Phillip Island; Gibernau aces pole position from Rossi
Added on Friday, October 15th, 2004 by Carole Nash Editor
Phillip Island; Gibernau aces pole position from Rossi
The latest from the Yamaha Race team;
Gauloises Fortuna Yamaha riders Valentino Rossi and Carlos Checa had very different finishes to their Phillip Island final qualifying session today, Rossi just missing out on pole position while Checa fell, without injury, in the final minutes of the session.
Rossi, however, was not quite able to improve on his provisional pole position time from Friday, a 1′30.222, due to some set-up difficulties. The reigning World Champion will start tomorrow’s Australian Grand Prix from second place on the grid. His team-mate Checa (1′31.359) will now start the race from the fifth row, having set overall 13th best time today.
Rossi, who came in for a new rear tyre just before his final assault on the stopwatch, was only overhauled by one rider today, his sole championship rival Sete Gibernau (Honda), who took the best time of 1″30.122. If Rossi finishes anywhere ahead of Gibernau in tomorrow’s showdown he will win the championship, and even if Gibernau wins the race, second place would be enough for Rossi to lift the trophy.
Checa made rapid improvements in the first part of the hour-long session, improving his position twice inside the first ten minutes, going to fifth fastest on race tyres. Slowly dropping through the order, he was to finish 13th, crashing out on his final attempt to set an improved time.
Fortuna Gauloises Tech3 rider Marco Melandri (1′30.927) qualified in tenth place for tomorrow’s 27-lap race. His team-mate Norick Abe (1′32.452) struggled during today’s final hour of qualifying and will start from 18th on the grid. Marco was plagued by front-end chatter problems and the rapid Italian rider was losing time in the two long left-hand turns that are negotiated before the start/finish straight - considered the most important section of the circuit. But he reckons his race rhythm is good enough to put him in contention tomorrow.
Norick remains upbeat about his chances in the race despite turning in a disappointing qualifying performance. Lack of rear grip is the doughty Japanese rider’s bugbear here. But Norick still believes there’s time to fix the problem in the 20-minute morning warm-up session before the race in the afternoon.
Valentino Rossi (Gauloises Fortuna Yamaha) second - 1′30.222
“Unfortunately we are not in pole position as we are not at 100% with the set-up. If we were at 100% I think we could have made the 1’29s. My rhythm is good, but the feeling with the bike is not perfect, especially from the front. But it is difficult here to have the perfect set-up for the whole track. We lost time this morning trying some tyres with Michelin, but finally we won’t use them.
As for the championship, fortunately I have good experience of being in this position, but every time is like the first. It won’t be a problem sleeping tonight though. Sete is very strong here, and we know it will be a good contest.”
Carlos Checa (Gauloises Fortuna Yamaha) 13th - 1′31.359
“That was a big crash and I still don’t understand it. I went out for a fast lap and had let some riders get ahead on the previous lap in order to get some clear track. When I went into turn six both tyres just went. My feeling was that it was the front, but it felt a bit strange. With a race tyre the bike is quite good here. We had a good pace, and I was confident I could improve my lap from before but it was not the case.”
Qualifying;
1 S. Gibernau Honda ESP 1′ 30.600 1′ 30.122
2 V. Rossi Yamaha ITA 1′ 30.222 1′ 30.577
3 L. Capirossi Ducati ITA 1′ 31.571 1′ 30.613
4 C. Edwards Honda USA 1′ 31.387 1′ 30.625
5 M. Tamada Honda JPN 1′ 31.632 1′ 30.716
6 A. Barros Honda BRA 1′ 31.601 1′ 30.757
7 M. Biaggi Honda ITA 1′ 31.718 1′ 30.767
8 A. Hofman Kawasaki GER 1′ 32.039 1′ 30.819
9 T. Bayliss Ducati AUS 1′ 31.979 1′ 30.873
10 M. Melandri Yamaha ITA 1′ 31.760 1′ 30.927
11 S. Nakano Kawasaki JPN 1′ 32.338 1′ 31.093
12 R. Xaus Ducati ESP 1′ 31.526 1′ 31.191
13 C. Checa Yamaha ESP 1′ 31.929 1′ 31.359
14 N. Hayden Honda USA 1′ 31.377 1′ 31.786
15 J. McWilliams Aprilia GBR 1′ 32.866 1′ 31.491
18 N. Abe Yamaha JPN 1′ 33.753 1′ 32.452
