Copyright 2003, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

250cc Grand Prix Qualifying Times
Sepang, Malaysia
October 10, 2003

1. Toni Elias, Aprilia, 2:08.263
2. Manuel Poggiali, Aprilia, 2:09.188
3. Randy De Puniet, Aprilia, 2:09.353
4. Sebastian Porto, Honda, 2:09.407
5. Fonsi Nieto, Aprilia, 2:09.913
6. Frnaco Battaini, Aprilia, 2:09.950
7. Roberto Rolfo, Honda, 2:10.231
8. Naoki Matsudo, Yamaha, 2:10.554
9. Sylvain Guintoli, Aprilia, 2:11.050
10. Hugo Marchand, Aprilia, 2:11.108
11. Hector Faubel, Aprilia, 2:11.194
12. Anthony West, Aprilia, 2:11.802
13. Alex Debon, Honda, 2:11.849
14. Erwan Nigon, Aprilia, 2:11.925
15. Chaz Davies, Aprilia, 2:12.024
16. Joan Olive, Aprilia, 2:12.247
17. Christian Gemmel, Honda, 2:12.773
18. Lukas Pesek, Yamaha, 2:12.919
19. Jaroslav Hules, Honda, 2:13.018
20. Dirk Heidolf, Aprilia, 2:13.187
21. Johan Stigefelt, Aprilia, 2:13.689
22. Alex Baldolini, Honda, 2:13.702
23. Eric Bataille, Honda, 2:14.032
24. Katja Poensgen, Honda, 2:16.116


More, from a press release issued by MS Aprilia:

GOOD START FOR POGGIALI ON THE MALAYSIAN TRACK

After having achieved the good feeling with the new track in the free session this morning Manuel Poggiali got the second fastest lap time in the afternoon qualifying session pushing hard. In fact the San Marino was very satisfied.

Manuel Poggiali: “Well done! We tested new material for the race and we are working in the right way. Obviously I still need to study the track and, even if I made some mistakes, can easily improve lap by lap. The bike is getting better as well and tomorrow we must concentrate especially on the tyres choice for the race as the temperature is very high here. Then I will do the best as usual! The second position is quite good and I do not feel worried about Elias’ pole position as I know he is a specialist of the qualifying tyres”.


More, from a press release issued by Fortuna Honda:

Rolfo escapes unscathed from crash in qualifying

Sepang – Malaysia, October 10, 2003: The crash suffered by Roberto Rolfo in the dying minutes of provisional qualifying did not interrupt the progress made by the Fortuna Honda team on machine set up.

Rolfo is convinced the team are working in the right direction and will place special emphasis on chassis geometry in order to improve his performance on the fast Sepang circuit.

The crash suffered by the Altadis rider in the closing minutes of the provisional qualifying session came when Rolfo was going for a fast lap. Rolfo got into a right hand corner on section three too fast and the front end turned in and he was off. Fortunately Rolfo escaped unscathed and will be in good shape for the second day of qualifying.

“I only banged my hand in the crash, no bruising or lacerations as it was a very clean crash at the end of the session. I was looking to improve my qualifying time but there was a lot of traffic on the track and I was trying to recover time when passing slower riders. I was pushing too hard and the front end turned in.” Explained the Fortuna Honda rider.

“In general the job we did today was positive. The engine was working really well and we are in tune with the circuit in that respect. It’s the chassis we need to work on because I don’t feel completely comfortable on the bike, it costs me quite an effort to get the bike to turn into the corners in the way I want it to. I hope we find a solution to this overnight.” Concluded Rolfo.