First of all, thank you! Seriously, this here is why I've stayed on this forum. This thread, good sir, is nothing short of ecstasy. I believe your message has been lost on most of us. Oh, but not on me my friend. "Why do they qualify?" Ah....pure genius!
You, dear ihaveaquestion, make an insightful, well... question(s). "Why do they qualify?" I have been asking myself the same question all year, and I've been aware of MotoGP for only over the last 20 plus. Well actually, there are two qualifying sessions, but...whose counting. "What are they qualifying for?" might be another way to make your point. For example, its not like the Olympics, where the contestants must "qualify" to participate in the international tournament itself; unlike GP, where you pay an entrance fee and you're essentially qualified to compete, guaranteed a position on the grid (well as long as you "qualify" within a certain percentage of the top rider, which happens with astonishing regularity for the regular entrants, basically automatic qualification). Furthermore, GP has 2 "qualifying" sessions now, perhaps there are 2 races, one might reasonably extrapolate. Well...there are 2 podiums, 1 with 3 steps the other with 1. But no, there is 1 race, 2 qualifying sessions, interestingly enough, some riders actually participate in both qualifications.
Take for example Cal Crutchlow, he participated in both qualifying sessions: "Qualifying 1" today at LeMans, arriving in 2nd position amongst bikes that were far inferior and not actually prototype machines (more on this below) yet, he was dead last in "Qualifying 2" (despite having special tires, which for the moment we'll call: qualifying tires). Now dear reader, keep this next part straight; in reality it is the same exact qualifying position for the race! Yes, that's right, "Factory" Ducati rider Cal Crutchlow (formerly Factory 2 category, albeit a rather short lived proposed designation) participated in Qualifying 1 & Qualifying 2 sessions and managed to remain in thee exact qualifying position (starting position) for the race. So you see, I'm as every bit interested as you are about this strange business of "qualifying". Now lets remember, "Qualifying 1", is for the 2nd part of the grid, Qualifying 2 is for the 1st part, so the numerical nomenclature attached to Qualifying "1 & 2" are actually in reverse enumeration order of the 2 upper and lower halves of grid positions for the start of the race. I don't want to confuse anybody reading here, but you should also know there were 2 categories of machines in Qualifying 1 today (well actually there were 2 categories in Qualifying 2 too): 4 of which were prototype machines (once called factory or satellite). 2 of those machines (Ducatis) have a split designation, despite being virtually identical! You see, 1 is an "Open Option" category (Hernandez) and the other being a "Factory Option" category (Crutchlow) though as I said before, it was formerly proposed "Factory 2 Option" category. However, despite the 2 destinations for these 2 virtually identical Ducatis, they both qualify and operate under 1 set of parameters (that is, the Factory Option operates as a Open Option).
And what about the other 2 prototype machines I mentioned above, which competed in qualification with far inferior "production derived" machines? Well, you had in Qualifying 2 today, 2 Yamahas, formerly "factory satellite" machines, now designated as "Open Option". The 4 prototype machines, being far superior to the other production derived machines in Qualifying 2; 2 of those advanced to Qualifying 2, where they joined 2 other machines with special tires just like themselves (interestingly enough, 1 was a "Factory Option" Ducati (Dovisioso), while the other was an "Open Option" Ducati (Iannone), again, virtually identical machines, 2 categories, 2 qualifying sessions.) That is, in the 2 qualifying sessions, some machines got to use what are essentially "qualifying" tires, while most of those in "Qualifying 2" did not have these special super soft tires (once actually called "Qualifying tires")! So in Qualifying 2, all the bikes were full prototype machines, but some qualified with, lets call them "qualifying tires" while others used...well tires used to "qualify".
I'll just assume you know the difference between these "Option" categories, given the fact you clearly have the perspicacity to have us all examine: "why do they qualify?" Surely, the rhetorical question of the year. But please, allow me to elaborate on the futility of "qualifying", as your message was not lost on me, and one for which I concur with the point of your nuanced message presented to us here as an inquiry: "Why do they qualify?" Genuine genius!
