Repsol Honda's Pedrosa Qualifies 3rd, Marquez 5th in MotoGP Season Finale Round at Valencia

Press Release www.repsolhondateam.com Gran Premio Generali de la Comunitat Valenciana Round 18 - Saturday, November 8th 2014   Valenciana - Qualifying Report Weather conditions Sunny / Windy 20°C Air temp 27°C Track temp 39% Humidity Front row start for Pedrosa as Marquez crashes on final lap Repsol Honda’s Dani Pedrosa will start tomorrow’s final GP of the season from 3rd on the grid, with teammate and 2014 World Champion in 5th after a small crash on his final exit in qualifying. Variable windy conditions once again plagued the Valencia track and finding the optimum setup has been a difficult job. Marc had a small crash this morning in FP3 but had been fastest in every session so far this weekend and both riders were in a prime position for qualifying after finishing 1st and 2nd in the final FP4 session. However, as qualifying began the wind swept in and created tricky conditions. Dani made a few small mistakes on his first exit but in his second run he was able to improve and his lap time of 1’30.999 (lap 9/9) places him in 3rd – just 0.156 seconds off pole. On his final lap Marc was on a fast lap, with a session best first sector but lost the front coming into turn four. Unable to get back to the garage in time, Marc had to settle with his time of 1’31.144 (lap 6/6) and missed out on a front row start for the final GP of 2014 by just 0.145 seconds. Tomorrow’s race is expected to be a closely fought battle with eleven riders within 0.643 seconds of each other. With a 29 point lead over their rivals in the Team Championship, the Repsol Honda Team could win the Triple Crown tomorrow if Marc and Dani don’t lose more that 16 points to Lorenzo and Rossi. Team Quotes 3rd - 1'30.999 “It was a difficult qualifying because there was much more wind than in the morning session. That made it hard to calculate the entry to corners and when to brake. As a result, I made a few mistakes and couldn't set a good lap at the beginning. Later, when I took the corners with a better line, the tyres were more worn down. At the end I was able to find those two tenths necessary to get onto the front row, so tomorrow we need to make the most of the position and have a good race.” 5th - 1'31.144 “On the one hand I'm happy, because we have a great pace and a great setup for tomorrow, but on the other hand I am a little annoyed that I made a mistake in qualifying. I apologise to the team, because we could have fought for pole position. I made one mistake on the first stint and another on the second, causing me to crash. You learn from these things and I'll go out tomorrow looking to enjoy the race, because we are ready to battle for the win.” qualifying results   Gran Premio Generali de la Comunitat Valenciana - Round 18 Pos. Rider Num. Nation Team Constructor Time/Gap 1 Valentino Rossi 46 ITA Movistar Yamaha MotoGP YAMAHA 1'30.843 2 Andrea Iannone 29 ITA Pramac Racing DUCATI 1'30.975 3 Dani Pedrosa 26 ESP Repsol Honda Team HONDA 1'30.999 4 Jorge Lorenzo 99 ESP Movistar Yamaha MotoGP YAMAHA 1'31.049 5 Marc Marquez 93 ESP Repsol Honda Team HONDA 1'31.144 6 Pol Espargaro 44 ESP Monster Yamaha Tech 3 YAMAHA 1'31.307 7 Bradley Smith 38 GBR Monster Yamaha Tech 3 YAMAHA 1'31.324 8 Cal Crutchlow 35 GBR Ducati Team DUCATI 1'31.359 9 Andrea Dovizioso 4 ITA Ducati Team DUCATI 1'31.426 10 Stefan Bradl 6 GER LCR Honda MotoGP HONDA 1'31.443 11 Aleix Espargaro 41 ESP NGM Mobile Forward Racing YAMAHA 1'31.486 12 Michele Pirro 51 ITA Ducati Team DUCATI 1'32.617 13 Alvaro Bautista 19 ESP Go & Fun Honda Gresini HONDA 1'32.160 14 Scott Redding 45 GBR Go & Fun Honda Gresini HONDA 1'32.315 15 Yonny Hernandez 68 COL Pramac Racing DUCATI 1'32.321 16 Nicky Hayden 69 USA Drive M7 Aspar HONDA 1'32.395 17 Hector Barbera 8 ESP Avintia Racing MotoGP FTR-KAWASAKI 1'32.443 18 Hiroshi Aoyama 7 JPN Drive M7 Aspar HONDA 1'32.449 19 Alex De Angelis 15 RSM NGM Mobile Forward Racing YAMAHA 1'32.453 20 Randy De Puniet 14 FRA Team Suzuki MotoGP SUZUKI 1'32.509 21 Danilo Petrucci 9 ITA IodaRacing Project IODA-SUTER 1'32.683 22 Michael Laverty 70 GBR Paul Bird Motorsport ART & PBM 1'32.808 23 Karel Abraham 17 CZE Cardion AB Motoracing HONDA 1'33.019 24 Broc Parkes 23 AUS Paul Bird Motorsport PBM 1'33.972 25 Mike Di Meglio 63 FRA Avintia Racing MotoGP FTR-KAWASAKI 1'34.510 Copyright Free Images - For Editorial use only                                             Circuit Information View circuit page at www.repsolhondateam.com Length 4.005 m / 2.489 miles Width 12m Left corners 9 Right corners 5 Longest straight 876 m / 0.544 miles Constructed 1999 Modified     Circuit de la Comunitat Valenciana Autovía A3 Valencia-Madrid Salida 334. 46380 - Cheste (Valencia) SPAIN T: +34 96 252 52 20   www.circuitvalencia.com   Pole position 1m 30.237s (159.7km/h) Marc Marquez (Honda, 2013) Race lap 1m 31.628s (157.3km/h) Dani Pedrosa (Honda, 2013) Race time 46m 10.302s (156.1 km/h) Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha, 2013) 2012 Race Winner Dani Pedrosa (Honda) 2013 Race Winner Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha)   Honda Racing Corporation 3-15-1, Senzui, Asaka-shi, Saitama-Pref., 351-0024 Japan