Edwards struggles in qualifying at Jerez

Colin Edwards encountered a series of problems that slowed him down, but he tested some modification that have made the bike feel more balanced. Unfortunately the American rider crashed during the second lap of the QP1 session, making it impossible for him to improve his lap time.

The team will be going over today’s data in order to be put Edwards in the best possible conditions for tomorrow’s race.

Colin Edwards – 22nd  (1´41.536)

“Qualifying didn’t go as we planned. We struggled this morning, did a couple of things to the bike, went out on track and the times were the same. So we tried a different bike thing in the afternoon during the last thirty minutes session and it felt better but only got about five laps, the bike felt more balanced. Went out there for qualifying, the first lap was the fastest lap I had done so far.  Then I came out of one and it hooked up, got into to a little bit deep, just being stubborn I was not about to give up a lap and I just squeezed it and squeezed it and it kind of caught over the transition and thought: “I got this, its coming back!” As soon as I thought that it went away from me and crashed. Thanks to all my team, they have been working a lot, it’s not for lack of trying, we just didn’t find the traction.” 

Sergio Verbena – MotoGP Technical Director

“Yesterday we were hoping to have a better qualifying session but today we had unexpected problems. Both riders seem to have the same lack of grip and that has been their main limiting factor during qualifying. With Colin we have tested a few modifications that seem to make him have better feeling but unfortunately he crashed on the second lap and was unable to improve his lap time after that. We will be going over the data to see what exactly has been he cause of our problem in order to be ready for tomorrow’s race.”