Copyright 2003, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.
Final MotoGP Qualifying Results:
1. Valentino Rossi, Honda, 1:49.038
2. Loris Capirossi, Ducati, 1:49.340
3. Sete Gibernau, Honda, 1:49.808
4. Max Biaggi, Honda, 1:49.876
5. Troy Bayliss, Ducati, 1:50.042
6. Shinya Nakano, Yamaha, 1:50.171
7. Nicky Hayden, Honda, 1:50.679
8. Tohru Ukawa, Honda, 1:50.684
9. Makato Tamada, Honda, 1:50.775
10. Carlos Checa, Yamaha, 1:50.856
11. Alex Barros, Yamaha, 1:50.876
12. Colin Edwards, Aprilia, 1:51.007
13. Garry McCoy, Kawasaki, 1:51.179
14. Olivier Jacque, Yamaha, 1:51.385
15. Ryuichi, Kiyonari, Honda, 1:51.500
16. Marco Melandri, Yamaha, 1:51.566
17. Nobuatsu Aoki, Proton, 1:51.576
18. John Hopkins, Suzuki, 1:51.802
19. Kenny Roberts, Suzuki, 1:51.839
20. Noriyuki Haga, Aprilia, 1:51.870
21. Jeremy McWilliams, Proton, 1:52.180
22. Andrew Pitt, Kawasaki, 1:52.715
23. David De Gea, Harris WCM, 1:53.373
24. Chris Burns, Harris WCM, 1:54.667
More, from a press release issued by Alice Aprilia Racing Information:
BRAZIL GP/2nd QUALIFYING SESSION
PROGRESS FOR COLIN
Positive improvement for Colin Edwards in the starting grid: the Alice Aprilia Racing Team American rider will start form the third row thanks to his 12th lap time. Anyway there are still some chattering problems for the Rs Cubes and the team keeps on working hard in order to solve them in tomorrows warm up session. This session has not been positive for the Japanese rider Nori Haga who tried different solutions without improving his yesterdays lap time. He also slipped out of the track without any serious damage at the end of the session.
COLIN EDWARDS: “It’s a pity because the chattering did not give me the chance to ride as I like. I like this track and the bike has a good grip: without that problem the situation could be different”.
NORIYUKI HAGA: “No comment”.
GIGI DALL’IGNA (Project Leader): “Today we are satisfied about Colin’s progress. We worked hard to improve the situation even if we still have to find a solution for the chattering problem. Unfortunately we did not get the same progress with Haga: we tried to use a front tyre of 17 inches but we obtained only one crash in the last part of the session”.
More, from a press release issued by Fortuna Yamaha:
FORTUNA YAMAHA EXPECT TOUGH RIO GRAND PRIX
Despite set-up changes and determined effort from Fortuna Yamaha’s riders and their crews, today’s final qualifying pace-setters were fast in the extreme, leaving Carlos Checa and Marco Melandri to start tomorrow’s Rio Grand Prix from 10th and 16th places respectively. Checa and his crew focused all their resources on altering the overall balance of his YZR-M1 overnight, and as a result made a significant improvement to his first qualifying lap time during this afternoon’s session. Team-mate Melandri was not so lucky, and despite many changes to his set-up from yesterday, was still unable to improve his lap time greatly due to lack of grip.
With track temperatures pushing 35 degrees, the opening half of this afternoon’s session saw little improvement on the leader board compared to yesterday. Yet as the session came to a close the action increased, and defending MotoGP World Champion Valentino Rossi (Honda, 1:49.038) eventually claimed pole. The Italian was closely followed by Loris Capirossi (Ducati, 1:49.340) and Sete Gibernau (Honda, 1:49.808), who crashed heavily on his final flying lap in an effort to dislodge Rossi from the prime position. Gibernau walked away unhurt, while provisional polesitter Max Biaggi (Honda, 1:49.876) completed the front row.
