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Valentino
Rossi became the first rider since the advent of the
one-tyre rule to dip under an existing pole position record
in the Czech Republic today, taking his third consecutive
pole position despite sliding off into the gravel trap with
just a few minutes remaining. His Fiat Yamaha team-mate
Jorge Lorenzo qualified second, continuing his 100%
front-row qualifying record for the season.
Lorenzo had
ruled the standings in both previous sessions and it looked
like being the same story again this afternoon, as the
Mallorcan went straight to the top and then continued to
improve his time around the undulating Brno circuit. Sitting
just four thousandths of a second off Rossi’s 2006 pole
position record, Lorenzo looked likely to be the one to
smash it but it was the World Champion who did so with a
brilliant lap with eight minutes left on the clock, shaving
0.046 seconds off the time he set on the way to second place
three years ago, back in the days of 990ccc engines.
The drama
wasn’t over however as Rossi, pushing hard with two minutes
remaining, lost the front in the second sector and slid into
the gravel, luckily emerging unscathed. Lorenzo made a last
minute assault on the Italian’s time but was caught in
traffic and the 22-year-old had to be content with second
position. The pair are joined on the front row by Dani
Pedrosa, with Tech 3 Yamaha rider Colin Edwards putting in
another strong performance to qualify in sixth.
Valentino Rossi
“Pole position is great, but the most important thing is
that I’m okay after the crash. I have a bit of pain in my
right thumb but that’s all, so I think I’ve been quite
lucky. I’ll get it checked out at the Clinica Mobile later
but I don’t think it’s anything bad. This weekend only one
of the front tyres is working well for us, which means we
only have four for the weekend, so we’re putting quite a lot
of stress on just a few tyres. I arrived to brake very deep
and just lost the front, it was unlucky. Anyway, we did a
great job in the session and being on pole again is
important. We have a good race pace and I think it’s
possible to be competitive tomorrow.”
Jorge Lorenzo
“This morning we tried the softer Bridgestone tyre but I
didn’t feel so good on it. This afternoon we gave it another
chance but again it didn’t seem to work so well, so we
decided to just concentrate on the harder tyre. I had a very
strong pace and like yesterday I felt very comfortable on
the bike, but I couldn’t quite get the pole position today.
Being on the front row is always important though and we’ve
reached this target; we know that we’re very fast. Everyone
is excited and motivated as usual and we’re confident that
we have the race set-up to allow us to challenge tomorrow.”
Davide Brivio
“We’re in pole but Valentino’s crash was unfortunate, on a
lap that might have been even faster! The most important
thing is that he is okay, which is a big relief for us all.
By the end of the session we’d found a good setting and it
looks like tomorrow could be another big battle, let’s hope
we’re a part of it! Lorenzo and Pedrosa are very motivated
and look very strong so let’s see what happens.”
Daniele Romagnoli
“It’s very good to start
from the front row again and we’re happy about this.
Unfortunately today we didn’t improve our lap time on the
soft tyres and so we decided to do the last minute
‘time-attack’ on race tyres, then Jorge also encountered
some traffic on his final lap. Anyway we are positive for
the race because our pace today was pretty fast, we’re just
looking at one or two small areas which we think we can
improve for the race.”
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