Copyright 2002, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

MotoGP Final Qualifying Results:

1. Carlos Checa, Yamaha YZR-M1, 1:39.793
2. Daijiro Kato, Honda RC211V, 1:39.868
3. Valentino Rossi, Honda RC211V, 1:39.984
4. Alex Barros, Honda NSR500, 1:40.112
5. Max Biaggi, Yamaha YZR-M1, 1:40.147
6. Jeremy McWilliams, Proton KR3, 1:40.308
7. Loris Capirossi, Honda NSR500, 1:40.315
8. Tohru Ukawa, Honda RC211V, 1:40.509
9. Sete Gibernau, Suzuki GSV-R, 1:40.747
10. Jurgen vd Goorbergh, Honda NSR500, 1:40.771
11. Nobuatsu Aoki, Proton KR3, 1:40.814
12. Kenny Roberts, Suzuki GSV-R, 1:40.965
13. Norick Abe, Yamaha YZR500, 1:40.969
14. Regis Laconi, Aprilia RS3, 1:41.032
15. John Hopkins, Yamaha YZR500, 1:41.092
16. Garry McCoy, Yamaha YZR500, 1:41.169
17. Shinya Nakano, Yamaha YZR500, 1:41.231
18. Tetsuya Harada, Honda NSR500, 1:41.463
19. Olivier Jacque, Yamaha YZR500, 1:41.535
20. Pere Riba, Yamaha YZR500, 1:43.782

More, from a press release issued by MS Aprilia:

Régis Laconi improves yesterday’s time and prepares Cube for tomorrow’s race.

Second session of timed laps on an almost entirely dry track after intermittent rain had upset the central part of the day. Régis Laconi was one of the first out, when the track was still wet. The official rider of the RS Cube put his bike through a number of laps on slicks to try out their grip on the damp tarmac to get an idea just in case conditions on Sunday are as changeable as today. Then the track dried up and he aimed to improve on his fastest lap of yesterday. In the last ten minutes, Régis cut a tenth off the time he made on Friday: 1:41.032, 14th quickest, fourth row on the grid.

# 55 Régis Laconi – (MS APRILIA RACING) – 14th – 1:41.032

“Pity about the last attempt at the fast lap: I was gradually getting faster but when I came up to the third intermediate time my tyre had lost its ideal grip on the right-hand side. I’d already taken the best out of it on the previous lap. I could see that I wouldn’t be able to open up the throttle fully on the last corners before getting to the finishing straight. Even so, I’m pleased with today’s work – I’m using a configuration which makes the bike a bit shorter and this improves handling, which is essential on this track. The Cube’s much easier to ride now. We’ve made enormous progress. I also think we’ve got the tyres sorted out now, the references we’ve picked up are very positive. The “shorter” bike also means I’m back in touch with the rear end, something I’d rather lost in the last races. All’s well. I’m feeling confident about tomorrow’s race.”

More, from Red Bull Yamaha WCM:

PORTUGESE GRAND PRIX

SATURDAY 7th SEPTEMBER 2002 ­ Final Qualifying

Only 0.077 second separates the Red Bull Yamaha Teammates, John Hopkins and Garry McCoy, who line up side-by-side on the grid tomorrow for the 11th Round of the Moto GP World Championship at Estoril, Portugal.

The Red Bull duo are the only Yamaha two-stroke riders to improve on their times from the first qualifying session on Friday and today, and are the fastest two-stroke Yamahas on the circuit.

McCoy, who has stood on the podium here in the last two consecutive Grands Prix, is disappointed with his 4th-row start, but as we know, the 30-year-old Australian has the ability, experience and grit to fight his way through to the leading pack.

Hopkins is focusing on another strong start after his lightning bolt leap off the grid in Brno and this fit young American is sure to impress us all again tomorrow.

John Hopkins ­ 15th,­ 1:41.092
“Overall I’m disappointed with my result today even though I bettered my time from yesterday. My crew have worked hard overnight to make some improvements to the bike and I’m aiming tomorrow to get a top-10 result. I’m going out there to do the best I can and go for it.

“I’ve got a good tire for the race, and Dunlop and my team are confident with what we are going with. I really only had about a 10-15 minute opportunity today to put on a good time toward the end of the session. The track dried out but it still felt a lot slicker then yesterday.”

Colin Davies ­ Race Engineer for John Hopkins
“If we had the full session today I’m sure that we could of found a few more tenths of a second, which would of put John further up the grid tomorrow, but he continues to improve here, as he has done all season.”

