Reigning World Champion Jorge Lorenzo fought hard today to secure himself third place in qualifying and a front row start for tomorrow’s Grand Prix of Germany. The Yamaha Factory Racing rider was the fastest man on track in the morning’s final free practice, setting an impressive 1’22.112 to top the time sheets. The afternoon qualifying heat saw him again quick onto the pace, again fastest man on track mid way through the session. Unfortunately he was not able to take any great advantage from the softer tyre compounds available and had dropped out of the top four until the last moments. As the final minutes ticked down he broke under the 1’22 mark to beat Marco Simoncelli for the final spot on the front row by just 0.010 seconds.

Ben Spies was on much better form than yesterday, a good night’s sleep had shaken off most of his head cold and the Texan was keen to attack the track. The crew made some major set up changes midway through both the morning practice and afternoon qualifying to help deliver an optimum bike package for the twisty Sachsenring circuit. Clear improvements were evident, Spies climbing from seventh in the morning with a 1’22.772 to fifth on the grid in qualifying with 1’22.056, just 0.375 from pole.

Jorge Lorenzo - Position 3rd - Time 1.21.944 - Laps 33

“It’s been a strong weekend so far. I’ve never felt great on this track but this weekend I’m riding fast and feeling comfortable. It was a pity at the end of qualifying that the soft tyre didn’t improve anything so much. In the end I couldn’t make pole position but I think third position on the front row is a good place to start tomorrow for the race; I got it by just 0.010! Casey is very strong but I hope to be ready to fight for the victory with him. I think the fans will see a great race as there are a lot of riders who can fight for the win.”


Ben Spies - Position 5th - Time 1.22.056 - Laps 31

“Today was definitely better. I’m still not 100% but I’m feeling a lot more clear headed on the bike. We were able to make the bike a bit better and I was able to ride better today to get into the top five. I made a mistake on my last lap, totally my fault, two corners to go I lost the rear, then saved it but then lost the front as well which cost me a tenth. It might have made us a little closer to the front but we’re still in the middle of the second row so we can put a good race together tomorrow.”

Wilco Zeelenberg - Yamaha Factory Racing Team Manager

“We’re very happy with a front row position, that’s very important on this track, especially the first part which is very tight so we need a good start. The race pace is very good with the hard tyres, the soft one didn’t bring out so much so we don’t have to bother with that as I think we will all be using the same tyres tomorrow.”

Massimo Meregalli - Yamaha Factory Racing Team Director

“It was a good qualifying session; the gap to the front is almost nothing. I think we solved most of the problems we had this afternoon with Ben, he is quite satisfied so I think tomorrow he can do a really good race. Jorge had a really good pace and I think tomorrow he can fight for the win.”

Edwards battles to super seventh in Sachsenring

Colin Edwards called on all his experience and skill to qualify his Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team machine in seventh place on the grid for tomorrow's 30-lap German MotoGP race at the Sachsenring.

Despite not being in peak physical condition after being struck down by a severe sore throat overnight, the American finished only 0.211s away from a second row start at a sun-drenched Sachsenring.

After yesterday's practice sessions were run in cool and windy conditions, today's weather was ideal with air temperatures hitting a pleasant 25 degrees this afternoon, allowing Edwards to focus on making major improvements to the set-up of his YZR-M1 machine.

Edwards, who was uninjured in a small front-end crash at the first corner in this morning's final free practice session, made significant progress with increasing front-end confidence around the tight and twisty Sachsenring circuit. And his hard work was rewarded with a brilliant final lap of 1.22.368 to finish top non-factory rider in a closely contested session that saw the top 12 riders divided by less than one second.

British team-mate Cal Crutchlow looked like joining Edwards inside the top 10. He improved his front-end feeling to break into the 1.22 bracket for the first time this weekend with just under 20 minutes remaining.

The 25-year-old had climbed into seventh place with a lap of 1.22.676, but as he pushed hard in the closing stages to secure yet another top 10 qualifying result, he crashed heavily at the fast Turn 8 left-hander. Crutchlow was able to walkaway unhurt from the high-speed accident but he fell to 12th on the timesheets, finishing just over 0.2s away from eighth placed Nicky Hayden.

Colin Edwards - Position 7th - Time 1.22.368 - Laps 30

“Honestly, I have no idea where I pulled that last lap from. I didn't feel like I had a low 1.22 lap in me at all today but I just tried to push as hard as I could and stay as smooth as I could on that final lap and to get seventh is a great result for me and my guys at Monster Yamaha Tech 3. Today hasn't been easy because I woke up this morning with a really bad sore throat. It feels like I'm chewing gravel but I've lost my voice and can hardly talk, so communication with the crew wasn't that easy. But we've got such a great understanding that even though they could barely hear what I was saying, my team gave me a good bike for the end of the session. I've never got on with this track and today we've made so many changes to the bike that we're a million miles away from our normal setting. I'd say we haven't done big changes like this to the bike in about a year. I haven't been able to get the bike turned but we kept plugging away and found something this afternoon that was better. This track is so tight and twisty you need a good turning bike, so I'm confident we can have a strong race.”


Cal Crutchlow - Position 12th - Time 1.22.676 - Laps 26

"I am not too happy with today because we had a big crash at the end of the session. I thought we made a good improvement in the qualifying session and we made it into the 22s with an old race tyre and I was happy. I came in to put a new soft tyre on and with the extra grip we just pushed the front too much. We don't really know why at the moment, but we will have a look at the data to see if we can make some improvement for the race. It is the same issue that I have been complaining about at the last two or three races, so we have to start considering making some drastic changes. We will keep working and the aim will be to get in the top 10 for tomorrow and I am determined to bring the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team a good result."