ROSSI AND EDWARDS SEAL TOP FOUR STARTS IN QATAR
Gauloises Yamaha Team riders Valentino Rossi and Colin Edwards
will both start from the right end of the MotoGP grid at the
Losail International Circuit on Saturday after setting the
third and fourth fastest times respectively in this afternoon’s
single qualifying practice for the Grand Prix of Qatar. Rossi
secured his first front row start in five races after lapping
almost 1.7 seconds inside the previous pole record time here,
his best lap falling just short of the pole time of 1’56.917
set by Loris Capirossi (Ducati), who will start from the front
of the grid for the third successive race. Edwards ended up
just 0.087 seconds behind his team-mate after honing his race
pace in the morning before spending several lengthy spells
at the top of the time sheets in the afternoon as he concentrated
on a fast qualifying time. The American starts from the front
of the second row in fourth place, his best grid position
since qualifying second fastest at the fourth round of the
season at Le Mans, as he looks to improve on second place
at this Grand Prix last season by taking his first MotoGP
victory in tomorrow’s race.
VALENTINO ROSSI (3rd – 1’57.360; 22 laps)
“We are not at 100% but anyway it is okay and we are
on the front row so that is important. The grip is much better
than last year and now it seems the track is more normal.
In these conditions it is possible to push the bike to the
limit, so hopefully it stays like this for tomorrow’s
race and for sure it will be a good show for everybody. My
bike is also working much better than in recent races, we
have found better grip on the front and the rear. We still
need to make some small modifications before the race and
then we will see how it goes. Now the championship is decided
so I am riding without any pressure, but of course I still
want to win every race before the end of the season.”
COLIN EDWARDS (4th – 1’57.447; 20 laps)
“This weekend everything just seems to work! Everything
has been clear-cut on how to make the bike work better and
we’ve done just that. We’ve been struggling a
bit for grip lately but here it’s great and everything
seems easy! This morning we did all of our work, the race
tyre stuff, and this afternoon just went out there and concentrated
on putting a fast lap time in. I think I did four or five
laps on a race tyre at the beginning and then after that we
just put the soft tyres in and went for it. I should have
won the race here last year and right now I feel the same
– we can win it. We are going to go out there with a
good attitude, everybody’s been working really good
on the team so it would be a nice payback to get the victory.”
DAVIDE BRIVIO – GAULOISES YAMAHA TEAM DIRECTOR
“We are more back to normal this weekend, with Valentino
and Colin both at the top. At this track we are not facing
as many problems as we did at Motegi and Sepang and I think
tomorrow there is every possibility of a good race from both
riders. The team have done a good job during the weekend.
More or less the setting has been good from the beginning
so we have been able to spend a lot of time testing tyres
and preparing for the race. Still I think Valentino is not
perfect yet but we have good positions on the grid and I think
both riders can stick with the top pace so let’s see
what happens.”
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