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Valentino Rossi (top and middle) put his
Fiat Yamaha M1 onto the front row of the
grid for the second time this season in
Shanghai today, qualifying second for
tomorrow’s Chinese Grand Prix; team mate
Jorge Lorenzo (bottom) was an impressive
fourth. |
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Valentino Rossi put his Fiat Yamaha M1 onto the front
row of the grid for the second time this season in
Shanghai today, qualifying second for tomorrow’s Chinese
Grand Prix. Rossi looked to have pole position sewn up
before fellow Yamaha rider Colin Edwards took his third
career pole, Yamaha’s fourth from four races this
season.
Rossi continued in the same vein as yesterday by setting
the pace in this morning’s free practice and continuing
to do so through most of this afternoon’s session.
Three-quarters of the way through a strong flying lap
put him in provisional pole position and the Italian was
confident that a slight improvement with the next
qualifying tyre could be enough to take the front slot.
He improved again but a last-minute lap from Edwards was
0.355 seconds faster, and Rossi will now have to wait a
little longer for his 50th career pole.
Meanwhile Rossi’s team-mate Jorge Lorenzo stunned
onlookers by qualifying fourth, despite riding with a
broken left ankle and having missed the most of the day
yesterday following a crash in first practice. After
qualifying on pole for his first three MotoGP races,
Lorenzo’s fourth is no less impressive and he makes it
three Yamahas in the top four. Tomorrow’s 22-lap race
gets underway at 1500 local time and a forecast of heavy
rain could make for some unexpected twists and turns.
Valentino Rossi
“I’m quite happy with this position; third in Estoril,
second here…hopefully one better next time! I’ve been
fast here since Friday morning and we’ve worked so hard
with the team and with Bridgestone lately to improve the
situation with the qualifying tyre, so we definitely
deserve to be here. Today I had fun and I was able to
fight with my rivals, plus I really enjoyed having the
chance to ride at the maximum around this track. When I
saw 58.5 on the clock I thought that I had a chance to
try for the pole, but then Colin did 58.1 and this was a
bit too much for us! Anyway it’s very important to be on
the front row, especially because we don’t know whether
it will rain or not. Thanks to my mechanics for doing a
great job, and now we’ve just got to hope the rain stays
away!”
Davide Brivio (Team Manager Rossi)
“We’re getting closer! Congratulations to Colin for a
great lap, it’s good for Yamaha to have another pole
position; hopefully it will be us soon! We’ve done a
good job overall in the four practice sessions and it
seems like we’re ready to be competitive now tomorrow,
if it’s dry. Everyone is expecting rain in which case
the situation is less clear, but for the moment we’re
relaxed and looking forward to an exciting race.”
Jorge Lorenzo meanwhile battled through the pain barrier
to put in an amazing qualifying performance, defying the
odds after badly injuring himself in a crash yesterday
and putting his Michelin-shod M1 on the second row. The
Mallorcan, who celebrates his 21st birthday tomorrow,
fractured a bone in his left ankle and caused severe
trauma to various parts of his right ankle and foot when
high-siding just 11 laps into the first practice session
yesterday, but he showed his spirit and determination
today to qualify 4th, just over half a second off pole.
The youngster completed 21 laps in this morning’s
session and finished a creditable 14th. Having missed
out on two sessions yesterday, the pain was not the only
problem as the team also faced a difficult task to set
the bike up in very limited time and with little data to
work with. It was a painful day’s work for Lorenzo but,
after finding a comfortable race set-up this morning, he
felt able to push as hard as his injuries allowed on
both of his Michelin qualifying tyres this afternoon and
fourth place on the grid is a deserved result for the
courageous championship leader.
Jorge Lorenzo
“The way I felt yesterday, I couldn’t even imagine a
result like this today. In fact it was all I could do to
believe that I would be able to ride at all. This result
is amazing for me, as good as my other pole positions,
and it’s given me a lot of confidence despite the pain.
Now I have to take care and tomorrow I will just try to
do the best I can; who knows what can happen in the
race? I have a lot of pain in both feet and ankles and
it’s difficult to change down with the left and to
change direction with the right, but I showed I am able
to do it. Yesterday’s crash was big, probably the
biggest of my career, but I think I was actually quite
lucky not to have worse injuries. The doctors at the
clinic are working very hard to help me and now I will
go back there for more treatment. Hopefully I will be
feeling better again tomorrow and we will do what we
can, rain or shine!”
Daniele Romagnoli (Team Manager Lorenzo)
“Jorge is still surprising us! He did an unbelievable
job in today’s qualifying considering his injuries, and
after the crash yesterday we could never have imagined a
result like this. Having missed all of yesterday, we
only had one session to set-up the bike but we managed
to find a good race pace and some good tyres with
Michelin. Then fourth place with the qualifying tyre
this afternoon is very impressive! Thank you to Dr.
Costa and to all of the team at the Clinica Mobile;
they’ve played a very important part in today’s result.
The race is a different story because it’s long and it
will be arduous for Jorge, but hopefully he will be
feeling a little bit better tomorrow and we know how
brave he is!”
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