FIM MotoGP World Championship Shanghai Circuit Shanghai, China Polini Grand Prix of China Final qualifying Results: 1. Dani PEDROSA, Spain (Hon RC211V), 1:59.009, Michelin 2. John HOPKINS, USA (Suz GSV-R) 1:59.373, Bridgestone 3. Colin EDWARDS, USA (Yam YZR-M1), 1:59.383, Michelin 4. Shinya NAKANO, Japan (Kaw ZX-RR), 1:59.570, Bridgestone 5. Nicky HAYDEN, USA (Hon RC211V), 1:59.574, Michelin 6. Sete GIBERNAU, Spain (Duc GP06) 1:59.639, Bridgestone 7. Casey STONER, Australia (Hon RC211V), 1:59.890, Michelin 8. Marco MELANDRI, Italy (Hon RC211V), 2:00.014, Michelin 9. Randy DE PUNIET, France (Kaw ZX-RR), 2:00.044, Bridgestone 10. Loris CAPIROSSI, Italy (Duc GP06), 2:00.078, Bridgestone 11. Makoto TAMADA, Japan (Hon RC211V), 2:00.176, Michelin 12. Chris VERMEULEN, Australia (Suz GSV-R), 2:00.304, Bridgestone 13. Valentino ROSSI, Italy (Yam YZR-M1), 2:00.720, Michelin 14. Carlos CHECA, Spain (Yam YZR-M1), 2:01.052, Dunlop 15. Toni ELIAS, Spain (Hon RC211V), 2:01.275, Michelin 16. Alex HOFMANN, Germany (Duc GP05), 2:01.972, Dunlop 17. James ELLISON, Great Britain (Yam YZR-M1), 2:02.088, Dunlop 18. Kenny Lee ROBERTS, USA (KR RC211V), 2:02.311, Michelin 19. Jose Luis CARDOSO, Spain (Duc GP05), 2:02.948, Dunlop 250cc GP Qualifying: 1. Hector Barbera (Apr RSV250), 2:05.781 2. Jorge Lorenzo (Apr RSV250), 2:05.948 3. Shuhei Aoyama (Hon RS250R), 2:06.677 4. Andrea Dovizioso (Hon RS250R), 2:06.936 5. Alex de Angelis (Apr RSV250), 2:07.073 6. Yuki Takahashi (Hon RS250R), 2:07.127 7. Hiroshi Aoyama (KTM), 2:07.289 8. Anthony West (Apr RSV250), 2:07.382 9. Jakub Smrz (Apr RSV250), 2:08.028 10. Manuel Poggiali (KTM), 2:08.058 125cc GP Qualifying: 1. Mika Kallio (KTM), 2:11.572 2. Lukas Pesek (Derbi), 2:11.934 3. Julian Simon (KTM), 2:11.953 4. Alvaro Bautista (Apr RS125R), 2:11.990 5. Gabor Talmacsi (Hon RS125R), 2:12.441 6. Mattia Pasini (Apr RS125R), 2:12.541 7. Thomas Luthi (Hon RS125R), 2:12.805 8. Raffaele de Rosa (Apr RS125R), 2:12.948 9. Angel Rodriguez (Apr RS125R), 2:13.003 10. Tomoyoshi Koyama (Malaguti), 2:13.045 More, from a press release issued by Kawasaki Racing Team: MOTOGP WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP 2006 KAWASAKI RACING TEAM PRESS OFFICE SUPER SHINYA SECURES SECOND ROW START IN SHANGHAI Kawasaki’s Shinya Nakano missed out on a front row start in tomorrow’s Grand Prix of China by just one tenth of a second today, after qualifying his Ninja ZX-RR fourth fastest during this afternoon’s hour-long timed session at the Shanghai International Circuit. The 28-year-old Japanese ace will start tomorrow’s 22-lap race from the second row of the grid, one row in front of his Kawasaki teammate, Randy de Puniet, who set the ninth fastest time aboard his Ninja ZX-RR this afternoon. The heavy rain of yesterday was replaced by dry but overcast conditions for this morning’s hour-long free practice session, giving both Kawasaki riders the chance to work on the dry set-up of their Ninja ZX-RR MotoGP machines, after the washout that was the opening day of practice. The dry conditions continued into afternoon qualifying, but then, just 25 minutes into the session, the riders were forced back to the pit box by the onset of rain along Shanghai’s 1.2 km main straight. Fortunately the rain was both light and short lived and, with just 15 minutes of the session remaining, both Kawasaki riders were back out on track to assess the track conditions and the possibility of switching to qualifying tyres for the final quarter of the session. Nakano used his first qualifying tyre to assess grip levels around the 5.281 km Shanghai circuit, before using his second qualifier to take pole position with just four minutes of the session left to run. The Kawasaki rider held onto the top spot until the dying moments, when a quick succession of fast laps saw Honda’s Dani Pedrosa snatch pole position as Nakano was pushed back to fourth place, and the second row of the grid. With two runs on a qualifying tyre under his belt, Randy de Puniet looked set to snatch his first MotoGP pole position with his final flying lap, but it was not to be. In a calculated gamble the 25-year-old Frenchman chose the softest of Bridgestone’s qualifying tyres for his last run, but started losing time late in the lap when the tyre went off and the rear of his Ninja ZX-RR started to slide under power, forcing de Puniet to settle for ninth place and the third row of the grid. With so little dry practice time ahead of tomorrow’s 22-lap race, both Kawasaki riders are confident that further improvements can be made to their Ninja ZX-RR machines overnight, which will allow them to improve their lap times on race tyres even further during tomorrow’s race. Shinya Nakano: 4th – 1’59.570 “I was quite confident going into qualifying after this morning’s free practice session, and I was lying eighth when the rain started halfway through the session. After the difficulties we had yesterday, eighth was not bad, but I really wanted to try and improve on a qualifying tyre, and at that point it didn’t look as if I would get the chance. But the rain had almost stopped after 15 minutes, so we decided to try a qualifier anyway, just to get a feel for the conditions and to find out if it was possible to push hard with the soft tyre. It looked okay, so we put in another qualifier, but grip wasn’t consistent around the whole circuit, so at some corners I couldn’t push as hard as I would if it had been completely dry. Unfortunately, because of the time lost through the rain, I didn’t have time for another run on a qualifier. On race tyres we’re not so far off the leading riders, and I think we