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Fiat Yamaha Team riders Valentino Rossi and
Colin Edwards are faced with a difficult
challenge for tomorrow’s Malaysian Grand
Prix in Sepang after struggling during
qualifying this afternoon. |
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Fiat Yamaha Team riders Valentino Rossi and Colin
Edwards are faced with a difficult challenge for
tomorrow’s Malaysian Grand Prix in Sepang after
struggling during qualifying this afternoon. The team
worked hard throughout the day to rectify the lack of
grip from which both riders have been suffering, but
they were unable to find a competitive package and the
pair now face a daunting task for tomorrow’s 21-lap race
when they start from ninth and thirteenth positions.
The rain stayed away today and during this morning’s
session, with temperatures in the low 30s and conditions
of the newly improved track becoming increasingly more
consistent as more rubber was laid down, times improved
all round. Rossi and Edwards both made some positive
steps forward and finished the session in seventh and
thirteenth, confident of more improvements this
afternoon. However this was not to be and a lack of grip
on race tyres this afternoon kept the pair down in the
lower orders, before they made their qualifying
challenges in the last 15 minutes. Rossi briefly held
second after his first qualifying lap but several riders
went faster and a small mistake with his second tyre
meant he was unable to improve again. Ninth place puts
him on the outside of the third row, whilst Edwards will
start from the head of the fifth row after failing to
find a comfortable rhythm with either of his qualifying
tyres.
Valentino Rossi
(Position: 9th; Time:
2'02.466: Laps: 22)
“This morning things were
feeling better for us and we were a little bit more
confident. Unfortunately this afternoon, with the higher
temperatures, our tyres didn’t work in the same way and we
were much slower and sliding quite a lot. With the
qualifying tyre I was quite confident and they worked quite
well, as they have all season, and I thought there was a
chance for the front row. With the second one I thought we
could improve again but I had a slide in the third section
and lost some time, and so now we are on the third row. I am
quite disappointed because our race pace is not good at the
moment and we needed to be on the front row to give us the
best chance possible for tomorrow. It will be difficult to
use the warm-up to our advantage because the conditions are
different to those we will probably have during the race,
but anyway we will do what we can and try to make the best
from the situation.”
Colin Edwards
(Position: 13th; Time:
2'03.040; Laps: 19)
“There’s really very little
to say about today and I think it’s better if I say “no
comment!” We’ve got some big problems and it hasn’t been
fun. I want to say thanks to all my guys; they’re working so
hard to try and make a difference and find a way to improve
things and I know they won’t give up at any point. It’s
going to be a very hard race but it’s not over till it’s
over so we’ll just have to wait and see what we can improve
before 3pm tomorrow and what happens after the lights go
out.”
Davide Brivio - Team Director
“We’re in quite a difficult
position and now we have to try our hardest to find a better
package for the race. At the moment we just don’t have
enough grip and both riders are struggling to contend with
this, so we are quite slow. This morning both Valentino and
Colin made some good improvements but this afternoon we were
unable to continue in the same way. We couldn’t find the
right combination to challenge with today but we have some
ideas and we will be doing our utmost to give both of them a
more competitive package for tomorrow’s race.”
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