Repsol Honda riders Dani Pedrosa and Nicky Hayden put in storming performances during this afternoon's French qualifying session, Pedrosa taking pole position and Hayden snatching a second-row start. This is yet another pole for Michelin but the first by a non-Yamaha rider. Weather conditions at Le Mans have been very changeable so far this weekend, with this morning's third practice session getting underway on a damp track and this afternoon's qualifying outing run in cool and mostly overcast conditions with the occasional sunny spell. There is still a possibility of rain tomorrow.

Pedrosa is joined on the first row by Tech 3's Colin Edwards who put in another good qualifying performance. Reigning World Champion Casey Stoner found a good race set-up for his Ducati at this track and converted that pace to a qualifying tyre, setting a stunning final lap to make a late challenge for the last spot on the front row.

Fiat Yamaha teammates joing Hayden on the 2nd row. This afternoon saw more of the same good work from Rossi as he concentrated on refining set-up and finalising his tyre choice with Bridgestone, before using his three qualifying tyres in the later stages of the session. With his last tyre Rossi was confident of making a run for the front row but he could not quite make it and had to settle for fourth, though he remains confident of being able to play a key part in tomorrow's 28-lap race. Jorge Lorenzo was unfortunate to crash again in morning practice escaped any further injury to his damaged ankles and was able to qualify in fifth, between Rossi and Hayden.

Dani Pedrosa - Repsol Honda - Pole
I'm very satisfied with today's result. It's my first pole position of the season and that's especially good at this track because it's very important to have a good grid position here. Today we made some small chassis adjustments, fine-tuning the machine. This afternoon I wasn't able to get the maximum out of my first two Michelin qualifying tyres, so we made some more changes to the chassis settings and that allowed me to make a big step forward with my third qualifier. I didn't expect to get pole with my fourth qualifying tyre but I did, so we're very happy. As far as race pace goes, I'm quite satisfied but there are a lot of strong riders going very fast here and the lap times are all very close, so I hope we can make another step forward for tomorrow. The other question mark is the weather. It's been very changeable and we still don't know what to expect for the race.

Colin Edwards - Tech 3 Yamaha - 2nd
I've got to admit that I thought I'd done enough for pole position today. I'll even admit that the time I did with my first tyre I thought might be good enough. I thought I'm just going to kick back with a coffee but the boys starting knocking down the times and when I did my second lap of 32.7, I thought 'that is going to be close to pole.' I was out on my last tyre and I was hammering it but still felt pretty comfortable like I had more in reserve. Then I came out of the bottom hairpin and Marco was in front of me, but he was a good fifteen bike lengths clear. He stayed way over to the left and I thought 'okay, he'll look back and see me.' But he didn't look back and unfortunately it cost me a bit of time, which is a little frustrating. I almost ran into the back of him and I had to stand the bike up and run over the inside of the kerb. Maybe if I had just kept the throttle wide open I'd have still got a fast time. It could have been pole position because I'd matched Dani through the first two splits and the strongest section for Yamaha has always been T4. With our chassis and the way the bike handles the bike works like a dream in the last section, so I was confident that I'd have made up some time in that last part. I was certainly going to give it a go. I'm still happy to be on the front row, but pole would have been nice for the Tech 3 team in their home race. The bike is working awesome and Michelin has done a great job. For Tech 3 and Michelin this is a massively important race, and I'll be giving it everything tomorrow. On race tyres we have been fast and consistent all weekend and I'm feeling good.

Casey Stoner - Ducati Marlboro - 3rd
First of all I want to say congratulations to Pedrosa for a great lap. Myself and Dani go back a long way and he's been riding phenomenally well this season so he deserves to be on pole. Having said that, I think I should have been there instead today! Basically I made a mistake towards the end of my best lap and I think it cost me pole position, so I have to accept responsibility for that. The team have done a great job to get the bike working around this circuit on race tyres and we've been fast all weekend. Bridgestone have also been working hard on their qualifying tyres and they gave us something really good today so it was a shame we couldn't translate that into another pole for them. Anyway, from my point of view the qualifying position is not important so long as we're in touch and a front row start gives us a good chance. The most important thing is that we're in good shape in race trim and if it stays dry tomorrow then we could be in for a good battle. Pedrosa and Edwards look like they will be on the pace and you always have to expect Valentino to join in too so hopefully the weather stays dry for the fans and we get a good race and a good result.