can still make some improvements to the bike overnight, so I’m fairly confident for the race tomorrow. For sure, starting the race from the front row would have been better, but I’m happy enough with fourth place on the grid.” Randy de Puniet: 9th – 2’00.044 “This morning we concentrated on finding both a set-up and a race tyre for the dry conditions, and we continued with this during the first half of this afternoon’s qualifying session. Them just as we were starting to think about switching to a qualifying tyre, the rain started. Luckily it only lasted a few minutes, so with 15 minutes to go we tried our first qualifying tyre. I made a small mistake on the first qualifying run, which lost me some time, and then I got held up behind Carlos Checa on my second qualifier, which again cost me valuable time. Unfortunately, we decided to use the softest compound qualifier for my third and final run, and by the time I got to the long right hand turn before the straight, the rear was starting to spin up as the tyre went off and I had to settle for ninth place on the grid. I’m looking forward to the race tomorrow. In Istanbul I wanted to finish my first MotoGP race, so I was little bit cautious, but for tomorrow my plan is to go as hard as I can from the start, to try and stay in touch with the leading group of riders for as long as possible, and, hopefully, finish the race with a good result. That’s the plan anyway.” QUALIFYING PRACTICE – FINAL TIMES 1. Dani Pedrosa (SPA) Repsol Honda Team 1’59.009; 2. John Hopkins (USA) Team Suzuki MotoGP +0.364; 3. Colin Edwards (USA) Camel Yamaha Team +0.374; 4. Shinya Nakano (JPN) Kawasaki Racing Team +0.561; 5. Nicky Hayden (USA) Repsol Honda Team +0.565; 6. Sete Gibernau (SPA) Ducati Marlboro Team +0.630; 7. Casey Stoner (AUS) LCR Honda +0.881; 8. Marco Melandri (ITA) Fortuna Honda +1.005; 9. Randy de Puniet (FRA) Kawasaki Racing Team +1.035; 10. Loris Capirossi (ITA) Ducati Marlboro Team +1.069 More, from a press release issued by Ducati Corse: Chinese Grand Prix, Shanghai Qualifying, Saturday May 13 2006 2nd AND 4th ROW FOR DUCATI MARLBORO TEAM IN CHINESE GP. Ducati Marlboro Team riders Sete Gibernau and Loris Capirossi were sixth and tenth fastest in this afternoon’s rain-interrupted qualifying session for tomorrow’s Chinese Grand Prix. A rain shower dampened the track in parts halfway through the session, robbing teams of valuable dry-track time. Riders were able to return to the rapidly drying track for the final few minutes, but since both yesterday’s sessions were run in heavy rain, this morning’s hour-long outing has been the only fully dry session of a weather-blighted weekend, leaving riders and teams with precious little set-up time for what is expected to be a dry race. Gibernau and Capirossi made the best of this afternoon’s tricky session, continuing work on race set-up before switching to qualifiers in the final minutes, but neither rider was able to extract the full performance from their Desmosedici GP6s in the time available. Gibernau had led the early stages of the session and looked capable of taking pole position, but the Spaniard was unable to maintain that pace to the flag and ended 6th. Italian team-mate Capirossi will start from 10th position. Weather for tomorrow is unpredictable but Ducati Marlboro Team riders are going to exploit every single minute of the warm-up in order to make the last adjustments for the race. SETE GIBERNAU, 6th fastest, 1m 59.639s “That was a bit of a strange session. Everything seems to be working well enough from a race point of view, but we still have to work some more with Bridgestone to find the right race tyre choice. The first part of the session went okay but later on I was struggling to get a lap time with the qualifiers because I could do the first part of the lap not so bad, but after that the tyre wasn’t giving me the grip I needed for a qualifying lap. It’s up to us and Bridgestone to find the right solution for the race, because when the tyres are okay we know we can go well, but we don’t what to end up in the same situation we were in at Istanbul. We have one more rear to try in tomorrow morning’s warm-up session, one more choice that might help us for the race.” LORIS CAPIROSSI, 10th fastest, 2m 00.078s “Sete and I have been using the same rear race tyre, but we need a bit more endurance for the race. I have been using a front tyre that’s a bit harder than Sete’s but it’s okay for the race, while Sete’s is softer but maybe doesn’t have the endurance. This afternoon’s rain didn’t help us because we couldn’t test everything we wanted to test. At the end of the session I didn’t have full confidence in the front, so I couldn’t fully exploit my qualifying tyres. We did our best today and we will need to make the most of warm-up to test more tyres, making sure we don’t take any big gambles for the race.” Temperatures: Ambient: 19 degrees C. Track: 21 degrees C. More, from a press release issued by Dorna Communications: China sees Pedrosa take first MotoGP pole Polini Grand Prix of China Saturday 13th May 2006 Dani Pedrosa claims his first MotoGP pole position Dani Pedrosa will start tomorrow’s Polini Grand Prix of China from pole position, after putting in a last minute record-setting lap. The 20 year-old Spaniard’s first pole in the class came in a time of 1’59.009, with a mildly wet track and in a session split in half by rain showers. It looked at one stage as if Sete Gibernau would maintain his advantage from the first half-hour when the rain started to fall, but after ten minutes break the riders came back out, and the lap-times quickly