Carlos Checa joined the frenzied effort for front row places, gaining six places on the grid from 16th to 10th, finding a 1.410 second improvement on his provisional qualifying peformance. This progress came despite the hindrance of increased track temperatures as the traditionally warm Rio sun made its first appearance this week, leading to a reduction in track surface grip levels.
“We made a step today on engine and chassis set-up,” said Checa, who is scheduled to make his 120th start in the premier Grand Prix class in tomorrow’s race. The Spaniard will become only the eighth rider to have reached that milestone “We basically lost yesterday’s practice session so it was difficult to move to a better level today in the limited time that we had. We changed back to my Brno set-up today, which was our starting point. There wasn’t enough time today to do more, so we will try something else tomorrow morning. It’s clear that the race will be quite difficult for us tomorrow.”
Despite a marginal improvement on his first qualifying lap time, a frustrated Marco Melandri dropped from 15th to 16th place on the starting grid. The 21-year-old overcame some of his set-up concerns but could not improve feeling with his Yamaha YZR-M1 machine, and was frustrated with his lap time of 1:51.566. Melandri’s crew will now take another look at how any improvement can be made for a competitive race day set-up.
“It was another disappointing day for me,” said the Ravenna-born rider. “Once again I couldn’t get any grip and couldn’t get a good lap time as a result. We changed many things but I still didn’t have a good feeling no matter what we tried. We will analyse the data again tonight and try something different tomorrow morning. Starting from 16th place on the grid will certainly not be easy.”
“Both riders made a small improvement since yesterday,” said Fortuna Yamaha’s Team Director Davide Brivio. “They went back to their basic settings and Carlos moved to tenth place today, now we hope that he can improve even more tomorrow. Marco improved his lap time very slightly but still doesn’t have any grip so isn’t comfortable to push. Tomorrow he will start from the fourth row which is not going to be easy but he’s been there before in Brno and made quite a good recovery – I hope he can do that again.”
More, from a press release issued by Pramac Honda Racing Press Information:
Tamada, ninth, secures top speed in practice. All set to start in first place on third row.
Once again, the Japanese rider of the Pramac Honda Team put in a good practice session, posting the ninth best time overall and the absolute top speed in the qualifying sessions. The considerable temperature excursion since yesterday – an increase of no less than 10 degrees – demanded a sudden rethink in terms of tyre compounds. The team technicians were able to choose from the vast range of Bridgestone tyres and jump straight away up two steps on the hardness scale to select the most suitable tyres. After just a few laps, Makoto Tamada was already showing he was able to put up a competitive and constant place that augurs well for tomorrow’s race.
The engine of Makoto’s RC211V bike was also spiced up a bit and the top speed in the qualifying sessions showed that it had been a job well done.
Makoto was not quite so effective in getting the fastest lap time for the pole, even though he took two tenths off the time he made yesterday. But even so today’s time puts him in a satisfactory ninth position overall: in the top spot on the third row of the starting grid.
MAKOTO TAMADA (PRAMAC HONDA TEAM): 9th – 1:50.775
“Today too we tried out a few things and, more than anything, we adapted the bike to changes in weather conditions. The difference in terms of grip was much more obvious during the free practice this morning, but this afternoon, partly thanks to all the changes we made, things were working out much better. I think I’ve got the choice of tyres for the race pretty well sorted out, but I must say I’m sorry to be starting out ninth: I’d have preferred to be on second row for I certainly could have got there. What matters now is that I need to put up a good pace and maintain a constant rhythm in the race like I did today. It could well make the difference.”
More, from a press release issued by Proton Team KR:
Aoki slashes lap time, McWilliams hits gremlins
Nobuatsu Aoki: 17th, 1:51.576
Jeremy McWilliams: 21st, 1:52.180
Team Proton KR rider Nobuatsu Aoki cut more than two seconds off his previous best lap time on the Proton KR V5 at Rio today, narrowly missing a position on the fourth row of the grid. It is his best yet qualifying position on the new four-stroke machine, which will start only its sixth race tomorrow.