Valentino Rossi - Fiat Yamaha - 4th
Today everything seemed to go very well and I was quite confident; I thought that with the last qualifying tyre I could do 1'32.9 or even 8 and be on the front row, but at the end we had a small problem and couldn't manage this. Of course the first row is always better but with the race tyres we are in good shape, with a strong rhythm and a great set-up. Tomorrow I will look to make a good start, try to get to the front immediately and then try to stay there with the other fast riders. As I said, our race pace is fine but there are four or five other riders with a similar fast pace so it's going to be a very interesting race tomorrow! My target is to be on the podium so now we're hoping for another dry day and then we will do our very best to be there.

Jorge Lorenzo - Fiat Yanaha - 5th
This is a very difficult time and I have a lot of pain in all of my body, but I want to keep going and I think fifth place is a very good position for me today. Of course I know it's a risk for me, but this sport always has some danger and I don't think about this. Today was hard and my crash this morning didn't help, but I didn't make anything worse and I was able to ride this afternoon and to try hard with my qualifying tyres. We need to improve the bike more for this track, especially the electronics and the chassis, but I know that we can be better tomorrow and I am sure that my physical condition will be better as well. Neither our bike nor my mental or physical condition is perfect here and my rhythm is not as good as at the other races, but of course I still want to try to be in front and this is why I have made some mistakes today. It's not the end of the world however, I've been in worse situations in the past and I won't panic. Tomorrow is another day and, although today I was lacking some confidence, I know I will feel better in myself tomorrow and that I will be able to try to take some points.

Nicky Hayden - Repsol Honda - 6th
It definitely hasn't been an easy day or an easy weekend. We haven't really found a direction even though we've been trying a lot of things. This afternoon I think we made a bit of progress and got a better feeling as time went on, so I was able to put one down later on and get a respectable grid position. But I really need to come up with something for tomorrow if I don't want to watch them guys completely disappear in the race. It's going to be hard. Getting into the corners has been the issue, then when we get the front better we hurt the rear, so it's been a constant compromise all weekend. We've been making a little bit bigger changes than we would usually make during a race weekend but sometimes that has to be done. We'll definitely try another little something in warm-up. We've got a lot of work to do tonight, but these boys aren't scared of a little hard work.

James Toseland - Tech 3 Yamaha - 7th
I did pretty good times in every section but never managed to put them together on the same lap unfortunately. Without that track knowledge and a couple of small mistakes you are on the third row. The speed of these guys and their experience is unbelievable and it is tough to beat them when everything is perfect. Nicky just beat me to the second row and I'd have been really pleased with that because it is vital to be on he first two rows to get away with that leading bunch. Being on the third row is quite a big disadvantage so I need a really good start. I ran four qualifiers today because on a track I don't know it is almost like having to learn the circuit again with the extra grip. It just helps me build up speed gradually instead of having to take your brain out and go for a time. There is so much pressure to get a good grid position you can't afford to make a mistake and having a fourth is like a banker really. I've been improving all weekend, but I just need to start on a Tuesday or a Wednesday and I'd be okay! We have definitely found a direction with the set-up. I'm hoping it will be dry tomorrow morning because we need to try something else but I got into the 34s on race tyres this afternoon and I need to shave off about half-a-second really. But we got rear traction massively better than yesterday. At least now I can drive off the corners better because in China I couldn't drive of the corners very well and that's why I was getting passed on the exit. Colin has been brilliant all weekend and it's been great for the Tech 3 team at their home race. Hopefully I can get in amongst the action tomorrow and give my guys a good result.

Chris Vermeulen - Rizla Suzuki - 8th
As a whole the weekend has gone very well and I am happy with the progress we have made, but I'm a bit disappointed with the qualifying position as it has been our worst session of the weekend. The bike and tyres are both working well and I am pleased with the way I am riding around Le Mans. We have a good race pace and set-up, and we did quite a few laps on the Bridgestone race tyres and are happy with the choice of rubber for tomorrow for both consistency and durability. I honestly think we are in good stead to fight for a podium and I will be trying my best to achieve that - that's certainly my goal!

John Hopkins - Kawasaki Racing - 9th
This morning we made considerable progress on a race tyre, and we improved our lap time by three tenths of a second on each run. We didn't know what the weather was going to do this afternoon, so we finalised our dry race tyre in the first session. In qualifying we worked on finding a better front-end feeling on the Ninja ZX-RR to give me more confidence going into the corners. The first run we had on a qualifying tyre wasn't so great as I had a bit of a slide, but we found a combination that worked reasonably well and I was able to push quite hard to gain a third row grid position on our final run. Tomorrow we have to get away from the line quickly; the bike is ready to race and I'm looking forward to it whatever the weather.

