18/08/12 - 7:55 PM
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Indianapolis Grand Prix
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Indianapolis Motor Speedway • Qualification
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Qualification

Follow the Indianapolis Grand Prix live. This MotoGP race starts at 19:55 on 18 August 2012. Find race results, calendar, standings, scores and all of this season’s MotoGP races.
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Highlights 
 
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Casey Stoner ends up sixth on the grid despite only completing three laps. Fingers crossed that he'll be well enough to race. Thanks for joing us, and we'll see you back here at 7pm UK time for the race.

0' 

It doesn't happen for Lorenzo - his tyres didn't have enough in them, and Pedrosa is on pole position at Indianapolis!

0' 

Lorenzo could yet do this! He stays out for another crack at it - he must have crossed the line with seconds to spare - and is up in the first sector!

0' 

As the clock ticks down towards zero Lorenzo comes into the final section 0.079 up... but he loses it a little in that final section: it's a 1:38.9, and Pedrosa, out on a quick lap, gets the news and backs right off.

1' 

Lorenzo is making a stab at it - he's half a tenth up in the first sector, but it's that tricky final sector which Pedrosa has been owning all afternoon.

2' 

Dani Pedrosa is on a flyer and a tenth up on his best lap so far.... and he crosses the line for a 1:38.813! It's two tenths faster than anyone else out there, and just pips last year's pole time by 0.037.

3' 

Great news on Hayden - he's 'escaped serious injury' and is fully conscious. He'll have a full check-over to make sure all is okay,

4' 

Spies and Dovzioso both out, but both slower than they have been - these guys look terrified of the conditions. I don't think anyone will beat Pedrosa's time.

5' 

Valentino Rossi has been down in 11th but looks like he's about to improve massively - but he has to abort his lap in the final sector. He just can't get this bike working for him - and he almost slips out on the final bend!

6' 

Casey Stoner still sits in 6th, but we've just heard that he has a torn ankle ligament - starting tomorrow's race seems impossible.

7' 

Dani Pedrosa is among those out on the track, but Jorge Lorenzo is still in the pits - the only man in the pits, incidentally.

8' 

It's a green flag and we're back in action in Indianapolis, with pretty much every rider going straight out.

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This session looks like ending in a madcap shootout which will see everyone going out trying to fit in two more laps.

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8:38 left on the clock so the session will be concluded - Hayden is off in the ambulance now, looking in pain but not serious.

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Hayden is looking up and around, but not walking - he's being stuck on a stretcher. Back in the pits none of the riders look too impressed. It feels like these soft tyres have made a dangerous set of conditions into lunatic conditions.

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This is just carnage this afternoon - an ambulance is on its way out to collect Hayden. It looked almost as if he might have been knocked out cold...

8'

ANOTHER AWFUL CRASH! It's Nicky Hayden this time, a high-sider that sends him skidding down the track with sparks flying. He looks in a bad way and there's a red flag.

9' 

Andrea Dovizioso is on a quick lap, and within a couple of hundredths of Pedrosa, and ends up third.

10' 

Lorenzo is a hundredth quicker than Pedrosa at the final split... but he's lost a couple of tenths in that final sector. Pedrosa is so much quicker than anyone else in those last few corners.

11' 

Pedrosa and Lorenzo have both put in quicker laps, Pedrosa's 1:39.036 fastest so far and Lorenzo just a few thousandths behind... but Lorenzo is going on for a second fast one.

12' 

Spies gets flipped into the air and slides into the gravel, but after a few nervous moments he's back on his feet and scurrying back to the pits.

13'

Ben Spies goes out on a storming lap, half a second up on the pole time - BUT SPIES HAS CRASHED!!!! IT'S A NASTY ONE, AGAIN AT TURN 13!

14' 

Cal Crutchlow is putting in a nice lap, and he's contending for pole - but he's messed up the final sector! He's up to fifth, but he lost almost half a second.