The Japanese rider made huge strides in the afternoon session, as his pit crew tackled problems one by one. He was able to ride the new machine more aggressively, and the 2.132-second improvement round the 4.933km Nelson Piquet circuit reflected his increasing comfort, and ability to use his riding skills.
Team-mate Jeremy McWilliams also improved, but not as much as he had expected, after missing a gear at the end of his fast lap and “hobbling over the line”. He felt the error had cost at least half a second, but he was thwarted by mechanical problems with both his V5 machines, and was unable to prove the point. He will start tomorrow’s race from the sixth row of the grid.
The Proton KR V5 is a radical new design, with a unique 60-degree vee angle. But the machine is still in its infancy, in only its sixth race, all of which have been more like public test sessions, as the team work flat out not only to improve the performance, but also to solve the teething troubles inevitable with a brand new machine. The progress has been highly impressive, with the Protons achieving a first double race finish at the last round in Portugal. Work continues at the team’s base in England, not only on improving power output in the short term, but also on next year’s Mk2 machine.
Today’s practice took place in fine, sunny conditions, with threatened rain staying well away.
Nobuatsu Aoki
I’d like to say thank you to my mechanics. They made a lot of effort to keep the engine performing well to the end of the session, after it had been losing power in the morning. It seems as though the heat is hurting the performance, but they found ways of making it run cooler. One way was to put in cold fuel, a little at a time. More important was a change to the engine mapping, which reduced the temperature, and it was going strong for the full session, so I was able to push hard. As I said yesterday, they already made some chassis settings that also worked very well. It’s coming better all the time.
Jeremy McWilliams
I came very close to a very sore crash when one of my bikes leaked oil onto the back wheel. I was lucky not to fall. It was a leaking output shaft seal, and the mechanics fixed it, but it also put oil all over the tyre I wanted to try for the race. Luckily we did some endurance testing in the morning, so think I’m okay on tyre choice. I switched to my second bike, but that had a gearbox failure, and also chucked out its oil. I did my fast lap on the other bike, but I missed a gear on the last corner, and hobbled across the line. I lost half a second, but I wanted to finish the lap because I didn’t think I’d get another chance. It was a lot of drama for very little. But the set-up is okay, and as long as I don’t have to go back to the early-spec engine I think we can have a good race.
Chuck Aksland – Team Manager
It was a really positive day, especially for Nobu, and he’s in a lot more competitive position than he has been until now. Jeremy unfortunately had a gear break, and had to switch to his second bike, which wasn’t ideal for a qualifying time. But we made a lot of progress today, and it was just unfortunate that Jeremy didn’t have a better afternoon.
More, from a press release issued by Ducati Corse:
Ducati Marlboro men on rows one & two at Rio
Ducati Marlboro Team riders Loris Capirossi and Troy Bayliss starred in this afternoon’s final qualifying session, placing themselves on the first and second rows of the grid for tomorrow’s Rio GP, the squad’s first-ever race in South America. Capirossi led the session for several minutes but eventually had to settle for second, just 0.3 seconds off pole position, while Rio first-timer Bayliss was a superb fifth fastest, just 0.166 seconds off a front-row start. “Both our riders in the top five – it doesn’t look like this is our first time at this track!” grinned Ducati Marlboro Team director Livio Suppo. “Loris worked hard once again today, doing a race simulation and concentrating on finding a fast rhythm for the race. Things were harder for Troy because he’s never been here before, but at the end of the session he rode a great lap and is looking good for the race. We made no revolution with either rider’s settings, just small adjustments to give them more traction. Now we look forward to the race; if both our guys get good starts, I think we can leave Rio with a good result behind us.”
Capirossi scores tenth front row start
Loris Capirossi ran strong as ever this afternoon, moving into pole position during the hectic closing stages of the session, finally ending up a close-run second behind World Champion Valentino Rossi (Honda).
