ROSSI TAKES FIFTH POLE OF THE SEASON AT ‘HOME’
CIRCUIT
Gauloises Yamaha Team rider Valentino Rossi will start tomorrow’s
British Grand Prix from the front of the MotoGP grid after
clocking his fifth pole position of the season in this afternoon’s
qualifying practice at Donington Park. The Italian smashed
his own pole record at the Nottinghamshire circuit by almost
a second when he clocked a time of 1’27.897 on his 27th
lap of the afternoon session. Rossi’s effort put him
over half a second clear of his rivals just two minutes from
the end of the session, with Sete Gibernau (Honda) reducing
the gap to 0.285 seconds on the final lap. After setting the
pace in yesterday’s first free practice sessions, Rossi’s
Gauloises Yamaha team-mate Colin Edwards was unable to continue
his dominance today, slipping to sixth place on the grid but
securing a valuable second row start. The American continued
to work from the excellent base set-up he found yesterday
and put in a scorching race pace during the morning session,
when he was second fastest behind Rossi. However, a rear tyre
experiment in the afternoon did not go as Edwards had hoped
and he lost a handful of positions in the late push for times.
Rossi and Gibernau will be joined on the front row of the
grid by Marco Melandri (Honda), whilst Alex Barros and Nicky
Hayden (both Honda) start immediately ahead of Edwards on
row two.
VALENTINO ROSSI (1st; 1’27.897 – 30 laps)
“For sure this is a very special pole position because
I live here and I am having a lot of fun. I think for tomorrow
everybody will wake up and hope for good weather because yesterday
we lost a lot of time because of the rain. Today the situation
was better, it was a few degrees warmer and when the conditions
are like this it is a great pleasure to ride at Donington
Park. With the MotoGP bike it is incredible, one of my favourite
tracks, and I always go very well here. I am happy because
I was able to do a great lap – almost one second faster
than last year. The bike is quite good and the feeling is
not bad, also with the race configuration. For sure the race
will be hard but we will try to fix a few last things in the
morning and I hope to do well.”
COLIN EDWARDS (6th; 1’28.656 – 29 laps)
“My race pace this morning was really good –
consistently around 1’29.2 and I’m pretty happy
with that. This afternoon I did a 1’29.6 on a tyre that
had 24 laps on it so we know we’re in good shape for
the race. I was hoping to push into the 1’27s on a soft
tyre but I tested a different construction rear for seven
laps at the start of the session and it gave me a little chatter
on the front end, which damaged my confidence a little bit.
It’s my own fault but after that I found it hard to
push the front as much as I had done in the morning and didn’t
quite get the lap time I had hoped for. Anyway, it makes no
difference whether I am on the front row or the second row
– if you can get a good start you pretty much end up
in the same place by the first corner.”
DAVIDE BRIVIO – GAULOISES YAMAHA TEAM DIRECTOR
“It has been a very good weekend for us so far. Valentino
set pole position with a great lap and to knock nine tenths
off the previous record is a very good achievement for the
whole team. Unfortunately Colin didn’t get the grid
position he deserved after the way he has ridden all weekend,
but his race pace is very good and I don’t think the
second row will be a problem for him – it is just a
matter of getting a good start. Both our riders have a good
pace and if it stays dry as we all hope then we feel confident
that both Vale and Colin will be at the front.”
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