Garry McCoy ­ 16th ­ 1:41.169
“The bike set-up felt alright this afternoon and we tried some tires today that we didn’t get a chance to try yesterday and they seemed OK. I really did not get enough laps during the qualifying and I’m sure I could have gone a bit quicker but with the rain at the beginning we just ran out of time. This morning in the practice again I did not get enough laps in, but considering this, the bike still seems pretty good for tomorrow.”

Christophe Bourguignon (Race Engineer -Garry McCoy)
“The weather conditions really have affected us and we really still don’t know about the race tire for tomorrow. We only had 16 laps that session and we needed more.”

Peter Clifford, Director of Racing

“Not the huge overnight improvement we were looking for. John was the fastest two-stroke Yamaha today and Garry the second fastest. Enough said.”

More, from a press release issued by Marlboro Yamaha:

MARLBORO PORTUGUESE GP, ESTORIL
Final Qualifying, Saturday September 7 2002

MARLBORO YAMAHA M1 TAKES POLE AGAIN
Marlboro Yamaha Team rider Carlos Checa grabbed the YZR-M1’s third pole of the season at Estoril this afternoon, waiting for the track to dry following an earlier downpour and then rocketing to the front of the grid in the final 20 minutes of qualifying. Team-mate Max Biaggi, who gave the M1 its first race win at the Czech GP two weeks ago, moved up to fifth on his final lap, just 0.035 seconds shy of the front row.

M1 project leader Ichiro Yoda attributed the bike’s ever-improving pace to painstaking work on chassis development, undertaken since a modified chassis arrived for the Czech GP. “We worked hard with Carlos and Max during our tests after the Brno race, trying to find the right way forward with the new chassis,” explained Yoda. “Finally we found the right way and we’ve continued fine-tuning in that direction here. The positive point of the new chassis is front-end feeling, which both riders discovered at Brno, but we had some rear-end set-up difficulties there which we’ve fixed here. This is the bumpiest GP track of all and it’s not so grippy either. I think the M1’s engine-braking system helps our riders going into turns over the bumps, the bike looks smoother than some, but that also comes from rear-suspension settings. There’s not much grip here but the M1 isn’t doing so bad because it’s quite friendly with its tyres, which we’ve already seen at Brno.”

Marlboro Yamaha Team director Davide Brivio added: “It’s quite ironic that Carlos should get his first pole with the M1 here, because we had our most difficult pre-season tests here in February. So thanks again to everyone involved including Michelin.”

CHECA’S FOCUS GIVES HIM FIRST POLE SINCE ’98
Carlos Checa scored his first pole position since Jerez 1998 at Estoril today, outpacing the MotoGP competition aboard his Marlboro Yamaha Team M1 in the most difficult of conditions. A brief downpour soaked the track a few minutes before the start of this afternoon’s final session and it wasn’t until the last 15 minutes that the surface had dried enough to allow riders to go on the attack, aiming to better their times from yesterday’s dry session. With 13 minutes to go Checa moved up to third, then went fastest with three minutes to go and went faster still on his final lap to end the day 0.075 seconds up on Daijiro Kato (Honda).

“I’d been out earlier when the track was still too wet,” said the delighted Spaniard after scoring his second premier-class pole. “There wasn’t much time left when the surface was dry enough, so it was a bit like a Formula One qualifying session, we had so little time, just your out lap, then go for it, you couldn’t waste your chances. I was concentrating at my maximum, focusing myself towards doing as perfect a lap as possible and I didn’t make any mistakes on my best laps. These weren’t easy conditions for the team, so I think the main reason we got pole was because the team, the bike and me worked well together, so I’d like to offer a big thank you to everyone working with me. We lost our way at the last two races and now I have a nice feeling with the bike once again, it’s going really well. Now it’s important that we analyse the data from today and fight for victory tomorrow.”

BIAGGI SO CLOSE IN FIFTH
Max Biaggi ended final qualifying fifth fastest, less than four tenths of a second off pole. Pole sitter at June’s Catalan GP and winner and pole sitter at Brno, Biaggi hasn’t been able to get his Marlboro Yamaha Team M1 set up quite to his liking around this awkward and challenging racetrack but is hoping for further improvements in tomorrow morning’s warm-up session.

“First of all, my compliments to Carlos, he did a great job today,” said Biaggi, whose Brno pole was the 50th of his career. “There’s no doubt that we are more competitive now but I’ve been struggling to find a really good feeling here. The new chassis does feel better but at the moment the front’s too light, so we still have a lot of things to fix. It’s important that we find a good set-up in warm-up and then I’ll try my best in the race.”

