ROSSI TAKES FIRST POLE OF 2005 WITH STUNNING CIRCUIT RECORD
Gauloises Yamaha Team rider Valentino Rossi and his YZR-M1
machine will start from pole position at the opening round
of the 2005 MotoGP World Championship after a breathtaking
performance in this afternoon’s qualifying session for
the Spanish Grand Prix at Jerez. Rossi smashed his own pole
position record from last season by almost 1.5 seconds as
he stormed to a time of 1’39.419, holding off the challenge
of closest rival Sete Gibernau (Honda) by a comfortable 0.496
seconds. Colin Edwards enjoyed contrasting fortunes to his
Gauloises Yamaha team-mate, struggling to convert his race
pace to a qualifying lap and lining up 15th on the grid. Edwards
has shown good consistency all weekend but suffered from grip
problems with the front end of his YZR-M1 machine when using
Michelin’s excellent rear qualifier and now faces a
fight through the pack when Sunday’s race gets underway
at 2pm local time.
Rossi and Gibernau are joined on the front row of the grid
by Marco Melandri (Honda), who posted his best time on the
final lap to relegate Nicky Hayden (Honda) to the second row
alongside Shinya Nakano (Kawasaki) and Loris Capirossi (Ducati).
VALENTINO ROSSI – (1’39.419, 24 laps)
"My fast lap was incredible! Michelin made a great job
with the qualifying tyres – my first one was good but
the second was even better. There is a big question mark over
the tyre choice for the race tomorrow because after a few
laps they start to slide a lot, but it’s the same situation
for everyone. Now we’re just looking for good weather
tomorrow and hopefully it will be a beautiful race.”
COLIN EDWARDS (1’41.176, 28 laps)
"I was really confident that I would be able to lap in
the mid-1’40 mark but it just didn’t happen today.
The basic problem is that the rear qualifying tyre has so
much grip that it pushes a lot of load on to the front and
it keeps tucking under. I was losing the front all over the
place and we just couldn’t come up with an answer in
time. The good thing is that on race tyres I’m not having
this problem and my pace is pretty good. I’ve been in
the mid-41s fairly consistently and if I can grit my teeth
together and squeeze a couple more tenths out then it should
be enough to stay with the front group. The hardest thing
will be to make sure I don’t get blocked in so I’ll
be going out there to pass as many riders as I can from the
first corner."
DAVIDE BRIVIO – TEAM DIRECTOR
“Valentino did an incredible lap and for a few minutes
afterwards the garage was in shocked silence! Michelin have
made a big step forward with the qualifying tyre and it allowed
Valentino to exploit his full potential. But this is only
pole position and our focus now is on the race. It will be
a different matter altogether because tyre durability could
become a major issue. Colin will start with a disadvantage
because of his grid position but he has shown this weekend
that he has good pace and I am looking forward to seeing him
improve his position in the race. We’ll see what happens
tomorrow but I’m confident that both our riders will
be competitive.”
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