Successful Qualifying In Silverstone For Lorenzo And Spies
Today's qualifying session for tomorrow's Silverstone GP came to a
successful conclusion for both Jorge Lorenzo and Ben Spies this
afternoon. The second day of the British round of the World
Championship was graced with sunshine, allowing the riders to
finalise a good dry set up. The Yamaha Factory Racing riders were
quick from the start in the morning's final free practice session,
wrapping it up with Spies in third and Lorenzo in fourth. 

Qualifying followed in the afternoon, both riders again enjoying a
dry track as they evaluated tyres for tomorrow's race should it be
dry. At one point Lorenzo and Spies were threatening to deliver a
double Yamaha front row; finally settling at the end of the session
for a front row third and second row fourth respectively in a
mirror of their Barcelona start positions.
Jorge Lorenzo
Position 3rd, Time 2.02.237, Laps 25
"I am very happy because tomorrow we will start from the first row
and today we got a lot closer to the Hondas. I rode at a very high
level today and I'm ready and focused for the race. I will do my
best to make a good start tomorrow and fight for the front. At this
moment our weapon is consistency. You try many things some days and
some days you find a solution like today. I don't know if it is
enough to fight for victory but we will give our best. I'm very
proud of my crew, they really worked hard to deliver a great
package for qualifying!"
Ben Spies
Position 4th, Time 2.02.677, Laps 24
"It was a good day today, we made some improvements to the bike and
then tried some different tyres to evaluate and see if they are
going to be race tyres for tomorrow if it's dry. Qualifying went
well, when we tried to nail our fast lap we didn't quite get it all
in there, I left out a couple of tenths but they wouldn't have
moved me further up anyway, just a bit closer to Jorge. I gave it
my maximum and we're starting in a good position so we need to get
a good start and of course see what the weather is going to
do!"
Wilco Zeelenberg
Yamaha Factory Racing Team Manager
"I'm pretty happy with the qualifying session today, the bike
improved a lot compared to this morning and yesterday. We found the
right way to progress and Jorge improved his riding quite a bit as
well. The team worked hard between the two sessions and made a step
on the bike so for dry conditions we are ready to race. We are 0.2
behind pole which is the closest we have been all year apart from
Estoril. This is especially good considering the length of the
track."
Massimo Meregalli
Yamaha Factory Racing Team Director
"Overall we should be satisfied with the second day. We have our
riders on the first and second row and we led part of the practice.
We've got a good pace and I think we did a good job today, the team
worked really hard. We're confident and I think we can get good
results. Tomorrow I think it's going to rain but we saw yesterday
that in the wet conditions we can be quick so we'll see what
happens."
Crutchlow to Miss Home Race, Heroic Edwards
Seventh
The Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team suffered another cruel injury blow
today after it was confirmed Cal Crutchlow will miss his
all-important home MotoGP round at Silverstone with a broken left
collarbone. 

The home crowd favourite was just starting his third lap of this
afternoon's qualifying session when he lost control of his Monster
Yamaha Tech 3 Team YZR-M1 machine on the entry to the second
corner. 

He landed heavily on his left shoulder and was immediately assessed
by trackside medical staff before he was transferred to the
Silverstone Medical Centre. He was diagnosed with a broken left
collarbone and concussion. The crash will unfortunately prevent the
25-year-old from starting tomorrow's 20-lap British Grand Prix and
he will now commence a period of rest and recuperation to regain
fitness ahead of the next round of the 2011 MotoGP World
Championship in Assen, Holland. 

Crutchlow's injury comes just eight days after team-mate Colin
Edwards broke his right collarbone in a practice crash for the
Catalunya race in Spain. The American was passed fit to ride in
Silverstone and he produced a heroic performance this afternoon to
secure a brilliant eighth position on the grid. 

Brave Edwards shrugged off the persistent pain from a rib injury he
also suffered in the Catalunya crash to set a best time of 2.04.508
to finish ahead of several riders in much better physical shape
than the popular 37-year-old. 

He modified the settings of his YZR-M1 machine to help him get more
comfortable in the hard braking zone and is confident he can fight
for a top ten finish tomorrow.
Colin Edwards
Position 8th, Time 2.04.508, Laps 14
"My shoulder feels pretty much perfect but my ribs are killing me
and that's the biggest issue at the moment. I feel worse physically
than I did yesterday but when I crashed at Catalunya I pulled some
of the muscle away from my ribs and I'm finding it hard to do
anything. If I breathe, cough, sneeze or do anything it hurts. So
on the bike I just don't have the strength I need to flick the bike
in the fast changes of direction. I've got to take my time and be
nice and smooth, but to get on the third row is a great result
considering this time last week I was lying in a hospital in
Barcelona with my right collarbone smashed to pieces. I'm feeling
confident for the race but I know it is going to be a big effort.
But I'll grit my teeth and do my best as always and show there's
plenty of fight in this old dog. I was determined to ride this
weekend for the Team. My guys at Monster Yamaha Tech 3 are awesome
and they've been an unbelievable support to me in the past few
years. So I want to race and get a good result for them more than
anything. I'm gutted too for Cal. I know what he's going through
unfortunately and I'm really sorry that he's going to miss his home
race. I wish him a speedy recovery and hope to see him back giving
me a hard time on track in Assen."
Herve Poncharal
Monster Yamaha Tech3 Team Manager
"Cal's injury is a very big disappointment and I feel really sorry
for him because he was desperate to do well in his home race here
at Silverstone. He's been fast all weekend, so we had high hopes
that he could get a good place on the grid and be challenging for
the top six in the race. But track conditions were quite cold and
it was obvious from looking at the TV pictures that the tyre wasn't
up to temperature. He is in pain right now but I think he is more
upset than anything else because he wanted to put on a good show
for the British fans. A lot of people have come to support him and
he didn't want to let anybody down. Our luck seems to have
completely deserted us at the moment when you think it was only
eight days ago that Colin broke his right collarbone. I suppose the
only small consolation for Cal is that Colin was back on the bike
less than a week later, so we are optimistic that Cal will be back
for the next race at Assen. Colin has produced a super human effort
to qualify on the third row and his courage and determination has
been an inspiration to everybody in the whole Team. At one stage it
looked like he might even finish in the top six, which would have
been a great reward for him and his Team."
2011 MotoGP United Kingdom Qualifying Results
1. Casey Stoner
2. Marco Simoncelli
3. Jorge Lorenzo
4. Ben Spies
5. Andrea Dovizioso
6. Karel Abraham
7. Nicky Hayden
8. Colin Edwards
9. Alvaro Bautista
10. Randy De Puniet
11. Hiroshi Aoyama
12. Hector Barbera
13. Valentino Rossi
14. Toni Elias
15. Loris Capirossi
16. Cal Crutchlow