KATO OUTPACES ROSSI AGAIN
Daijiro Kato, MotoGP’s newest candidate for victory, ended today’s session a close second-fastest and just ahead of World Championship leader Valentino Rossi (Honda). “We had a good test at Valencia last week, so I’m happy with the bike,” said Kato. “We had rear-grip problems yesterday but today was much better.” Rossi announced himself satisfied with third: “The bike had been difficult to stop, but we solved that today.”

More, from a press release issued by Suzuki:

THIRD-ROW START FOR SUZUKI RIDERS

MotoGP, Round 11, Final Qualifying, Estoril – Saturday, September 7, 2002:

Team Telefónica MoviStar Suzuki riders Sete Gibernau and Kenny Roberts Jr. will start tomorrow’s Portuguese GP from the third row of the grid, after setting ninth and 12th-fastest times in today’s rain-hit final practice session.

Gibernau’s position came from a time set yesterday. However, he did achieve the second-fastest speed-trap time.

Roberts improved his machine settings and cut almost a quarter of a second off his previous best time to maintain his 12th position.

Both riders have been enjoying the benefit of the major redesign to the Suzuki slipper clutch, used for the first time at this meeting. Although riders and technicians are still working on basic adjustments, the advantages are clear, in smoother corner entry and more predictable throttle-closed performance.

Now the big question concerns the weather. Dry but windy yesterday, it turned today, with several light showers making for difficult conditions. On past history, a wet track could favour both riders.

SETE GIBERNAU – Ninth Position, 1:40.747
“Because of the weather, we all had to wait until the end to try for a better lap time. We have a couple of things we want to change for tomorrow, then I will need to try and stay out as long as possible in morning warm-up to get some laps up. It was a very stressful end of session, but things like this happen sometimes. We’ve been working hard, and I think we deserved better.”

KENNY ROBERTS Jr. – 12th Position, 1:40.965
“We improved our lap time from yesterday, which at least shows we made the bike better. Considering that most of the day was damp, that’s something. Again, I did that time with four or five laps on the tyre, so it was a race time, not a one-lap qualifier. We’re starting to get the settings refined for the new clutch. It feels much better for me, and it means we can set the bike up more precisely. That’s been our main focus. There are still four turns where I am unhappy and losing time – one is the last corner, which is fast and affects your speed down the straight. My team think they have found a way to solve that for tomorrow, which should help my consistency. We have to wait and see what the weather will do, but I’m comfortable we can aim for a good finish.”

GARRY TAYLOR – Team Manager
“It was a bit confusing, after Sete set second-fastest speed-trap time, but is only on the third row. The redesigned slipper clutch is still very new, but already we’re feeling the benefit. Kenny and Sete have both shown they can pull good results out of the bag if they can get a good start and then ride aggressively. Tomorrow’s catch-phrase will be: ‘Go for it.'”

More, from a press release issued by Honda:

MotoGP WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP 2002
PORTUGUESE GRAND PRIX, ESTORIL
Final Qualifying, Saturday, September 7, 2002

MotoGP

World Championship leader Valentino Rossi (Repsol Honda Team RC211V) qualified on the front row of the grid in third place as changeable coastal weather reduced today’s final hour of qualifying at Estoril in Portugal to
just 20 minutes of dry track time. Daijiro Kato (Fortuna Honda Gresini RC211V) qualified second in only his second ride on the potent V5
four-stroke. While Alex Barros (West Honda Pons NSR500) completes a front row headed by Carlos Checa (Yamaha).

Tricky conditions caused by a rain shower moments before final qualifying began meant that some riders couldn’t better their Friday times. But Rossi’s team dialled in chassis changes towards the end of the session as the damp track dried to hoist the Italian onto the front row.

“The conditions were better towards the end,” said Rossi. “The last 15 minutes were okay when it was dry and there was less wind than yesterday. We tried some new settings to cure some problems I had under braking and that’s now fixed. I was much happier out there after that. Tyres are going to be an issue tomorrow and we may have to make some adjustments in tomorrow morning’s warm-up session. The weather is likely to be the biggest factor now.”

Daijiro Kato (Fortuna Honda Gresini RC211V) continues to make the most of his switch to four-stroke power and his tidy riding style paid dividends in difficult circumstances. “The track was very slippery,” said Kato. “I was having some problems finding rear grip, but I got into a rhythm when I could run a few laps on my own. Tomorrow’s going to be very tricky in terms of tyre choice and we’ll just have to wait and see what the weather brings. I ride much better without strong winds and I think it will be a great race tomorrow.”

