MotoGP
Catalunyan GP: Ducati qualifying report
STONER TAKES SUPERB FIRST POLE OF THE SEASON, DIFFICULT DAY FOR MELANDRI Casey Stoner picked up his first pole position of the season at Barcelona with a perfect lap on his third and final qualifying tyre. The Australian had shown good form on his ...
Published: Jun 8, 2008, 9:38 AM
Copy link
Share on Viber
STONER TAKES SUPERB FIRST POLE OF THE SEASON, DIFFICULT DAY FOR MELANDRI
Casey Stoner picked up his first pole position of the season at Barcelona with a perfect lap on his third and final qualifying tyre. The Australian had shown good form on his first two Bridgestone qualifiers before an outstanding demonstration of skill and determination saw him smash the previous pole record by over six tenths of a second.
Stoner is expecting a close and combative race tomorrow, which could be affected by the weather. After a mixed bag so far this weekend uncertain forecasts make for an unpredictable race day, but the current World Champion is confident of his chances after finding a different set-up on each of his Desmosedici GP8 machines, both of which proved competitive today.
It was a much more difficult day for Marco Melandri, who crashed at the end of the afternoon qualifying practice when pushing to improve his grid position. Thankfully the Italian escaped any major injury.
CASEY STONER (Ducati Marlboro Team) Pole Position: 1'41.186
"If I'm honest I really didn't expect to be on pole today, it's a big surprise! Practice has been going well and we've been getting gradually better on race tyres. The guys have worked really hard and come up with two different set-ups that I'm happy with on two different machines. At the moment we're torn between which one we're going to use in the race but that's a nice problem to have! When we put the final qualifying tyre in I thought we were going to be lucky to be on the front row but I was able to keep it smooth - the lap itself didn't actually feel all that fast but the time was great and in general we couldn't have asked for more from the session. Over the past four races we've been able to iron some things out, work out why we weren't as fast as we perhaps could have been at the start of the season and things are getting continually better. This pole position shows that we're going in the right direction so hopefully that trend can continue through to the race tomorrow."
MARCO MELANDRI (Ducati Marlboro Team) 16th fastest: 1'43.719
"It's been another really difficult day. We haven't managed to find a solution to our problems here and so tomorrow we'll be starting from the back again. On my last run on a qualifying tyre I tried to give my maximum to improve my position but I was braking so hard that the front locked and I crashed, fortunately without injuring myself. We have to stay strong and keep working."
-credit: ducati.com
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article 250: Barcelona qualifying 2 times
Next article Catalunyan GP: Ducati race report
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Marco Melandri
Melandri steps down from Barni Ducati WSBK ride
World Superbike
World Superbike
Melandri steps down from Barni Ducati WSBK ride
“Regenerated” Melandri back in WSBK with Barni Ducati
World Superbike
World Superbike
“Regenerated” Melandri back in WSBK with Barni Ducati
Davies ill-suited to Ducati V4, says Melandri
World Superbike
World Superbike
Davies ill-suited to Ducati V4, says Melandri
Latest news
NASCAR explains why they penalized Zane Smith after latest clash with Carson Hocevar
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Phoenix II
9 h
NASCAR explains why they penalized Zane Smith after latest clash with Carson Hocevar
Porsche boss Laudenbach says he is "not happy" with how things were handled by IMSA in 2026
IMSA
IMSA IMSA 10 h
Porsche boss Laudenbach says he is "not happy" with how things were handled by IMSA in 2026
Five things to watch out for at the F1 United States GP
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
United States GP
10 h
Five things to watch out for at the F1 United States GP
KTM sees MotoGP 2027 as a fresh start: “We never had the chance to build a new bike”
MotoGP
MGP MotoGP 11 h
KTM sees MotoGP 2027 as a fresh start: “We never had the chance to build a new bike”
Feature
Discover prime content
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe