Copyright 2002, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

First to 19th separated by 1.5 seconds!

Final MotoGP Qualifying Times:

1. Valentino Rossi, Honda RC211V, 1:34.660
2. Loris Capirossi, Honda NSR500, 1:34.692
3. Tohru Ukawa, Honda RC211V, 1:34.875
4. Max Biaggi, Yamaha YZR-M1, 1:35.064
5. Garry McCoy, Yamaha YZR500, 1:35.378
6. Kenny Roberts, Suzuki GSV-R, 1:35.396
7. Carlos Checa, Yamaha YZR-M1, 1:35.476
8. Shinya Nakano, Yamaha YZR500, 1:35.508
9. Olivier Jacque, Yamaha YZR50, 1:35.554
10. Sete Gibernau, Suzuki GSV-R, 1:35.560
11. Nobuatsu Aoki, Proton KR3, 1:35.695
12. Jurgen vd Goorbergh, Honda NSR500, 1:35.717
13. Alex Barros, Honda NSR500, 1:35.718
14. Daijiro Katoh, Honda NSR500, 1:35.728
15. Norick Abe, Yamaha YZR500, 1:35.804
16. Jeremy McWilliams, Proton KR3, 1:35.995
17. John Hopkins, Yamaha YZR500, 1:36.092
18. Regis Laconi, Aprilia RS3, 1:36.161
19. Tetsuya Harada, Honda NSR500, 1:36.164
20. Pere Riba, Yamaha YZR500, 1:37.623


More, from an Aprilia press release:

MS Aprilia Racing Press Information
2002 MotoGP World Championship
Welkom (RSA) 19/20/21 April 2002
MotoGP – Saturday 20 April – qualifying sessions

Cube makes progress with each session. Eighteenth place does little justice to painstaking work by technicians and Régis Laconi

Eighteenth place on the starting grid hardly does justice to the enormous work done by Régis Laconi and the technicians who have been working with such dedication on the RS Cube. Yet progress has been made in every session over the last two days. The top speed recorded today in the final qualifying sessions – 1:36.161 is just 1.5 seconds from Rossi’s pole. It is worth noticing how, after Suzuka, today’s grid has all the competitors grouped within a bare 2.9 sec. Just the slightest improvement on the fast lap would make it possible to move up some precious places. During the free practice in the morning, Régis immediately lowered yesterday’s qualifying time and, on a number of occasions, he went flat out for the fastest lap time. In his penultimate attempt, after a few in which he was held up by heavy traffic, he managed to squeeze into 15th provisional place. Unfortunately he did not manage to make the final rush he needed to ensure a better starting position.
# 55 Régis Laconi – (MS APRILIA RACING) – 18th 1:37.536
“Yet again we improved on the morning, taking off over a second, but it still wasn’t enough to claim a better place on the grid tomorrow. I needed just a few wee tenths to move up the ratings. Sometimes a bit of traffic, but never a really good group to latch onto and make use of for the fast lap. I prepared the bike for the race with very hard tyres: they give a bit less grip at the outset, but last much better over long distances. The work we’ve done on the set-up is great, and the Cube behaved perfectly over the rough track, even when entering the second curve in the sector where you’re breaking all the way. In view of tomorrow’s race, today’s performance was positive: we’re one and a half seconds from the pole, which just shows we’re able to make excellent progress. The warm-up will be useful to get the last few details sorted out. Then the Cube will be off on the second race in her still very young life.”


And now this from John Hopkins:

“I’m very happy with the time that I got today. It’s amazing how close the times are and I’m excited because I’m only 1.4 seconds off pole which is my best yet. I’m improving little by little. This morning, we tested the tires and found what we were going to use for the race. Set up wise, we tested here and there but decided to use the same original set up from yesterday
afternoon. This morning’s session, we did half of a race distance on the tire we chose for the race and Garry and I actually decided on the same one. I got down to a pretty descent lap time. I went a bit faster then the Friday session. The track is getting better now that we’ve been on it more. When we first got on it Friday, it had about a half inch of dirt all around. It’s a key element to stay on line cause’ there is a good chance you could go down. It’s going to be really hard to pass, so a good start will lead to a good
race.

“During the qualifying session, the last 25 minutes, we were using softer and softer tires until I got a good rythm going. I was able to put in a strong lap time on a qualifier on the last lap which was completely by myself. The track is as bumpy as Loudon, without riding on the oval yet similar to Willow Springs. All in all, the tests have been good, and looking forward to tomorrows race.”