QUALIFYING PRACTICE – CHINESE GRAND PRIX - SHANGHAI
EDWARDS SEALS FRONT ROW START AT SHANGHAI
Camel Yamaha Team rider Colin Edwards will start from the
front row of the MotoGP grid in tomorrow’s Grand Prix
of China after setting the third fastest time in a dramatic
single qualifying session today. After battling through torrentially
wet conditions yesterday, the riders enjoyed a cloudy but
dry free practice this morning as they sought to find a suitable
dry set-up for their machines. The afternoon started in similar
conditions but a brief rain shower midway through the session
confined the riders to a tense spell in their pit garages
before a thrilling late shootout for grid positions.
Whilst Edwards battled for the top spot with eventual pole
setter Dani Pedrosa (Honda) and second-fastest John Hopkins
(Suzuki), his Camel Yamaha team-mate Valentino Rossi was unable
to repeat the kind of form that saw him dominate proceedings
in the wet conditions yesterday. The Italian was one of several
riders to struggle with a lack of dry practice time as he
looked to iron out set-up problems and find his pace. He now
faces another battle through the pack after setting the 13th
fastest time, meaning he will start from the fifth row of
the grid.
COLIN EDWARDS (3rd; 1’59.383, 15 laps)
“This has been a really strange weekend because we started
off by finding a setting for the wet and then converted it
to the dry – usually it is the other way around! I felt
so comfortable with the bike yesterday and I was disappointed
when I saw that I was down in thirteenth, but I knew the reason
for that and I was really confident about today. I can’t
really explain why we were off the pace in Turkey but have
been right on it here in China, because we have hardly touched
anything with the bike, just played around with the suspension.
We’ve got some chatter in certain areas of the track
but it’s worse when the grip is good, especially when
we put a qualifying tyre on. On race rubber you can hardly
notice it so I think we have a good setting to go the distance
tomorrow and I am happy with my tyre choice. I’ve had
some decent starts to races so far this season but haven’t
been able to maintain the pace, so hopefully I can turn that
around tomorrow. It feels good to be back on the front row.”
VALENTINO ROSSI (13th; 2’00.720, 18 laps) “For
sure we have a lot of problems and it’s disappointing
to be back in this position again after such a good day yesterday.
When the grip becomes normal again, like today, we have a
lot of chatter and it’s very hard to ride the bike.
Really this situation is quite bad, as the chatter has returned
again today and it is similar to how it was in Jerez. Now
we have to start from the fifth row and so it’s going
to be a very hard race. We have talked a lot tonight in the
garage and now we will try some things in the morning during
warm-up and hope that we can make some final improvements.
Now I need to ride a defensive race, try not to make any mistakes
and try to take as many points as possible.”
DAVIDE BRIVIO – CAMEL YAMAHA TEAM DIRECTOR
“A very good result for Colin – it’s been
a while since he was on the front row so it is good to see
him back there. He seems much more comfortable on the bike
and it’s good to see that he is able to ride it so effectively.
Unfortunately Valentino wasn’t able to follow up his
good performance from yesterday with a similar result today,
so we will have to take a look at the data with the engineers
and try to come up with some ideas for the warm-up tomorrow.”
FIRST ROW:
1.Dani Pedrosa (SPA) Repsol Honda Team, 1’59.009
2.John Hopkins (USA) Rizla Suzuki MotoGP, 1’59.373
3.COLIN EDWARDS (USA) Camel Yamaha Team, 1’59.383
SECOND ROW
4.Shinya Nakano (JPN) Kawasaki Racing Team, 1’59.570
5.Nicky Hayden (USA) Repsol Honda Team, 1’59.574
6.Sete Gibernau (SPA) Ducati Marlboro Team, 1’59.639
THIRD ROW
7.Casey Stoner (AUS) Honda LCR, 1’59.890
8.Marco Melandri (ITA) Fortuna Honda, 2’00.014
9.Randy de Puniet (FRA) Kawasaki Racing Team, 2’00.044
FOURTH ROW
10.Loris Capirossi (ITA) Ducati Marlboro Team, 2’00.078
11.Makoto Tamada (JPN) Konica Minolta Honda, 2’00.176
12.Chris Vermeulen (AUS) Rizla Suzuki MotoGP, 2’00.304
FIFTH ROW
13.VALENTINO ROSSI (ITA) Camel Yamaha Team, 2’00.720
14.Carlos Checa (SPA) Tech 3 Yamaha, 2’01.052
15.Toni Elias (SPA) Fortuna Honda, 2’01.275
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