Tomorrow's Grand
Prix of Catalunya will see Fiat Yamaha Team rider Valentino
Rossi start from pole position for the fourth time this
season, after he put in another exemplary qualifying
performance at Montmelo this afternoon. The Italian, who is
seeking a ninth victory at this circuit, will also be aiming
to break the current MotoGP pole position jinx to become the
first rider to win from the front of the grid since Motegi
last year. Team-mate Colin Edwards was only 0.4 seconds
slower than Rossi in a close qualifying battle and will
start from sixth for tomorrow's 25-lap race.
This morning's free practice saw both Rossi and Edwards
continue to make steady improvements to the set-up of their
M1s and they finished the session fourth and ninth
respectively. Temperatures then climbed steadily to reach a
high of 33 degrees during Qualifying and, with similar
conditions expected tomorrow, the pair spent the early part
of the session perfecting their race settings under the
scorching Spanish sun. With eight minutes remaining Rossi's
first run with a Michelin qualifying tyre saw him put in the
eventual pole time of 1'41.840 and also made him the only
rider to dip under the previous pole record, which he set
here last year. Edwards second effort saw him move as high
as third at one point but some last minute fast times pushed
him down to sixth and he will start from the outside of the
front row tomorrow when the lights go out at 1400 local
time.
Valentino Rossi (Position:
1st Time: 1'41.840 Laps: 27)
"I'm really happy to have another pole position, this season
our bike is working brilliantly with our Michelin qualifying
tyres and at every race I have great fun during qualifying!
Along with Mugello this is one of my favourite tracks and
really I find it hard to decide which I like best! It's fun
to have two great races together like this even if it's hard
work without a rest in between. As usual it's going to be
very important to start from the front tomorrow, but I think
it's going to be a really hard battle anyway, especially in
this heat. Pedrosa and Stoner look very strong and also
Hopkins has a good pace, so I think we can expect a great
fight for the fans to watch!"
|
|
Colin Edwards was only 0.4 seconds slower than team
mate Rossi in a close qualifying battle and will
start from sixth for tomorrow's 25-lap race.
|
|
|
|
Tomorrow's Grand Prix of Catalunya will see Fiat
Yamaha Team rider Valentino Rossi start from pole
position for the fourth time this season, after he
put in another exemplary qualifying performance at
Montmelo this afternoon. |
|
"Anyway we're starting in the best position, my M1 feels
very good and we will be looking for another victory."
Colin
Edwards (Position: 6th Time:
1'42.283 Laps: 25)
"Once again things felt pretty good on the qualifying tyres,
although I didn't make the most of my first one so I had to
rely on improving things second time around. My lap time was
actually pretty good but everyone else was fast today too!
Anyway, after the disaster of last week I'm happy enough
with the second row! As for our race pace, we've made a few
improvements but honestly we have three different types of
tyres and I'm doing the same time on all of them - which is
unfortunately a little off the pace. I think tomorrow
morning we're going to try something we tried briefly
yesterday with regards to tyres, it was the same then but
we've made some improvements to the bike since and we think
that it might work. Anyway, here's hoping!"
Davide
Brivio - Team Director
"Another pole position - this year we're gathering quite a
few! As always it's nice to start from pole position and it
gives us some confidence for the race. Also to have Colin on
the second row is good after last week and hopefully we can
finish the day with both riders at the top. Valentino seems
to be in good shape with his race pace as well but he needs
to be very strong because it's going to be very competitive,
with three or four riders looking very fast. Colin will push
from the start too and hopefully he can stay with the rest
of the group. Let's see what happens but we're expecting an
exciting race!"
|
|
|