improved, dropping the Spaniard down the pecking order. John Hopkins meanwhile earns his first front row of the season, ahead of a rejuvenated Colin Edwards. Both the Americans had sat in top spot at various stages in the session, as had Shinya Nakano, who was eventually dropped to fourth, ahead of championship leader Nicky Hayden and Gibernau. After having taken second place in Turkey, Casey Stoner sits in a respectable seventh place, whilst the race winner from that race, Marco Melandri, is the top Italian rider on the grid in eighth. They will be joined on row three by Randy de Puniet, who will be hoping to take inspiration from last year’s race-day performance from his compatriot Olivier Jacque, who steered the Kawasaki into an impressive second place. Second in the championship, Loris Capirossi heads row four in tenth, alongside Makoto Tamada and Chris Vermeulen. Directly behind the Ducati of Capirossi is reigning World Champion Valentino Rossi who had led both practices in the rain yesterday, with Carlos Checa and Toni Elias also on the fifth row. Weather forecasts are for no rain tomorrow, but such have been the changeable conditions that every rider will be eagerly looking through the bedroom window first thing tomorrow morning to hope it remains dry. 250cc Grand Prix After a best 250 result of second in Turkey, Hector Barbera went on to claim his first ever pole position in the category in Shanghai today with a late surge ahead of teammate Jorge Lorenzo. Lorenzo lost the championship lead after he crashed out two weeks ago, and will be hoping that second place on the grid will help him recover lost ground. The new championship leader Andrea Dovizioso was relegated to fourth on the grid after a last ditch effort from Shuhei Aoyama, but two Aprilias and two Hondas on the front row guarantees another exciting battle tomorrow. The second row is made up of Alex de Angelis, Yuki Takahashi, Hiroshi Aoyama and Anthony West. 125cc Grand Prix Mika Kallio defended his provisional pole from yesterday to put himself at the head of the pack for tomorrow’s 125cc race, ahead of Czech rider Lukas Pesek. With a time of 2’11.572, the Finn earned his ninth pole in the class but his first of this season, four-tenths ahead of team-mate Julian Simon who finished third after clocking the fastest time of this morning’s session. Behind the top three, Gabor Talmacsi, Mattia Pasini, Thomas Luthi, Raffaele da Rosa. Angel Rodriguez and Fabrizio Lai will start as the first ten on the grid. MotoGP 1st, Dani Pedrosa (Honda), 1’59.009 : “Tomorrow will be difficult because we don’t know exactly what weather conditions we will encounter. We’ll see but we need to fight hard and hopefully I can make a great start this time round. The opening set-up isn’t too bad here so we’ll have to see what we can do in the race. It has been a difficult couple of days with all the mixed conditions, but what is important is the race.” More, from a press release issued by Gresini Racing/Fortuna Honda: FORTUNA HONDA RIDERS READY FOR CHINA TEST FORTUNA HONDA riders Marco Melandri and Toni Elias have finalised their preparations for the GP of China on the second day of qualifying in changeable weather conditions. The riders carried out some work in dry conditions, but were then forced to change their plans because of the rain that fell in the afternoon at the Shanghai circuit. Even so, both Melandri and Elias, who finished eighth and twelfth respectively, will hope to get a good start in tomorrow’s race and put in a good performance. Forecasts are indicating better conditions for Sunday’s race at the Shanghai International circuit. MARCO MELANDRI (2’00″014, 8th): “This morning we struggled to find a good feeling on the Shanghai track. we worked a lot on rear suspension in order to improve my feeling with the bike. We spent a lot of time trying to find a solution for that. Then, when the rain started falling we spent a bit of time waiting to see if it would dry out, but 15 minutes from the end of the session we went out on soft tyres. We must work on the suspension as I think that is where the main problem is, we’re not far from a solution and I’m confident for the race. The weight balance is quite good and i hope to make a good start in order to fight for the podium.” TONI ELIAS (2’01″275, 16th, 16 laps ): “It was a diffcult day. In the morning we were able to work in the dry, but I didn’t have a good feeling with the rear of the bike. What’s more, it proved hard to find a good set-up that allowed me to feel comfortable although we can work on it in the warm-up tomorrow. It will be a difficult race tomorrow and we must make a good start if we want to be with the lead group.” More, from a press release issued by Camel Yamaha: Grand Prix of China Shanghai International Circuit, China Saturday 13th May EDWARDS SEALS FRONT ROW START AT SHANGHAI Camel Yamaha Team rider Colin Edwards will start from the front row of the MotoGP grid in tomorrow’s Grand Prix of China after setting the third fastest time in a dramatic single qualifying session today. After battling through torrentially wet conditions yesterday, the riders enjoyed a cloudy but dry free practice this morning as they sought to find a suitable dry set-up for their machines. The afternoon started in similar conditions but a brief rain shower midway through the session confined the riders to a tense spell in their pit garages before a thrilling late shootout for grid positions. Whilst Edwards battled for the top spot with eventual pole setter Dani Pedrosa (Honda) and second-fastest John Hopkins (Suzuki), his Camel Yamaha team-mate