2006.
“I’m so happy!” said Dovizioso. “Our pace is quite good and I think we have a chance to fight with Pedrosa and Lorenzo. The front row is so important because we need to start fast to stay with them.”
Heading up the second row will be Casey Stoner. Following a strong opening day, when he split team-mate Pedrosa and Lorenzo at the head of the timesheets, the reigning World Champion was left a disappointed fourth after a complicated qualifying.
“We've had good pace all weekend and the first session looked promising, but we had problems with the brakes and huge issues with the set-up today,” explained the Australian, who made his comeback from ankle surgery last weekend in Japan.
“It was extremely frustrating because I think we had the pace to get pole position, but every step we take to try and improve the bike, we make it worse.”
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