SETE TAKES FIRST POLE OF THE SEASON IN SHANGHAI
Marco Melandri also on the front row after a sensational
qualifying session for Movistar Honda
GP OF CHINA - MOTOGP OFFICIAL QUALIFYING
Sete Gibernau and Marco Melandri will start the inaugural
Grand Prix of China from the front of the MotoGP grid tomorrow
morning, with the action getting underway at 9am CET. Sete
and Marco were seperated by just a tenth of a second as they
took pole position and second place respectively, dominating
the closing stages of the session and becoming the only men
to lap inside 1’59” at a track which the riders
saw for the first time this weekend.
Sete Gibernau stopped the clock at 1’59”710,
knocking almost three seconds off his time in yesterday morning’s
dry first free practice session. His impressive improvement
was enough for pole position, his first of the season, and
he will now look to win the first ever race to be held at
Shanghai, as he did at Qatar last season.
Marco Melandri’s performances are improving with each
Grand Prix that goes by, the Italian returning to the front
row of the g! rid today and confident of challenging for the
podium as he did in the opening round of the season at Jerez.
SETE GIBERNAU (1st, 1’59”710):
“It’s good to see that we’re competitive
at yet another track and particularly here, where we arrived
without any previous data to work from. I think it’s
a difficult circuit but once again we’ve been at the
maximum level. In the end we managed to improve the set-up
of the bike quite a lot and, without doubt, that is thanks
to the hard work being put in by my team, together with Honda
and Michelin. We’re doing a great job, which hasn’t
been reflected in the race results yet, but I know that everything
will be back to normal soon and we will be rewarded for our
efforts.”
MARCO MELANDRI (2nd, 1’59”873):
“I’ve enjoyed myself at this circuit ever since
we rode it for the first time on Friday morning. It’s
a really different type of track but we had a good setting
straight away and we’ve just worked to improve on that,
eventually setting the second fastest time today, which is
fantastic. I’m back on the front row and I’m going
out to win tomorrow, even though I know it will be difficult
because a lot will depend on the weather. It was a good battle
with my team-mate Sete at the end of the session.”
GRID POSITIONS AND LAP TIMES
1. Sete Gibernau (Esp/Honda) 1’59”710
2. Marco Melandri (Ita/Honda) 1’59”873
3. Loris Capirossi (Ita/Ducati) 2’00”480
4. John Hopkins (USA/Suzuki) 2’00”666
5. Nicky Hayden (USA/Honda) 2’00”747
6. Valentino Rossi (Ita/Yamaha) 2’00”821
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