Valentino Rossi was unable to repeat the kind of form that saw him dominate proceedings in the wet conditions yesterday. The Italian was one of several riders to struggle with a lack of dry practice time as he looked to iron out set-up problems and find his pace. He now faces another battle through the pack after setting the 13th fastest time, meaning he will start from the fifth row of the grid. COLIN EDWARDS (3rd; 1’59.383, 15 laps) “This has been a really strange weekend because we started off by finding a setting for the wet and then converted it to the dry usually it is the other way around! I felt so comfortable with the bike yesterday and I was disappointed when I saw that I was down in thirteenth, but I knew the reason for that and I was really confident about today. I can’t really explain why we were off the pace in Turkey but have been right on it here in China, because we have hardly touched anything with the bike, just played around with the suspension. We’ve got some chatter in certain areas of the track but it’s worse when the grip is good, especially when we put a qualifying tyre on. On race rubber you can hardly notice it so I think we have a good setting to go the distance tomorrow and I am happy with my tyre choice. I’ve had some decent starts to races so far this season but haven’t been able to maintain the pace, so hopefully I can turn that around tomorrow. It feels good to be back on the front row.” VALENTINO ROSSI (13th; 2’00.720, 18 laps) “For sure we have a lot of problems and it’s disappointing to be back in this position again after such a good day yesterday. When the grip becomes normal again, like today, we have a lot of chatter and it’s very hard to ride the bike. Really this situation is quite bad, as the chatter has returned again today and it is similar to how it was in Jerez. Now we have to start from the fifth row and so it’s going to be a very hard race. We have talked a lot tonight in the garage and now we will try some things in the morning during warm-up and hope that we can make some final improvements. Now I need to ride a defensive race, try not to make any mistakes and try to take as many points as possible.” DAVIDE BRIVIO CAMEL YAMAHA TEAM DIRECTOR “A very good result for Colin it’s been a while since he was on the front row so it is good to see him back there. He seems much more comfortable on the bike and it’s good to see that he is able to ride it so effectively. Unfortunately Valentino wasn’t able to follow up his good performance from yesterday with a similar result today, so we will have to take a look at the data with the engineers and try to come up with some ideas for the warm-up tomorrow.” FIRST ROW: Dani Pedrosa (SPA) Repsol Honda Team, 1’59.009 John Hopkins (USA) Rizla Suzuki MotoGP, 1’59.373 COLIN EDWARDS (USA) Camel Yamaha Team, 1’59.383 SECOND ROW Shinya Nakano (JPN) Kawasaki Racing Team, 1’59.570 Nicky Hayden (USA) Repsol Honda Team, 1’59.574 Sete Gibernau (SPA) Ducati Marlboro Team, 1’59.639 THIRD ROW Casey Stoner (AUS) Honda LCR, 1’59.890 Marco Melandri (ITA) Fortuna Honda, 2’00.014 Randy de Puniet (FRA) Kawasaki Racing Team, 2’00.044 FOURTH ROW Loris Capirossi (ITA) Ducati Marlboro Team, 2’00.078 Makoto Tamada (JPN) Konica Minolta Honda, 2’00.176 Chris Vermeulen (AUS) Rizla Suzuki MotoGP, 2’00.304 FIFTH ROW VALENTINO ROSSI (ITA) Camel Yamaha Team, 2’00.720 Carlos Checa (SPA) Tech 3 Yamaha, 2’01.052 Toni Elias (SPA) Fortuna Honda, 2’01.275 More, from a press release issued by Honda Racing Information: Chinese Grand Prix at Shanghai Saturday May 13, 2006 DANI SNATCHES FIRST MOTOGP POLE IN DAMP CHINA Spanish star Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda RC211V) secured a maiden pole position here at Shanghai at only his fourth attempt with a lap of 1:59.009 seconds. John Hopkins (Suzuki) and Colin Edwards (Yamaha) qualified second and third fastest. After torrential rain on Friday Saturday began dry but rain again affected events during this one hour of timed qualifying. With 35 minutes to go in the session droplets of rain forced riders into the pits and 20 minutes of the session were effectively lost to a track that was partly wet and partly dry. But conditions improved almost as quickly as they had deteriorated and as the track dried riders were left with just over 15 minutes to haul themselves up the grid order. Sete Gibernau (Ducati) was the early fastest man and as riders ventured back on track it was Edwards who hit the top of the timesheet. He couldn’t hang onto the top slot for long though and with seven minutes remaining it was Pedrosa who showed his rapid mastery of the Honda RV211V 990cc machine when he deprived the American of what would have been his first pole after three seasons in MotoGP. It has taken Dani just four races. Dani, who had been clocked at a heady 215mph on the 1,202m main straight here in the morning free training, was in rapid form and he remorselessly closed in on pole, shaving his lap time down bit by bit until he felt ready to exploit the leech-like grip of super-sticky qualifying tyres. But Dani had to put in another pole lap before the end of the session when Kawasaki man Shinya Nakano recorded a lap of 1:59.570 with four minutes to go to temporarily deprive Honda’s 20-year-old star of what promises to be the first of many pole positions in the premier class. Nicky Hayden (Repsol Honda RC211V) continued his strong showing this season with a fifth fastest qualifying performance just half a second away from Dani’s pole time. Rookie sensation Casey Stoner (LCR Honda RC211V), who already has one pole position to his name