13th on Mugello grid for Barbera

The sunshine in Tuscany was once again a welcoming presence on day two of preparation for the Italian GP, although a cloud was cast over the MotoGP World Championship early in the morning. Valentino Rossi’s horrific FP2 crash will take the headlines for the day, causing as it does an extended spell on the sidelines for the world champion. In a Rossi-less qualifying session, Dani Pedrosa an Jorge Lorenzo stood out as the men to beat. Pedrosa took pole, with a time notable slower than the 2008 circuit record. The Spanish assault continues in Italy, and Mugello will be packed on race day to see who takes the victory.

Following a great initial session, Páginas Amarillas Aspar rider Héctor Barberá started the day ready to make further improvements onoard his Ducati. He knocked a second off his previous best at Mugello in the opening laps of the second free practice, although qualifying was where his progression ended. Nonetheless, Barberá centred his attention on getting his race pace up to scratch, and on his final lap was able to record his quickest time of the weekend: 1’50.561. It was enough to qualify him in thirteenth for the race, lower than what he was expecting. The Spaniard had the highest top speed of any rider with a 341.2km/h maximum, and will try and use that and his excellent reflexes to fight back on Sunday afternoon.

13th Héctor Barberá 1.50.561 (26 laps): “I am rather annoyed with myself, because I think that I could have done a lot better in the qualifying session. This morning I was feeling good when riding, even when pushing at the limit. It is a track at which you can go much quicker when following someone. I was trying to keep my pace up, and I’m happy for that, but I didn’t have that one fast lap that would have placed me higher. There are positives: the Ducati is responding well, and it’s just myself who is lacking that extra push. I’ll try and do so tomorrow. Thirteenth isn’t the result that I was hoping for, but bearing in mind that I love the next track I hope to do better next time. Luckily I am a good starter, so I will need to take off well and stick with a strong group in order to make a comeback like I did in France.”