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Stoner Not Feeling Comfortable, Pedrosa In Second

After winning his home Grand Prix last time out in Spain, Spanish Repsol Honda rider Dani Pedrosa aims to bag a back-to-back win this weekend at the Twin Ring Motegi circuit in Japan, hoping to outscore his fellow compatriot and only title rival Jorge Lorenzo in this year's campaign.

With Pedrosa topping the time sheets in the second and final free practice session, the intentions of the Spaniard became obvious. However, it was Yamaha Factory rider Jorge Lorenzo who snatched pole position in the dying seconds of today's qualifying session, with a lap time of 1'44.969.

After missing the last three races due to his injury, Australian Casey Stoner made progress throughout all four sessions, but had taken the wrong direction in the set up of his Repsol Honda machine in the latter stage of Saturday's qualifying session. Although Stoner still not feeling comfortable on his bike, he was able to lap three tenths under the circuit record (1'45.745) and hopes to give his team a good  result from seventh on the grid tomorrow.

Dani Pedrosa
"In the end I didn't know the lap times of the others and I was just pushing as hard as I could to get a place on the front row of the grid because on my last exit I was eighth. I had many problems with chattering in qualifying and we still don't know why. Everything was OK during the free practices but this afternoon, it was hard to do the lap time. Finally the second place is good enough and I hope we can avoid this chattering in the race tomorrow. The key point will be to choose the correct rear tyre and be consistent for the whole race because the pace will be fast.”

Casey Stoner
"To be honest I thought we had a shot at the front row today. The first soft tyre we used we achieved a pretty good time and I knew we had something extra in reserve, in both myself and the bike. We thought with the second soft tyre we would improve but unfortunately we went in the wrong direction with the bike and I had no rear grip, so I decided to play it safe and not push too hard. Physically I'm a little sore but not so bad, I'm just struggling to lift the bike out of the right hand corners and it's making setting up the bike more difficult than it should be. My team can see that my lean angles are nowhere near what they usually are. I can't get my foot out of the way, therefore I can't lean the bike over enough or pick it up quickly on the exit of the corner. I'm not sure what to expect tomorrow, I'll try to get another good night's rest and do our best tomorrow.”

Press release courtesy of Repsol Honda Team.

BikeBandit.com


2025 F1 Championship Standings (as of March 23)

PDriverTeamPoints
1Lando NorrisMcLaren44
2Max VerstappenRed Bull36
3George RussellMercedes35
4Oscar PiastriMcLaren34
5Andrea AntonelliMercedes22
6Alexander AlbonWilliams16
7Esteban OconHaas10
8Lance StrollAston Martin10
9Lewis HamiltonFerrari9
10Charles LeclercFerrari8
11Nico HülkenbergKick Sauber6
12Oliver BearmanHaas4
13Yuki TsunodaRacing Bulls3
14Carlos SainzWilliams1
15Liam LawsonRed Bull0
16Gabriel BortoletoKick Sauber0
17Fernando AlonsoAston Martin0
18Pierre GaslyAlpine0
19Jack DoohanAlpine0
20Isack HadjarRacing Bulls0
PTeamPoints
1McLaren F1 Team78
         Poles: 2       Sprint wins: 0       GP wins: 2
2Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team57
         Poles: 0       Sprint wins: 0       GP wins: 0
3Oracle Red Bull Racing36
         Poles: 0       Sprint wins: 0       GP wins: 0
4Scuderia Ferrari HP17
         Poles: 0       Sprint wins: 1       GP wins: 0
5Atlassian Williams Racing17
         Poles: 0       Sprint wins: 0       GP wins: 0
6MoneyGram Haas F1 Team14
         Poles: 0       Sprint wins: 0       GP wins: 0
7Aston Martin Aramco F1 Team10
         Poles: 0       Sprint wins: 0       GP wins: 0
8Stake F1 Team Kick Sauber6
         Poles: 0       Sprint wins: 0       GP wins: 0
9Visa Cash App Racing Bulls3
         Poles: 0       Sprint wins: 0       GP wins: 0
10BWT Alpine F1 Team0
         Poles: 0       Sprint wins: 0       GP wins: 0

2025 MotoGP Championship Standings (as of March 30)

PRiderTeamPoints
1Alex MarquezGresini Racing87
2Marc MarquezDucati Lenovo86
3Francesco BagnaiaDucati Lenovo75
4Franco MorbidelliPertamina Enduro VR4655
5Fabio Di GiannantonioPertamina Enduro VR4644
6Johann ZarcoCastrol Honda LCR25
7Ai OguraTrackhouse Racing25
8Marco BezzecchiAprilia Racing24
9Luca MariniHonda HRC Castrol20
10Brad BinderRed Bull KTM19
11Jack MillerPramac Racing19
12Pedro AcostaRed Bull KTM16
13Fabio QuartararoMonster Energy Yamaha16
14Enea BastianiniKTM Tech316
15Joan MirHonda HRC Castrol10
16Alex RinsMonster Energy Yamaha10
17Maverick ViñalesKTM Tech36
18Raul FernandezTrackhouse Racing5
19Fermin AldeguerGresini Racing3
20Augusto FernandezPramac Racing3
21Miguel OliveiraPramac Racing2
22Lorenzo SavadoriAprilia Racing1
23Somkiat ChantraIdemitsu Honda LCR0
24Jorge MartinAprilia Racing0
PTeamPoints
1Ducati Lenovo Team161
         Poles: 3       Sprint wins: 3       GP wins: 3
2Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team99
         Poles: 0       Sprint wins: 0       GP wins: 0
3BK8 Gresini Racing MotoGP90
         Poles: 0       Sprint wins: 0       GP wins: 0
4Red Bull KTM Factory Racing35
         Poles: 0       Sprint wins: 0       GP wins: 0
5Honda HRC Castrol30
         Poles: 0       Sprint wins: 0       GP wins: 0
6Trackhouse MotoGP Team30
         Poles: 0       Sprint wins: 0       GP wins: 0
7Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP26
         Poles: 0       Sprint wins: 0       GP wins: 0
8Aprilia Racing25
         Poles: 0       Sprint wins: 0       GP wins: 0
9Honda LCR MotoGP25
         Poles: 0       Sprint wins: 0       GP wins: 0
10Prima Pramac Racing24
         Poles: 0       Sprint wins: 0       GP wins: 0
11Red Bull KTM Tech322
         Poles: 0       Sprint wins: 0       GP wins: 0