“I’m very happy,” said Capirossi after achieving his tenth front-row start of 2003. “We are always up front now, regardless of the racetrack, and that shows how great the bike is. We are able to find a good set-up whatever the style of track, which is a great help to me. We worked some more on settings today and did a race simulation to help us choose our race tyres, but the changing weather conditions make tyre choice difficult – it was cold yesterday, hot today and we still don’t know what to expect for tomorrow. My target is simple – to run with the leaders, then see what we’ve got left at the end of the race.”
Rio Rookie Bayliss’ best grid slot since Jerez
Ninth yesterday in his first Rio qualifying session, Ducati Marlboro Team rider Troy Bayliss improved to a magnificent fifth this afternoon. This is the Australian’s fifth successive second-row start and his best grid slot since he qualified second for May’s Spanish GP.
“We made really good improvements every session, which is nice,” said the understandably delighted former World Superbike Champion. “And after this afternoon I’ve got some fairly high expectations for the race; hopefully I’ll get a good start and be able to run up front. I’m still not sure which bike I’m going to race (Bayliss has one bike fitted with the latest, large-diameter Ohlins fork, the other with the Ohlins fork he’s used since the start of the season), because there’s a few other differences to them, like suspension links. We’ll try a few more things in warm-up, then decide.”
More, from a press release issued by John Hopkins’ publicist:
HOPKINS CRASHES IN QUALIFYING FOR RIO GRAND PRIX
RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (Sept. 19, 2003) – John Hopkins crashed his factory Suzuki GSV-R MotoGP bike early in Friday’s final qualifying session. Hopkins reported the rear end of the motorcycle stepped out coming through the third-gear final corner of the Nelson Piquet Circuit. He tried to save it, but the bike caught and pitched several times before throwing him violently to the ground. Hopkins suffered impact injuries to his left hand his right foot and both lower legs. He is questionable for Saturday’s MotoGP.
The crash was especially disappointing for Hopkins since he qualified 13th in Thursday’s session and was hopeful he could secure a decent starting position.
“Things went pretty well in yesterday’s qualifying,” Hopkins said. “I was just hoping that the other teams wouldn’t find much more improvement since I knew we were near the limits of the bike already on Thursday.”
In today’s qualifying the team decided to try a harder compound tire in hopes of having a set-up that would last the entire race on Saturday.
“I wasn’t real thrilled going out there on the harder compound,” Hopkins admitted. “The bike was really only working well with a very soft compound and I thought I could make that last during the race. But the team felt we’d have a better chance if we could get the bike to work with a harder compound.
“I was sliding the bike everywhere and hoping that the tires would come in, but they didn’t. The crash happened so fast. I tried like crazy to save it, but it threw me into a somersault and beat me up pretty good.”
Since Hopkins is not in contention for the championship he thinks he may sit out the race Saturday.
“We’ll see how I feel,” he said. “But I’m getting stiffer as we speak so it’s pretty doubtful. Unless there’s a minor miracle I’m probably going to call it a weekend. There’s no sense in me going out there injured and ride around for nothing.”
Hopkins will likely fly back to his home in California and recuperate in preparation for the Pacific Grand Prix of Motegi in two weeks.
More, from a press release issue dby Team Suzuki:
HOPKINS BATTERED IN HEAVY CRASH
Jacarepagua, Brazil – Friday, September 19, 2003:
Team Suzuki rider John Hopkins was lucky to walk away from a heavy crash in today’s final qualifying session for tomorrow’s Rio GP. But while the Anglo-American racer escaped without broken bones, he suffered a number of painful injuries, and is a doubtful starter for the race.
Hopkins had already qualified 18th on the time he set in yesterday’s first session, and was working on trying to improve overall race prospects when he fell after completing only seven laps.
The accident happened on the last corner of the 4.933km Nelson Piquet circuit outside Rio. The Suzuki GSV-R snapped sideways mid-corner, and Hopkins hung on for a wild rodeo ride until he was thrown off on the corner exit. The bike followed him as he tumbled.
