Colin Edwards was elated after qualifying on the second row of the grid for the Indianapolis Grand Prix, equalling his best qualifying result of the season so far. The Monster Yamaha Tech 3 rider believes the YZR-M1 is performing as well as it has been all season and hopes to demonstrate that again tomorrow.
“The weekend has been great so far and now I’m really looking forward to the race tomorrow. I haven’t been out of the top six in every session and everything has been working fantastic. I feel great on the bike, my Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team have been working tirelessly again to give me a competitive package, and I’m sure a realistic goal is to finish in the top six. That would be a great result and I’m hoping to put on a good show for the Indy crowd tomorrow.”
A major talking point among the riders as the newly laid tarmac between turns 5 and 16 which offered little grip on Friday. Edwards felt the situation improved significantly today thanks to the extra rubber being put down.
“The new pavement was a million times better today. Yesterday it was greasy and I was sliding around all over the place, but to finish third in that first practice session gave me a lot of confidence immediately and we have just built on that. Right at the end on one of the soft tyres I knew I had to take a risk on the first lap. Normally I’m not the guy that pushes on the first lap, but I knew here that the soft tyre needed to be hammered right out of the pitlane when it had a lot better grip than the second lap. The bike has felt the best it has for a few races and now I’m excited for the race. I need a good start but I’ll be looking to have a good fight with Dovizioso and Simoncelli. In this heat it is going to be a long and tough race, but I’ll be giving it my all for the American fans.”
