The Indianapolis Motor Speedway may not be Casey Stoner's favourite circuit on the MotoGP tour, but the Australian rider appears to be managing alright having set pole position in today's MotoGP qualifying with a new lap record with a time of a blistering 1:38:850. The previous track record was a time of 1:39:730 set by Dani Pedrosa in 2009. Following complaints that last year the track was too bumpy, and this year the freshly re-paved track is too slick, the Repsol Honda rider seems to be figuring it out better than his competition. Stoner was untouchable in Saturday afternoon's qualifier.
Factory Yamaha's Ben Spies has been on the heals of Casey Stoner all weekend and appears to be his only real competition at the moment. The Texan worked hard to close the gap, dropping his lap times consistently, until Stoner pulled of a 1:38:850 that remained unmatched for the rest of the session. While the Yamaha team did everything they could to match Stoner's pace, the best they could muster up was a 1:39:373, enough to take second position on the grid for Sunday's race.
Perhaps the most impressive story of the day was Spies' Yamaha team mate Jorge Lorenzo, who up until Saturday afternoon had been experiencing a weekend that could only be described as a "nightmare". The defending world champion had been struggling with set up, particularly with the front end of the motorcycle all weekend long and things did not look promising for the Spaniard. The team had made a number of changes to the motorcycle, and compared the data from Spies' Yamaha (though in the end chose a different set-up) and with less than 10 minutes remaining in Saturday's qualifying session, Lorenzo was able to log a time of 1:39:629, enough for a front row start on Sunday.
Dani Pedrosa was the only other rider to break the 1:40 mark, and with a time of 1:39:947 the Repsol Honda rider will start in 4th position.
The biggest question amongst all riders in Sunday's race remains the issue of traction. Riders are concerned that a slippery track off the race line will make passing difficult and will significantly impact the race scenario. It seems that it is anyone's guess what will happen on the new pavement on Sunday; only time will tell.
