2008 Sepang MotoGP Qualifying Report

The qualifying practice session at the Sepang MotoGP round was to be the penultimate time that the MotoGP riders were to experience the exhilarating and terrifying levels of grip provided by qualifying tires, scheduled to disappear once the single tire rule was introduced. But at the start of the session, it didn't look like they would get to use them at all, the rain appearing between the morning and afternoon sessions having soaked the track.

Two riders had made sure that they would use qualifying rubber, as Kawasaki had decided to send both its riders out on soft tires at the end of FP3. The team had seen the weather forecasts, and mindful of 2006, when the grid was set on the basis of the results in free practice, Ant West and John Hopkins had used one of their qualifiers gambling on the official qualifying session being rained out.

It was a smart move, leaving West sitting pretty at the top of the timesheets, shortly before the rain came down. But sadly for West, the rain did not come in sufficient quantity to wash out qualifying, and so the entire grid went out to start the afternoon session on rain tires.

What the riders found was a track that was wet, but drying very slowly, the tropical sun unable to penetrate the thick clouds, and so the initial laps were well off a fast pace, Shinya Nakano the first person to hold the fastest lap for any significant length of time.

The Japanese rider was looking very strong. Every time someone took the fastest lap from him, Nakano responded. His first serious time was a lap of 2'18, a time which Valentino Rossi and Casey Stoner then bettered, before Nakano took the top time back again with a 2'17.905.

Next up was Chris Vermeulen. The wet weather master was into the 2'16 bracket before Nakano struck back once again, with a time of 2'15.686. But Nakano's dominance was about to come to an end.

As the halfway mark approached, Valentino Rossi took back provisional pole by a tenth of a second, before ceding pole to Nakano once again, then duking it out with this Fiat Yamaha team mate Jorge Lorenzo over who would start from the front of the grid.

This little contretemps took the pole time down from a 2'14 into the 2'11s, before Andrea Dovizioso started to get involved. The JiR Scot Honda rider was starting to take big steps forward, dropping his times by a second a lap for the next three laps. With just over 20 minutes to go, times were heading into the 2'08s, and the track was starting to show a proper dry line for large parts of the track.

At the beginning of the session, Dani Pedrosa's pole time from last year, a lap of 2'01.877, looked completely out of reach, but as the track continued to dry, and the lap times kept falling, suddenly, it didn't seem such a foolish notion after all.

Though it was still too wet for qualifiers, the riders were all now out on slicks, and times continued to tumble. Sylvain Guintoli was the next rider to hold provisional pole, though his moment of glory would last for just 35 seconds. Once again, it was Shinya Nakano back on top, taking two seconds off the French Ducati man's time.

If the timing officials had been pretty busy so far, they were about to be blown off their feet. The final 10 minutes of practice turned into one of the most frantic sessions the series has ever seen, with a new polesitter seemingly every time a rider crossed the line.

Jorge Lorenzo started with the fastest time, taken from his archrival Dani Pedrosa with quarter of the session left, but there was no way his time of 2'05.192 was going to last. James Toseland was the first to break it, but in the end, pole would be fought over by a small group of riders.

Andrea Dovizioso started the ball rolling with a 2'04.325, only to see Jorge Lorenzo and Colin Edwards dive past him into the 2'03s. Dani Pedrosa was the next pole candidate, taking half a second of Edwards' time with a lap of 2'03.166.

The gloves were off and the qualifiers on, and it was clear that even Pedrosa's time would not stand. Casey Stoner was the first man to beat it, and the first man into the 2'02s. His time of 2'02.953 actually looked like it might even be good enough, standing for over 3 minutes, before Andrea Dovizioso edged the Australian out.

But as the clock started to tick down, the final blows were being struck. First, Valentino Rossi got a 2'02.553 out of his qualifier, before improving to a 2'01.957 on the same tire. Close to Pedrosa's pole from last year in tricky conditions, Valentino Rossi seemed to have the pole in the bag.

Especially since the Ducati team had made a rare mistake. Casey Stoner had not got out of the pit lane on time to use his final qualifier, for another assault on pole. So the man who has started from the front of the grid so many times this year could be ruled out of contention.

But not Dani Pedrosa. On his final lap, the Spaniard was flying, now clearly at home with his new Bridgestone qualifiers, to set a lap of 2'01.548, three tenths quicker than last year's pole time. After the controversy over his switch to Bridgestones, and the war of words between his manager, Alberto Puig, and his team mate, Nicky Hayden, Dani Pedrosa removed any doubt about his ability to use the right tires at the right time.

So Pedrosa will head up the grid, with Valentino Rossi beside him in 2nd. Rossi will be glad to be on the front row, as if he is to keep up with Pedrosa at a track the Repsol Honda man is fast at, he will have to be on his tail from the very start.

Rossi's team mate Jorge Lorenzo completes the front row, while Nicky Hayden heads up the second row ahead of Colin Edwards in 5th and Andrea Dovizioso in 6th.

Casey Stoner is back in 7th, leading the third row of the grid, while Suzuki's Loris Capirossi and LCR Honda's Randy de Puniet join him in 8th and 9th respectively. John Hopkins rounds out the top 10, Kawasaki's morning gamble not having paid off, but still generating a useful starting position.

The grid means that the race could be quite a spectacle tomorrow if it stays dry. Casey Stoner is the fastest man on race tires ahead of Valentino Rossi, but only by a fraction. What's more Stoner will have to fight his way to the front if he is to contend for the win. And while Dani Pedrosa is a formidable starter, his pace on race tires has been fractionally slower than Rossi's, potentially giving the Italian a chance to catch Pedrosa if he attempts to get away.

With Nicky Hayden, Shinya Nakano and Andrea Dovizioso also capable of running similar times, it could get pretty crowded at the front of the grid. Hayden is nearly as quick off the mark as Pedrosa, and is determined to beat his team mate, so could give the Spaniard a hard time into the first corner, and if he can catch Pedrosa and mix it up with him, there could be a pack of riders fighting at the front.

And if it rains, then it's anyone's guess what could happen. Though a little money on Ant West or Chris Vermeulen could end up going quite a long way. The weather forecast for Sunday is not looking promising, but the weather's main feature has been its unpredictability. But rain or shine, we should be in for an interesting race.

Full result of the Sepang MotoGP Qualifying Practice