Sachsenring, 14 July: In warm and sunny conditions Honda LCR rider Carlos Checa qualified fifteenth for tomorrow’s German Grand Prix at the Sachsenring. The fifth row starting spot was little reward for Checa’s fast pace aboard an upgraded Honda RC212V chassis. After being impressively fifth fastest in yesterday’s free practice, the Spanish rider was set for a top ten qualifying when he crashed with eight minutes remaining.

Checa had just posted a series of fast section times when he lost the front-end at the final corner of the 3.6 km track. Despite this setback, Checa was one of 16 riders to qualify within 0.8s of pole position, setting the scene for a close race. Checa will use the latest specification chassis in the 30 lap race. Pole position went to Australian rider Casey Stoner

CHECA: Fifteenth - 1’23.182

CHECA: “Starting from 15th will not be easy at this track but the new chassis has better balance and I should be able to fight with the second group for a place in top ten tomorrow. The crash was a shame, I felt confident that I could do a very competitive lap as the section times showed, but I just pushed too hard on the front at the final corner. Today I concentrated on set-up of the new chassis and tyre testing for the race, and there are still some things we need to understand as we learn about the new chassis.”

For the 250cc GP, Eugene Laverty qualified 26th, improving his best time from provisional qualifying by almost one second.

LAVERTY: “The engine performance was much better today, and I’m enjoying the track, but I need a better suspension set-up to get the chassis working and today a problem with the rear brake also cost me some time.”