Alex Barros (West Honda Pons NSR500) was one of the few riders not to improve on yesterday’s time. “We only had 20 minutes dry track time,” said the Brazilian. “And this affected the results. When the track was dry we went out with used tyres to test for wear and we also had carburation changes to make because we fitted a new engine in the morning. When everything was sorted out I could ride more aggressively than yesterday, but I was probably riding more cleanly yesterday. I don’t know if I could have got pole position or not, but I am sure I could have gone under 1m 40s.”

Loris Capirossi (West Honda Pons NSR500) ended the day on the second row in seventh spot. “Even though we could only get out for 20 minutes, we improved the handling and found a tyre that worked well,” he said. “On my first flying lap I was held up by Kato and on my second I made a mistake. The race will be difficult and I hope that it either rains or it’s really hot, because in these unsettled conditions everything becomes complicated. Either way, the second row is okay. The track had less grip today and maybe that’s why I’m the only two-stroke rider who improved his time today.”

Tohru Ukawa (Repsol Honda Team RC211V) starts from eighth on the second row. “With the session shortened because of the weather we got caught out,” said the Japanese. “We should have stuck with the settings we had this morning and tried different tyres this afternoon. Instead we seemed to go backwards. It’s a shame because yesterday things were going pretty well. Anyway we still have the warm-up to improve things and a second row start is better than the third row.”

Jurgen van den Goorbergh (Kanemoto Racing Honda NSR500) rode to his second best qualifying position of the year in tenth place despite not feeling his best. “I felt bad out there,” said the Dutchman. “I was sweating even more than yesterday and it was difficult to concentrate. On the positive side the bike set-up and tyres are good. I didn’t go out in the early laps and tried to conserve energy for the race. We’ll all have to stay cool in the first turn in the race. I got hit in turns one and two at Brno and I don’t want it to happen again. If I get a good start I feel sure I can run well. I just hope I feel a bit better tomorrow.”

Tetsuya Harada (Pramac Honda NSR500) lines up on the fifth row in 18th place. “Conditions were difficult,” he said. “But they were the same for
everyone. Those who could find a workable set-up quickly for the 20 minutes of dry track time have an advantage and the rest of us will have to make the most of warm-up tomorrow. Either way, the weather and the race will always provide a few surprises.”

Robby Rolfo (Fortuna Honda Gresini NSR250) kept himself on the front row of the grid in fourth place for tomorrow’s 250 race despite crashing during the final ten minutes of the session. He ran back to pit lane where his spare bike was ready for him, but he couldn’t better his Friday time, which proved enough anyway. Sebastian Porto (Yamaha) rode to his first ever pole position, Marco Melandri (Aprilia) and Fonsi Nieto (Aprilia) were second and third qualifiers.

“Conditions were a major factor this afternoon,” said Rolfo. “I tried a different front tyre and I was going well. It’s a real pity about the crash, but I’m okay. My race bike will be fine for tomorrow and we’ll look at the carburation in the warm-up to get a bit more feel between throttle and engine. A lot will depend on weather conditions because it could so easily be different from warm-up to the race. We’ll see.”

Emilio Alzamora (Fortuna Honda Gresini NSR250) qualified on the second row of the grid in seventh place as he bounces back after surgery on both wrists. “My muscles are still a bit weak,” he said. “But I should be okay for the race and a second row start will be fine as long as I make the most of it. Rain is the one thing I don’t want tomorrow – wind I can handle. I’ve just got to make sure I get my season back on track here.”

Leon Haslam (By Queroseno Racing Honda RS250R/W) put in his best qualifying performance of the season so far with 14th place. “This is better,” said the young Briton. “But we’ve still got a long way to go. We should be able to run a good pace in the race, but the weather could make it a bit of a lottery. Either way we’ll just keep putting in maximum effort.”

Haruchika Aoki (Arie Molenaar Racing Honda RS250R/W) lines up on the fourth row in 15th alongside Haslam. “Yesterday was okay, today not so good,” said Aoki. “I had a bit of chatter from the front end that I didn’t have yesterday and we don’t know why yet. The track is dirtier than yesterday and the bumps are still a problem. We’ll check the computer data and work through a solution tomorrow.”

In the 125s Daniel Pedrosa (Telefonica Movistar Jr Team Honda RS125R) grabbed the fourth pole position of his career by shaving more than half a second off his Friday time as rain hit the final minutes of the session. Manuel Poggiali (Gilera) and Youichi Ui (Derbi) did not better their Friday times and fill second and third places, respectively. Steve Jenkner (Aprilia) completes the front row.