already this season, managed a 1:59.980 lap to qualify seventh fastest. Marco Melandri (Fortuna Honda RC211V), victorious at the last grand prix, at Istanbul qualified eighth fastest to start from the third row while his team-mate Toni Elias (Fortuna Honda RC211V) struggled to place himself 15th fastest. Makoto Tamada (Konica Minolta Honda RC211V) will start from 11th but Kenny Roberts (Roberts KR211V) will have to make do with 18th 3.302 seconds shy of pole. Poleman Dani said, “I’m really happy because this time I went quickly on qualifying tyres which is something I haven’t managed so well in the previous qualifying sessions. I don’t really know what was different today it was not one specific thing I just felt more confident with the tyres, so I am happy. The session was strange because it was dry, then it rained, then it was dry again so maybe not everyone was able to perform at the same level.” His team-mate Nicky, fifth fastest, said, “The shower in the middle of qualifying screwed things up for us a little bit so we’ve still got a few unanswered questions for tomorrow. Last year it rained a lot too, and it’s the first year here with this new bike so we could have used some more dry time to sort some stuff out, but everyone’s in that same boat. My biggest issue right now is with engine braking unsettling the bike into corners. It feels good to be leading the World Championship and I’m happy with my run of consistency, so I’m looking for that next win.” Stoner, who fell without injury early in the session, said, “I had a small slip just as the rain started and then I had a problem with the front-end set-up on my spare bike, I kept losing it, so I wasn’t confident to push any harder. I have a very good race set-up on my race bike but we still have to check tyre life for the race distance, that’s a bit of a worry at the moment. But overall I’m really happy with the weekend so far.” Marco Melandri said, “This morning we struggled to find a good feeling and worked a lot on rear suspension. We spent a lot of time trying to find a solution for that. Then, when the rain started falling we spent a bit of time waiting to see if it would dry out, but 15 minutes from the end of the session we went out on soft tyres. We’re not far from a solution and I’m confident for the race.” Tamada said, “I’ll have to get a good start from the fourth row trying to catch the leading group of the riders because here I feel good potential. Rain did not permit us to complete the test to choose the race tyres so tomorrow morning we should finish the job during the warm-up.” Tony Elias, in 16th, said, “It was a difficult day. In the morning we were able to work in the dry, but I didn’t have a good feeling with the rear of the bike. And it proved hard to find a good set-up that allowed me to feel comfortable although we can work on it in the warm-up tomorrow. It will be a difficult race and we must make a good start if we want to be with the lead group.” Kenny Roberts said, “Nothing positive came from that session. We are struggling for grip in both the wet and dry. It’s a real mystery to all of us because we were making progress, we wont understand it till we take a good look at the data. We had different tyres at the post race test at Turkey and they turned things around for us but we don’t have those tyres here.” In the 250cc class Hector Barbera prevailed over his team-mate Jorge Lorenzo (both Aprilia) to take his first pole of the season and deprive Lorenzo of what would have been his fourth consecutive pole of the season. Shuhei Aoyama (Repsol Honda RS250RW) qualified third and series points leader Andrea Dovizioso (Humangest Racing Honda RS250RW) completes the front row. Dovi’s team-mate Yuki Takahashi (Humangest Racing Honda RS250RW) qualified sixth while Arnaud Vincent (Molenaar Racing Honda RS250RW) managed 14th on the grid. The biggest disappointment is the performance of Sebastian Porto (Repsol Honda RS250RW) down in 21st on row six. Dovi said, “I’m on the front row and this is positive, but I’m not completely satisfied with today’s work. The weather conditions didn’t help us, we had to change our test schedule and so we couldn’t go through what we planned. If tomorrow is dry, we’re going to do other tests during the morning warm-up, while we are OK in the wet. Anyway, I have a good pace in both the conditions.” Takahashi said, “Today was important because we ran in dry conditions. At the beginning, I didn’t push as I was riding with a new piston. Then, unfortunately, it started raining and we lost time. As soon as I could, I put in soft tyres but didn’t take full advantage of them because I wanted to test harder tyres for tomorrow’s race. The results were positive. So I’m confident about tomorrow.” “Today is the first time I am really satisfied,” said Aoyama. “I’m trying to be more relaxed in my way of riding and not riding like crazy and everything came easier to me. I set my fast time with a race tyre, I have a good set-up and I have chosen the race tyres already. I also have a good position on the grid so we should have a good race.” Mika Kallio (KTM) rode to his first pole position of this 2006 season in the 125cc class with Lukas Pesek (Derbi) lining up alongside the Finnish rider in second. Julian Simon (KTM) qualified third fastest with Aprilia rider Alvaro Bautista completing the front row of the grid. Gabor Talmacsi (Humangest Honda RS125R), who was the quickest rider on track for much of the half-hour of final qualifying, eventually ended up fifth fastest rider heading up the second row. Reigning World Champion Thomas Luthi (Elit Grand