Hopkins was carried away, but climbed off the stretcher as it reached the trackside barrier, to cross the track back to the pits over an advertising hoarding that doubles as a circuit-workers’ footbridge. His injuries were investigated immediately at the medical centre, and though no fractures were found, he was by now in considerable pain, with injuries to both legs and his right foot, his lumbar region, and with his left thumb badly sprained.
Team-mate Kenny Roberts Jr. qualified one place lower, in 19th, after slashing more than seven tenths of a second off his best lap time of yesterday, after a day of major experiments with different chassis and suspension settings. He will start the race, at the track where he tied up the 2000 500cc World Championship for Suzuki, from the fifth row of the grid.
Today’s practice took place in warm and sunny conditions, the threat of more rain dissipating overnight.
JOHN HOPKINS – 18th position, 1:51.802: The only rear tyre we’d been able to run is a real soft compound that I estimate would probably only last a quarter of race distance. We’ve been having big problems with the tyre going off, and we’ve been trying hard all weekend to get the bike set right so it can use a harder tyre, which I was using on that lap. It was sliding everywhere, and spinning up. Then on the last turn it stepped out real early and caught me way off guard. It pitched me up and started bucking me, flipping between my legs – I had a footpeg stab me in one leg, and then another on the other shin, and then when it tossed me off my thumb seemed to get jammed and bent right back. I’m in a lot of pain right now, and with the situation we’re in, in no position to fight for a championship, I’ll see how I feel in the morning, but I might sit this race out, and wait for some improvement.
KENNY ROBERTS – 19th position, 1:51.839: This morning we did a gigantic circle with bike settings and approaches to the machine for this circuit. We tried three major setting differences during the morning session, and kind of came back to a more normal setting. At this place, we’re just really struggling. You’re deep on the brakes, and when you lean it over, if the back wheel’s not in line you can’t finish the corner off properly, and we’re really struggling in that area. We’re going to try and do our best, and hope the other guys race each other too hard, make some mistakes, and help us out a little bit.
GARRY TAYLOR – Team Manager: John was trying very hard, and when you need to go for every possible bit of speed, occasionally this sort of stuff is going to happen. John is really tough, but right now I’d be very surprised to see him race tomorrow. One thing that needs looking into is there was no way for him to get back. He had to walk over the Cinzano footbridge, which is really just scaffolding with a couple of ladders each end. I’ve never seen a rider do that before – and you could see the pain come in when he was halfway over the bridge. Dr Costa and Dean Millerlooked into his injuries immediately at the medical centre, with special concern over a big impact in the area of his left scaphoid (wrist bone), and his right foot. X-ray’s show that no bones were broken. Kenny kept on pushing, and made a good improvement in his time. He has a good chance of making the points tomorrow.
More, from a press release issued by Harris WCM:
FINAL QUALIFYING FRIDAY 19TH SEPTEMBER
David de Gea – 23rd 1:53.373
“I spent half an hour of this afternoons qualifying session in the garage, there were some problems with the clutch. Eventually I got back on the track and finished with about 15 laps in total.
I improved from yesterday and I pushed hard with the last two qualifying tyres at the end of the session. I still know it’s possible to go faster and I wait for tomorrow to do that.”
Chris Burns – 24th 1:54. 667
“I have both the old four stroke (from the Portugal GP) and the new four stroke bike here and we decided that today I would ride the old four stroke for most of the session and race the new four stroke tomorrow. The bikes are totally different, they feel like completely different bikes in both braking and engine power.
I’m struggling a bit switching from one bike to the other but that¹s the situation I’m in and I’ll just try my best. I have 20 minutes in warm up tomorrow to get use to the new bike, which I am riding for the first time this weekend. I’m still getting to know the track having not been here before also. Anyway, tomorrow could be the day I finish my first GP of the Season.”