Andrea Dovizioso - JiR Scot - 10th
In race configuration we've found some good tyre options for both front and rear and tomorrow after the warm-up we'll be able to make the right choice according to the weather forecast. The choice will be between looking for good handling and very good stability - two characteristics that normally don't go very well together! We're not yet getting the performance we want in qualifying and the result of this is that on race day I have to be very aggressive to get to the leaders.

Loris Capirossi - Rizla Suzuki - 11th
The whole weekend hasn't been very easy, but I really want to say a big thank-you to all my team because we decided to modify the whole bike for this afternoon, and it worked because my feeling was much better. We improved the rhythm and now I think we are not in too bad a position for the race. I lost out on my last qualifying lap - which was my quickest so far - because of two riders having a chat on the track, and I missed out on my best lap. For tomorrow I think we can improve further and if we get a good start I think I can stay with the top guys.

Randy De Puniet - LCR Honda - 12th
This morning was not so bad as we improved a lot the bike on race set-up and I lapped consistently fast. We started the afternoon session on qualifiers because of the incoming bad weather but my feeling was not good enough at the beginning. I was not enough aggressive. Then the feeling was much better but I am a bit disappointed for the fourth row. Anyway I feel confident for tomorrow's race because my bike package is pretty good and we can ride with a good rhythm for the whole race.

Shinya Nakano - Gresini Honda - 13th
Today was an extremely difficult qualifying session but having said that my lap times were improving right up until the end of free practice this morning. In the afternoon I wasn't able to go as fast as I would have liked on a qualifying tyre even though I was pushing as hard as I could. We obviously have to improve in certain areas, particularly in the set-up of the bike on qualifying tyres and getting the best out of the engine. Starting from the fifth row won't be easy but here the weather is always unpredictable and could have an effect on the outcome of the race. I'm still confident for tomorrow and I'll fight hard to the end.

Alex de Angelis - Gresini Honda - 15th
Again, today we haven't managed to secure a place on the grid that is a true reflection of our potential. It is clear that we have to improve something before tomorrow's race we've tried a couple of different settings on the two bikes so we have to take a look at the data and work out a configuration that is competitive and most adapted to this track. On top of that, when I was on my best lap with a qualifying tyre the seat unit came loose and gave me some problems with balance. In any case we have to stay strong and work hard to get through this difficult period.

Marco Melandri - Ducati Xerox - 17th
Unfortunately here at Le Mans we've been unable to progress as we'd hoped because the layout of this track highlights the weak points in the set-up of my bike. In China, where the majority of braking is done with the bike upright, we found a satisfactory setting but here, where you have to tip the bike in under braking, I can't get any feel for the rear and I can't go fast. I'm having to go in early and that is making the corners longer. Unfortunately I think it's going to be a tough race for us tomorrow.

Anthony West - Kawasaki Racing - 18th
I'm incredibly frustrated that we were unable to continue making progress today. We went out on a race tyre in practice and I felt comfortable with the direction we were going. However, we just couldn't make a significant improvement on a qualifying tyre, which has put us on the back of the grid. For me this is not good enough, especially as John seems to be able to make the bike work for him. I have to look at maybe changing my riding style to improve our times, try to find the root cause of our problems, and turn my season around. We will not make any changes to the bike overnight, and tomorrow I'll be going out to race as hard as possible.

2008 French MotoGP Qualifying Times
 1. Pedrosa    Honda     (M)  1:32.647
 2. Edwards    Yamaha    (M)  1:32.774
 3. Stoner     Ducati    (B)  1:32.994
 4. Rossi      Yamaha    (B)  1:33.157
 5. Lorenzo    Yamaha    (M)  1:33.269
 6. Hayden     Honda     (M)  1:33.286
 7. Toseland   Yamaha    (M)  1:33.396
 8. Vermeulen  Suzuki    (B)  1:33.400
 9. Hopkins    Kawasaki  (B)  1:33.628
10. Dovizioso  Honda     (M)  1:33.689
11. Capirossi  Suzuki    (B)  1:33.707
12. de Puniet  Honda     (M)  1:33.723
13. Nakano     Honda     (B)  1:34.077
14. Elias      Ducati    (B)  1:34.561
15. de Angelis Honda     (B)  1:34.670
16. Guintoli   Ducati    (B)  1:34.747
17. Melandri   Ducati    (B)  1:35.082
18. West       Kawasaki  (B)  1:35.349