Prix Honda RS125R) will start tomorrow’s race form seventh on the grid. Talmacsi said, “I’m happy about this practice sessions as we have made important steps forward compared to the first three Grand Prix and we have been fast since Friday morning. I think I’m competitive both on dry and wet conditions. If tomorrow is dry, during the warm up we have to do some small changes on the chassis settings, while if it’s rain the bike is almost OK. So I feel confident in both the situations and I think I can do a good race tomorrow.” “The second qualifying session was my best of the weekend,” said Luthi. “For me it was important to follow the riders who have been fast so far this year. I needed to make a comparison and I’m happy I can run with them even if I am a little bit down on power in some places. But the bike is good and we are making a step forward each race. I have not chosen my tyres yet because we want to try a few small things in the warm-up.” HONDA RIDER TEAM QUOTES: MotoGP: Dani Pedrosa, Repsol Honda: 1st. “It’s really good to be on pole position and I’m really happy because this time I went quickly on qualifying tyres which is something I haven’t managed so well in the previous qualifying sessions. I don’t really know what was different today – it was not one specific thing – I just felt more confident with the tyres, so I am happy. The session was strange because it was dry, then it rained, then it was dry again so maybe not everyone was able to perform at the same level. One important thing is that we couldn’t test the race tyres as much as we’d have liked. Anyway, I’ll just be looking to make a good start and have a good race tomorrow. I’m not thinking about the win yet, just to perform at my maximum.” Nicky Hayden, Repsol Honda: 5th. “The shower in the middle of qualifying screwed things up for us a little bit so we’ve still got a few unanswered questions for tomorrow. Last year it rained a lot too, and it’s the first year here with this new bike so we could have used some more dry time to sort some stuff out, but everyone’s in that same boat. My biggest issue right now is with engine braking unsettling the bike into corners. This morning we were working on that, and it’s a little bit frustrating but we’ll come ready to get our heads down and see if we can sort something in warm-up tomorrow. It feels good to be leading the championship and I’m happy with my run of consistency, so I’m looking for that next win.” Casey Stoner, LCR Honda: 7th.: “I had a small slip just as the rain started and then I had a problem with the front-end set-up on my spare bike, I kept losing it, so I wasn’t confident to push any harder. I was doing good times at the start of the session and making progress with the set-up but the spare had different settings, so I didn’t have a lot luck. I have a very good race set-up on my race bike but we still have to check tyre life for the race distance, that’s a bit of a worry at the moment. But overall I’m really happy with the weekend so far.” Marco Melandri, Fortuna Honda: 8th. “This morning we struggled to find a good feeling on the Shanghai track. we worked a lot on rear suspension in order to improve my feeling with the bike. We spent a lot of time trying to find a solution for that. Then, when the rain started falling we spent a bit of time waiting to see if it would dry out, but 15 minutes from the end of the session we went out on soft tyres. We must work on the suspension as I think that is where the main problem is, we’re not far from a solution and I’m confident for the race. The weight balance is quite good and i hope to make a good start in order to fight for the podium.” Makoto Tamada, Konica Minolta Honda: 11th.”I am really sorry I was not able to completely exploit the qualifying tyres potential to obtain a better position in the starting grid. I’ll have to recover from the forth row trying to catch immediately the group of the leading riders because here I feel I can rely on a good potential. Rain did not permit us to complete the test to choose the race tyres therefore, tomorrow morning we should have to finish this job during the warm up. My RC211V setting instead has already been defined and my feeling even in dry conditions is more than satisfactory.” Toni Elias, Fortuna Honda: 15th. “It was a diffcult day. In the morning we were able to work in the dry, but I didn’t have a good feeling with the rear of the bike. What’s more, it proved hard to find a good set-up that allowed me to feel comfortable although we can work on it in the warm-up tomorrow. It will be a difficult race tomorrow and we must make a good start if we want to be with the lead group.” Kenny Roberts Jnr, KR Honda: 18th. “Not really anything positive came from that session. We are struggling for grip in both the wet and dry. It’s a real mystery to all of us because we were making progress, we wont understand it till we take a good look at the data. We had different tyres at the post race test at Turkey and they turned things around for us but we don’t have those tyres here. Those tyres did help improve the front end grip going into corners. Somewhere in the garage we have the answer but with losing a day to the weather at most races we are struggling to find a really good base to work from here.” 250cc: Shuhei Aoyama, Repsol Honda: 3rd. “Today is the first time I am really satisfied we did a great job the team and me. I’m trying to be more relaxed in my way of riding and not riding like crazy and everything came easier to me. I set my fast time with a race tyre and I have a good set up and I have chosen the race tyres