Peter Clifford – Team Manager
“Not a bad day, in as far as both bikes ran strong and we are making progress. Again minor frustration’s are keeping us from achieving what we should of done in qualifying today.
Comparing with the last GP in Portugal, it’s a touch disappointing but perhaps we’ll have a better result in the race.”
More, from a press release issued by Honda Racing Press Information:
HONDA RACING INFORMATION
Rio Grand Prix at Jacarepagua
Final Qualifying 19 September
Track temperature: 35 degrees
Humidity: 50%
Ambient temperature: 28 degrees, dry and sunny
ROSSI ON POLE AFTER RECORD BREAKING SESSION
Valentino Rossi (Repsol Honda RC211V) had to ride to the full extent of his powers to take pole position at the 4.933km Nelson Piquet circuit in Rio, pushing the qualifying record to a new best of 1:49.038 in the process. In what turned out to be a three-way duel for supremacy between Rossi, Loris Capirossi (Ducati) and Sete Gibernau (Telefonica Movistar Honda RC211V) the action was all packed into the final ten minutes, with the relatively warm track temperatures also playing their part in proceedings.
Theoretically, the warmer track on day two, after a grey and cool opening session on Thursday, should have offered greater scope for improvement in lap times but the opposite appeared to be true at the bumpy Brazilian circuit. It thus took some time for the riders to find their optimum set-ups, and they had to devote a lot of time and effort in finding good race set-ups. Once they had finally fitted qualifying tyres, it was a different story.
Loris Capirossi had propelled himself to a clear lead on the times sheets in the final few minutes, outpacing Gibernau with a last throw of the dice but Rossi was waiting in the wings, riding aggressively to secure the pole position by a margin of 0.302 seconds.
Despite a last attempt by provisional pole position man Max Biaggi (Camel Pramac Pons RC211V) to reinstate himself at the top of the timesheets his last lap was an imperfect one, and he had to settle for a front row start in fourth.
On the second row Troy Bayliss (Ducati) leads off top Yamaha rider thus far Shinya Nakano. Nicky Hayden ran out seventh, with Tohru Ukawa eighth, the last man on the second row.
The real test for the race will be tyre selection, as the track has already presented problems in this area, proving to be very hard to read as the weather changes.
All being well, Rossi is the best-placed rider pre-race and is in a good position to go about adding to his already impressive Rio race record.
“To make the pole position is always good,” said Rossi. “Today we tried hard because yesterday we didn’t have enough time to test the qualifying tyre. Today the plan was to try two but we were only able to use one because we worked a lot on race set-up for tomorrow. 1:49.0! I rode very well and the qualification tyre was very good.”
Sete Gibernau fell at the very end of the practice session, and this affected his post-qualifying mood somewhat. His all important front row start will nevertheless come into play for him when the race gets underway.
“Today we have done a good job once more with the set-up of the bike but we still have a few things to sort out,” said Gibernau. “I have found a really good rhythm in the corners but I am losing too much time in the straights. I am doing all I can to make it up but I need some help from Honda. Luckily I wasn’t hurt in my crash and I hope to solve our problems in the warm-up.”
For Biaggi, the second day was a disappointment compared to the first but he nonetheless starts from the front row, in fourth.
“I tried very hard to improve on my lap time from yesterday but it was not possible,” said Biaggi. “We did not have the improvement in set-up that would have made us take the next step, but I tried to be consistent. I went very hard on my last lap to try and go faster than yesterday. I may have made a couple of small mistakes on that lap but it was not going to be fast enough to take pole.”
The continual improvement in Hayden’s best lap time was put down to his ability to improve his own performance and his final sixth place qualifying spot was also the result of following his team leader Rossi in the latter stages of the final one hour session.
“That session had a little bit of drama in it for me but I’m pretty pleased with the result,” said Hayden. “I had a little problem early on and had to park it out on the circuit. I had to run back to the pit, have a drink of water and get back out again. At the end of the session I came in got a new tyre and went out behind Valentino and ended up doing my best time.”
