Ben Spies paid tribute to his Yamaha team for giving him the bike to challenge Repsol Honda in qualifying at the Sachsenring. The American split Casey Stoner and Dani Pedrosa to claim second on the grid although it was far from a simple session for him.
“It's been strange today, we've struggled in the rain a lot in the past, especially at this track in the last couple of years but I had a good feeling in the wet yesterday. I was honestly a bit lost in the last ten minutes of qualifying, my lap timer quit working so I didn't know what times I was doing and what my splits were. I just rode off of what I thought was quick and saw P1 on my board a couple of times. In the end I just gave it some stick and hoped I would get on the front row! Great work by the guys to deliver a good bike for the conditions too.”
Teammate Jorge Lorenzo didn't find as much time in a frantic finale to qualifying and must start from fifth but the Spaniard is confident he has the pace to challenge the leaders whatever the weather does, although he'd prefer it were dry.
“I feel much better every day, I can manage on the bike quite well but I'm still not 100%. We can do well tomorrow whatever the conditions I think. Qualifying was difficult today, we made a mistake with the tyre and did too may laps on it at the end of the practice. Second row is not so bad so let's see. I'd like it to be dry but of course you can't choose the weather!”
Team Director Massimo Meregalli also thinks there is more pace in hand for both his riders and remains confident of challenging Honda for victory.
“At the end the weather was quite helpful today. We wasted the morning session but fortunately this afternoon was full wet. We managed to put together a good set up which Ben is really comfortable with and his pace is very fast. He still has something in his pocket to give so tomorrow should be good. Jorge did a good long run and we think he's ready for the race. Let's see what the weather brings us for tomorrow. The warm up will be important if it is dry.”