already. I also have a good position on the grid so we should have a good race. I don’t want to say I’m aiming for the podium just to take the maximum number of points out of the race.” Andrea Dovizioso, Humangest Honda: 4th. “I conquered the front row and this is positive, but I’m not completely satisfied about today’s work. Unfortunately, this variable weather conditions didn’t help us, we had to change our test schedule and so we couldn’t go through what we planned. If tomorrow is dry, we are going to do other tests during the morning warm up, while we are okay on wet. Anyway, I have a good pace in both the conditions”. Yuki Takahashi, Humangest Honda: 6th. “Today was important because we run on dry conditions. At the beginning, I didn’t push as I was riding with a new piston. Then, unfortunately, it started raining and we lost time. As soon as I could, I put soft tyres but didn’t take full advantage of them because I wanted to test harder tyres for tomorrow’s race. The results was suddenly positive. For this I’m confident about tomorrow”. Arnaud Vincent, Molenaar Honda: 14th. I had a lot of fun out there today running with Aoyama and West so I’m happy with the bike, even if its moving around under me a bit too much. I’m a little sad also because when you run as fast as I di and know you could go faster – when you are running fast times you always want more.” Martin Cardenas, Wurth Honda BQR: 16th. “Qualifying was good for me I have a good set up an found a good rhythm. I had hoped for a top 15 place on the grid but a few guys passed me in the last couple of minutes. Hopefully I can have a good race. I have confidence in the bike after today. This morning it as understeering but the team have improved that. The engine feels good and I like the track so I think I will have a good race tomorrow.” Arturo Tizon, Wurth Honda BQR: 19th. “We made big changes to the settings to the bike settings for today putting more weight on the front wheel. This gave me more confidence. I have to be more aggressive in qualifying change the system of working with the bike. This morning I found I could run with the fast guys in the class for a few laps it was a good experience.” Sebastian Porto, Repsol Honda: 21st. ” Not too much to say I’m just not comfortable, everything is complicated. We are trying to improve trying all kinds of set up options but nothing seems to work. It’s a hard situation but we will wait and see what happens in the race.” Jordi Carchano, Stop and Go Racing: Carchano will not contest the grand prix due to injury. 125cc: Gabor Talmacsi, Humangest Honda: 5th. “I’m happy about this practice sessions as we have made important step forwards compare to the first three GPs and we have been fast since Friday morning. I think I’m competitive both on dry and wet conditions. If tomorrow is dry, during the warm up we have to do some small changes on the chassis settings, while if it’s rain the bike is almost okay. So I feel confident in both the situations and I think I can do a good race tomorrow”. Thomas Luthi, Elit Honda: 7th. “The second qualifying session was my best of the weekend. For me it was important to follow the riders who have been fast so far this year I needed to make a comparison and I’m happy I can run with them even if I am a little bit down on power in some places. But the bike is good and we make a step forward each race. I have not chosen my tyres yet because we want to try a few small things in the warm up tomorrow. A lot of things could possibly happen in the race but at this moment I think I can run with the leaders tomorrow. Maybe one or two will get away from the group but I’m not so sure about that.” Fabrizio Lai, Seedorf Racing World: 11th. “I’m satisfied because we have made a great job with the set up, now I’m more confident and I made some good lap time. We have still some chassis problems but I think I can make a good race tomorrow. I like this track and last year I was second… but this year the riders level is higher”. Aleix Espargaro, Wurth Honda BQR: 15th. “The start of the session was good but when I came in to try a new tyre the feeling from the front was not good in the fast corner so I went to the box to fit a new tyre but even then the bike was moving about so we have some work to do on the chassis tonight. The engine is very good. If the chassis is OK and I get a good start I an take a lot of points out of this race.” Mike di Meglio, FFM Honda: 16th. “The weather conditions for this afternoon’s qualifying session were better than yesterday and I improved my time by two-seconds, the same as pole time for the 2005 race. Since the beginning of the season we have improved slower than the other teams but my technical staff have changed the way of working and this seems more efficient so we have improved the settings of the chassis and engine. I am quite confident for the race.” Sandro Cortese, Elit Honda: 18th. “In the first part of qualifying it was not so good. I clashed with Koyama and had to go into the box and lost two laps. When I went out again I tried to hard and ran onto the grass at the double let corner. My second time out I was OK but not perfect. If I get a good start I will be OK because the bike is very good engine and chassis. I have already chosen my tyres for the race so I ma happy.” Michele Conti, Seedorf Racing World: 23rd “I’m pleased with the work we are doing and I’m finally becoming a World Championship rider. I hope the rain will not prevent this improvement. Today my Honda was very fast and I could be faster than yesterday. With another session I would have tried to improve my time but we have at disposal only the warm up and then the race! I hope to do a good race like the turkish one”¦but with some points!”