Jerez GP - Qualifying
STORMING STONER JUST 0.1 SECONDS OFF POLE IN CLOSEST
TOP TEN EVER
 Ducati
Marlboro Team man Casey Stoner rode a superb qualifying session
at Jerez today to take a second-row start just 0.122 seconds
off pole position. Team-mate Loris Capirossi had a tougher
day, with 15th fastest time, still less than a second off
pole.
World Championship leader Stoner made the running on race
tyres this afternoon, leading the first 40 minutes, then twice
returned to pole on his two runs with qualifying tyres before
slipping to an ultra-close fifth quickest. Just 0.325 seconds
cover the top ten riders, the closest top ten in premier-class
history.
Capirossi, winner here last year, will make some big changes
for morning warm-up to improve his chances in the race. Tomorrow's
Spanish GP will be his 250th GP start. The Italian made his
GP debut at Suzuka, Japan, exactly 17 years ago on March 25
1990.
Casey Stoner, 5th fastest, 1m 39.524s
"This morning we were struggling with a few set-up problems,
we seemed to go backward with the turning and the grip. So
we looked over everything, saw what we needed and came up
with a good package before the afternoon session. We hadn't
been able to find a good feeling with the second bike, so
we swapped the forks out of the first bike and that seemed
to solve the problem. Straight away I felt comfortable, we
made a couple more changes during the session and our race
pace is looking very good. I'm not sure if the problem was
in my head or in the forks! I don't know which bike we'll
race, both have performed pretty well. We found out what race
tyre we wanted in the last session and if it's around this
temperature tomorrow we're going to be pretty happy. Qatar
worked out perfectly and this weekend could do the same but
we've got to be realistic because there's going to be a lot
more riders up front in this race. As you saw last year the
first turn can be a bit rough here, I think I went from 15th
to fifth, you never know what can happen at this track."
Loris Capirossi, 15th fastest, 1m 40.391s
"We started the qualifying session quite well, I was
soon faster on race tyres. But then I took two big risks and
nearly lost the front, and given that the crash I had in Qatar
was because I lost the front, and we still don't know why,
I lost a bit confidence in the front. We tried to make some
small set-up changes, but with no success, so we have decided
to make quite a drastic change for morning warm-up, trying
to put more weight on the front. Anyway, our race rhythm isn't
so bad. We are all very, very close and in the race the situation
is always different from practice. We have to get the maximum
from the warm-up and to try to do our best in the race."
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