Barbera Qualifies 10th For Catalunya GP

Dani Pedrosa was not the only MotoGP absentee in Catalunya today as Colin Edwards was ruled out of qualifying, also with a broken collarbone, after crashing in free practice yesterday. With just fifteen riders set to line up on the grid they are all guaranteed points if they can finish the race. Casey Stoner maintained his dominance throughout the majority of qualifying this afternoon despite being chased closely by Jorge Lorenzo before Marco Simoncelli stunned the crowd with a pole position lap that leaves him ahead of the Australian and the Italian on the front row.

MAPFRE Aspar rider Héctor Barberá showed his most determined side today after a difficult day of practice yesterday and also this morning. A lack of rear grip has cost him vital tenths all weekend but after relentless hard work he was able to reap the fruit over the final three laps and seal tenth place at the chequered flag. The Spaniard lies 1.2 seconds off pole position pace and heads up the fourth row of tomorrow’s grid.

10th Héctor Barberá 1.43.656 (26 laps):
“Yesterday I struggled quite a lot for feel and the day went by too fast. We have improved a lot today and got back on the right path but we still have problems with the bike sliding around, which is costing me time. I am able to do one fast lap but it is hard for me to keep a consistent pace. I am only four tenths off the fastest Ducati so we’ll try and do a good job on the bike tonight and see if we can improve a bit more tomorrow. Tyre choice is not easy in conditions like this but hopefully we can makes a decision before the race. The team and I want more than this and that is what we are working towards.”

Source: Aspar Media