15' 

All the pole contenders back out on the track now - Stoner has now been pushed down to 4th by Stefan Bradl.

16' 

Interesting - Spies came into the pits again rather than finish that fast lap. He must have noticed something that needed tweaking.

17' 

Pedrosa is back out of the pits now - things hotting up...

18' 

Spies is out on track and on a flyer - he's 0.141 up on Pedrosa at the first split.

19' 

All the riders coming out onto the track now are using the softer tyre, so we should start to see these times attacked from here on in.

21' 

We're just hearing that Stoner is being X-rayed, incidentally.

23' 

Jorge Lorenzo is back out on the track needing to pick up from his current fifth spot, but not showing much pace just yet. He's half a second down on Spies' leading time.

25' 

Most of the bikes are in the garage being re-set for the final 20 minutes.

27' 

STONER UPDATE: The Australian has a suspected broken ankle! Massive news in the context of the championship; Pedrosa and Lorenzo will be rubbing their hands with glee at their title prospects, notwithstanding their sympathy for the chirpy Aussie.

29' 

Spies backs off a little after a couple of wobbles on those nasty bumps - he improves to 1:39.279 but gets no closer to Pedrosa.

30' 

Ben Spies is back out and is on a flyer - looks like we'll have a new pole sitter shortly.

33' 

Rossi can't improve his time and remains down in 10th place.

35' 

Pedrosa improves his fastest lap to 1:39.152, while Valentino Rossi comes out onto he circuit.

37' 

Jorge Lorenzo has just gone under 1:40 for the first time this afternoon and gets into fifth slot. Stoner still sitting third - luckily he had a decent lap before his crash, if the damage isn't too bad he could yet start the race on the first couple of rows, though nobody is yet going for it on soft tyres.

39' 

Stoner is 'receiving treaatment for an ankle injury', the official bulletin tells us. More as we get it.

40' 

Dani Pedrosa goes to the top of the timesheets with a 1:39.367.

42' 

Randy de Puniet's bike is twitching and squirming beneath him like an unwilling horse, but he's staying on.

45' 

Fastest man on the track now is Ben Spies, with a 1:39.446.

47' 

Stoner is being checked for left ankle pain at the medical centre.

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No news yet on Stoner's condition, but it can't be too bad - the session has been restarted.

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Stoner came off in the exact same place that caught out several people this weekend: coming out of a turn his bike just buckled from under him, and this track is just far too dangerous to be ridden on right now - or at least too dangerous for guys to go full out.

47'

Stoner's crash means the session has been red flagged!

48' 

The back wheel of Stoner's bike is bent and almost came off. Chilling stuff, and with Stoner being stretchered off it seems unlikely that he will race tomorrow.

49' 

The replay shows that crash in all its nastiness - a shocking one, Stoner was lucky not to be hit by the bike as it cartwheeled past him.

51'

CASEY STONER COMES OFF! The Australian was going brilliantly but succumbs to this slippery, bumpy surface! The bike flies into the air, the man himself goes flying and appears to have crocked his ankle - badly!

52' 

Stoner clocks a 1:39.465 while hardly breaking sweat - last year's pole time was round 1:38.8, though, so we can expect them to get a little quicker.

54' 

Stefan Bradl has put in a quick lap now to go quickestm with a 1:40.310 - that's still over a second slower than Stoner's FP3 time.

56' 

Stoner has leapt to the top of the timesheets early on with a 1:40.928.

58' 

Several of the big guns come straight out onto the track, Dani Pedrosa and Casey Stoner among them.

1hr 

The bikes are out on the track now and qualifying has begun in blistering hot sunshine.

19:00 

We'll be a few minutes late getting under way - a couple of crashes earlier on have set the schedule back a little - but it shouldn't be more than 10 minutes.

18:55 

Good evening and welcome to our LIVE coverage of the MotoGP qualifying session in Indianapolis.