. Lorenzo Baroni, Humangest Honda: 28th. “Still we didn’t sort out the problems on the front-end of my bike and in the fast corners I have to close the throttle earlier, while the others can take it open. This morning, though, I could ride better on the damp asphalt, but in the afternoon on the dry the lap times in general improved and I struggled more. It will be very important to make a good start tomorrow”. Bradley Smith, Repsol Honda: 30th. “Today didn’t go so well. We put an H tyre in for qualifying which was really good but it was unstable in the rear so every time I got on the gas it flicked me off the seat. I never actually felt confident at all. I pushed on the last lap and it was going quite well but the tyre just kept on letting loose I just couldn’t turn in the fast corners and lost so much time. It’s my worst qualifying position so far, it’s nothing to be happy about maybe. This will give finally give me something to concentrate on in the race and try to get a good start. I’ll actually crack on in the first laps. I’m looking forward to it, even though I’m so far back I’ll try to make a good start and see what happens.” Joey Litjens, Molenaar Honda: 34h. “I’m happy it’s a relief after yesterday when I lost almost one complete session to a brake problem. The bike is really good the engine works well and the set up is almost perfect. In the second qualifying session I was faster with each lap and set my best lap time riding alone so I am very pleased with that. I know the front tyre I want to race with but I’m not sure about the rear till after the warm up. This is the first time I have been able to qualify with the group and I am really looking forward to the race tomorrow.” More, from a press release issued by Suzuki Racing: Fantastic front-row start for Hopkins and Rizla Suzuki MotoGP John Hopkins roared to a fantastic second place during today’s qualifying session for the Polini Grand Prix of China to give Rizla Suzuki MotoGP its second front row start in consecutive races. The uncompromising riding style of Hopkins was demonstrated as he went out for his final lap, trying so hard that he even managed to touch his elbow on the track as he searched for that extra time to put him at the front of the grid. Hopkins and his team had worked successfully all day to find the correct combination of Bridgestone tyres and bike set-up in today’s dry conditions. He improved on his times consistently in both sessions and was never outside the top 10. A stunningly quick pit stop by his crew right at the end of qualifying enabled him the extra time he needed to complete his final and fastest lap with only seconds to spare. Chris Vermeulen will start on the fourth row of the grid in 12th place. He used today’s two sessions to their full extent to get in valuable dry track time on the Shanghai circuit. He too consistently brought down his times and is looking forward to tomorrow’s race. Today’s pole position was taken by reigning 250cc World Champion Dani Pedrosa. Tomorrow’s 22-lap race is round four of the 2006 MotoGP World Championship and the lights will change to go at 15.00hrs local time (07.00hrs GMT). John Hopkins: “I can’t complain at that! I was a bit upset afterwards as I thought I was going to get the pole position that I want. I’ve been on the front row a few times now but never pole! After the session we think we have found a tyre that is going to work pretty good for us tomorrow. The bike worked well today in the dry, but at the moment I would have to say that it will be a bit easier for us if it is wet. I owe my best lap to my crew, because an 18 second pit-stop to change a tyre is pretty amazing. They did a great job and it was because of them that I got the lap. I now just want to get the best start possible and run at the front and see where we go from there.” Chris Vermeulen: “Today was my first dry time on the track and it was very different from in the wet. Everything was coming up a lot quicker and I had to find my way around and learn the track all over again. The guys are working really hard and we’ve made a lot of changes to the bike this afternoon – they all seemed to work pretty well. At the end I made a little mistake in the last part of my fastest lap and I know I would have been better placed if that hadn’t have happened. Everything seems to be going well. Congratulations must go to John as he did a really fast time and that has got to be good for all of the team.” Paul Denning Team Manager: “Another stunning qualifying effort by the whole team, this time we are delighted to see John on the front row the first time since Motegi last year. I don’t think he could have got a lot more out the GSV-R on that quick lap and all you can ask is for the riders to go to the limit, and John certainly did that today. “Chris looked set for a better position but a small mistake in the final sector cost him valuable time. However it was still a great effort because this morning was the first time he had ridden around this track in the dry. “If it’s raining tomorrow I think both riders will be fully competitive, but if it’s dry then there is no question that it will be a bit harder for us, based on the fact that we still need that bit more grunt to maintain our lap time when tyre grip is reduced over a race distance. Suzuki has worked extremely hard recently and continues to do so – and the team and riders have done everything they can to make sure that we run as close to the front as possible.”