Tohru Ukawa (Camel Pramac Pons RC211V) was pleased to have improved his time from Thursday, but disappointed that it make little difference to his overall qualification, as other riders also went faster. “We managed to improve our times from yesterday but not enough,” said Ukawa in pitlane. “In this morning’s session we were not so bad but when I tried to go faster in the hotter afternoon session the rear would start to spin. The hotter track was probably part of the cause. We must try something in warm-up tomorrow and it will be very difficult to choose a race tyre. That’s the same for everybody.”
Makoto Tamada (Pramac Honda RC211V) went ninth on his first visit to the tricky and bumpy Rio circuit, his commitment evident to all, including the timekeepers. He too was affected by the peculiar track conditions.
“Today we tried a few things and more than anything we adapted the bike to the track conditions,” said the Bridgestone race tester. “I think we have the choice of tyre for the race pretty much worked out, but I must say I am sorry to be starting out ninth; I would have preferred to have been on the front.”
Rookie MotoGP rider Ryuichi Kiyonari (Telefonica Movistar Honda RC211V) can feel a sense of satisfaction after his final qualifying ride, securing 15th spot out of 24 on his first visit to Rio. “I am very happy to have improved my time by 2.4 seconds,” beamed Kiyonari. “I think this is my best qualifying performance and I am feeling very good about tomorrow’s race.”
The final 250ccc qualifying session saw most but not all of the top riders improving their lap times from the cool first day. Tony Elias (Aprilia) was the quickest rider, from Manuel Poggiali (Aprilia). The intense competition in the 250cc class was such that Roberto Rolfo (Fortuna Honda RS250RW) was third, after having to use his time from Friday as his best of the weekend, making small errors in final qualifying.
He was unperturbed by this turn of events and looks forward to another close 250 race.
“We did really good work yesterday but I made a mistake on the last lap so I think I can go faster than this,” said Rolfo. “The track changed today but we have good settings for the race.”
Sebastian Porto (Telefonica Movistar Junior Team RS250RW) went sixth after something of a confusing day at the track he won his first 250ccc Grand Prix at last year. Porto also thinks he is in good shape for a strong raceday performance, but there will be one particular area of concern for all the riders on display.
“Here it is very important to have a good engine and it’s not so bad,” said a satisfied Porto. “The bike works well, the chassis particularly. The big question is the tyre. I was very surprised that it was hotter today, but there is less grip.”
An outstanding final qualifying lap from Daniel Pedrosa (Telefonica Movistar Junior Team RS125R) held off the consistent threat of Alex De Angelis (Aprilia) to give the young Spaniard a start from pole position in the 125 class. The clear championship leader is in the perfect position as he attempts to take his fifth win of the season.
A good day of qualifying for another Honda rider delivered Andrea Dovizioso (Scot Racing Honda RS125R) to third place on the grid, with Gabor Talmacsi (Aprilia) in fourth spot. The second row of qualifying featured the Derbi of Jorge Lorenzo at its head, with Stefano Perugini (Aprilia), Hector Barbera (Aprilia) and Steve Jenkner (Aprilia) following on.
Young Swiss Thomas Luthi (Elit Grand Prix team) secured 12th place for the third row start, while 2002 Rio race winner Masao Azuma (Ajo Motorsports RS125R Honda) ended two days of qualifying 17th overall.
Pedrosa is ready for the fight, even if he feels there is still room for improvement.
“I’m still having a little problem with the bike set-up on the bumps,” said Pedrosa, “but them everybody is. I was ninth until that last lap so I’m glad I could get a slipstream and then head up a big group of riders across the line.”
Dovizioso was happy with second place but hopes to find the right conditions on raceday. “I am almost OK for the race bit we have to check the life of the tyre,” he stated. “Twenty-one laps is a long way here. The engine is overheating a little bit but otherwise everything is OK.”
Luthi was another with tyres to consider for raceday. “I’m happy with a t
