Italian Grand Prix - Final Qualifying

[Andy]

HONDA RACING INFORMATION

Italian Grand Prix at Mugello

Saturday June 2, 2007

WET WEATHER PLAYS HAVOC WITH QUALIFYING IN ITALY

The MotoGP grid was almost washed out here at a

sopping wet Mugello, but in semi-wet and then

tough, slippery conditions it was Casey Stoner

(Ducati) who took his first pole position of the

season, with Chris Vermeulen (Suzuki) qualifying

second fastest and Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) completing the front row.

As the hour long MotoGP qualifying session got

underway the track was still damp after a

thorough downpour earlier and riders emerged on

wet tyres to cope with the soaking track. The

early pacesetters were Stoner, Vermeulen and home

rider Marco Melandri (Gresini Honda RC212V).

The track began to dry as the sun emerged, then

halfway through the hour the heavens opened again

to further compromise grip levels at this tricky

5.254km track. With water cascading across the

difficult cambers of this roller-coaster circuit,

staying on was as hard as setting a lap time decent enough for the front row.

And Stoner was the only man to dip below the

two-minute mark today. The Australian was in

command on his Ducati and his time of 2m 00.359s

is more than a full second quicker than

Vermeulen