Pole for Pedrosa as he continues to shine in Misano04/09/2010

Bridgestone slick compounds available: Front: Medium, Hard.  Rear: Medium, Hard  

After dominating yesterday’s proceedings, Dani Pedrosa repeated his strong form to seal pole position for tomorrow’s Grand Prix of San Marino. On his final lap of the hour-long session the Repsol Honda rider forged ahead by 0.3seconds, the only rider to dip below the 1m34s mark.  

The final times belie the closeness of the qualifying session though as at one point in the closing stages, the top four were separated by less than one tenth of a second as they all opted for the softer rear tyre for their hot laps.  

Completing the front row are Fiat Yamaha’s Jorge Lorenzo, who continues his record of a top-three start for every grand prix this season, and Ducati Team’s Casey Stoner who recovered well from a crash early on and who for a time topped the timesheets. Valentino Rossi, Ben Spies and Randy de Puniet make up the second row.  

Every rider set their fastest times on the harder option front slick tyre and the softer option rear, favoured for its additional level of grip, apart from Nicky Hayden who used a softer front tyre at the end of the session.   Conditions again were fine and dry, and a little warmer than yesterday which contributed in part to the laptimes being faster, however rain is forecast for the race.  

Tohru Ubukata, Manager, Bridgestone Motorcycle Tyre Development Department said:
“The times have got faster in every session and in qualifying the top five riders all lapped faster than the existing lap record so clearly I am pleased with overall performance. Dani’s time was particularly impressive as he was 0.4seconds faster than last year’s pole time which is encouraging for a good race tomorrow. The harder front slick is looking preferable for the race, but both rear tyre specs have proved their performance and consistency over race distance so tomorrow’s rear race tyre choice will come down to rider preference and machine setup.”