Copyright 2003, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

MotoGP
Friday Qualifying
October 10
Sepang, Malaysia

1. Valentina Rossi, Honda, 2:03.516
2. Makoto Tamada, Honda, 2:03.730
3. Max Biaggi, Honda, 2:04.142
4. Loris Capirossi, Ducati, 2:04.161
5. Tohru Ukawa, Honda, 2:04.321
6. Sete Gibernau, Honda, 2:04.581
7. Nicky Hayden, Honda, 2:04.593
8. Carlos Checa, Yamaha, 2:04.825
9. Kenny Roberts, Suzuki, 2:04.837
10. Shinya Nakano, Yamaha, 2:04.912
11. Troy Bayliss, Ducati, 2:05.236
12. Alex Barros, Yamaha, 2:05.595
13. Noriyuki Haga, Aprilia, 2:05.652
14. Marco Melandri, Yamaha, 2:05.807
15. Colin Edwards, Aprilia, 2:06.088
16. Jeremy McWilliams, Proton, 2:06.726
17. Akira Ryo, Suzuki, 2:06.856
18. Olivier Jacque, Yamaha, 2:07.081
19. Andrew Pitt, Kawasaki, 2:07.577
20. Nobuatsu Aoki, Proton, 2:07.654
21. Garry McCoy, Kawasaki, 2:07.681
22. David De Gea, Harris WCM, 2:08.956
23. Ryuichi Kiyonari, Honda, 2:09.239
24. Chris Burns, Harris WCM, 2:09.768

More, from a press release issued by Fuchs Kawasaki:

MOTOGP WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP 2003
ROUND 14 – MARLBORO MALAYSIAN GRAND PRIX
10TH OCTOBER 2003 – QUALIFYING PRACTICE 1

STRANGE DAY AT SEPANG FOR FUCHS KAWASAKI RIDERS

Both Fuchs Kawasaki riders Garry McCoy and Andrew Pitt completed today’s oppressively hot first qualifying session baffled by their inability to post faster lap times.

The surprise for both riders came in the final minutes of qualifying when they bolted soft compound qualifying tyres on their Ninja ZX-RR machines in anticipation of a significant drop in lap times.

With track temperatures soaring past 46 degrees neither rider could improve, and both Pitt and McCoy struggled to hide their disappointment after pushing to the limit in a bid for better positions on the provisional grid.

Earlier both riders had lost valuable track time with mechanical problems in morning free practice. An electrical gremlin interrupted Pitt’s progress, while an engine problem stopped one of McCoy’s Ninja ZX-RR race bikes just as he began his opening lap on slick tyres, as the track began to dry after morning rain.

Pitt and McCoy know they are capable of faster times here, as indicated by preseason test sessions, and in McCoy’s case third place podium results in the MotoGP races of 2000 and 2001. Both riders are hopeful of having the opportunity to produce their best in final qualifying tomorrow.

Andrew Pitt – 19th – 2:07.577
“I did some runs on race tyres then came in for the qualifying rubber and was expecting to go much faster. I did a conservative out lap and then nearly crashed twice in the first two corners; I thought there might have been oil on tyre as the bike just felt like it was going to crash. Apart from that I worked through our four front tyre options and seem to have found a suitable choice for the race; we just need to work a little on the set-up and get a bit more weight over the front.”

Garry McCoy – 21st – 2:07.681
“In terms of qualifying that was a disastrous day. I did what was my best lap on a soft race tyre and came in for a qualifier but I just couldn’t get it to hook-up. I nearly high-sided four times; it was a wasted opportunity. I also had some chatter on some tyre runs, so maybe we’ve got to work on set-up to dial that out and just stick with a tyre that has some grip. I’ve been a lot faster here; there’s always tomorrow I guess.”

Harald Eckl – Team Manager
“This was a strange day because both riders pushed very hard and did some good laps on race tyres, but it seems we had the wrong choice of qualifiers; neither of them could get the extra performance that we expect late in the session on soft tyres. And it didn’t help for our race preparation when Garry’s bike lost a motor in the morning session and one of Andrew’s bikes had electrical problems. We have a lot of work to do for the race on Sunday.”



More, from a press release issued by Ducati Corse:

Marlboro Malaysian Grand Prix, Sepang
First Qualifying
Friday, October 10 2003

DUCATI MARLBORO TEAM ON PROVISIONAL FRONT ROW
Ducati Marlboro Team rider Loris Capirossi got his Marlboro Malaysian GP weekend off to a great start at steaming-hot Sepang this afternoon, putting his Desmosedici on the provisional front row of the grid. Team-mate Troy Bayliss, who’s never before raced here, was getting up to speed and ended the day on the third row.

“I’m pleased because we did our fastest lap of the day on race tyres, not qualifiers,” said Ducati Marlboro Team technical director Corrado Cecchinelli. “The bike is quite different from when we tested here in January – with a different frame, better cooling for the riders and other things – but we started today with the same set-up we used during those tests. Loris’ main concern now is to increase traction on the gas without affecting front-end feel. We know how to get more traction, but to obtain that without losing front-end feel is a compromise which we have to make with some careful adjustments to the chassis balance. Troy is a bit further away from his perfect set-up. With him we’re considering some changes to geometry, because he wants the bike to be lighter steering, and also to gearbox ratios.”

Because red-hot Sepang is MotoGP’s most gruelling test for engines – with today’s ambient temperature hitting 35 degrees – the Ducati Marlboro Team’s partnership with Shell Advance pays big dividends here, the company’s lubricants combining remarkable reliability with a useful power boost.

CAPIROSSI ON FRONT ROW WITHOUT QUALIFYING TYRE
Loris Capirossi ended this afternoon’s opening qualifying session in fourth spot, just 0.645 seconds off provisional pole, even though he didn’t use a qualifying tyre for a ‘hot’ lap at the end of the hour-long outing. The Ducati Marlboro Team man is therefore confident that he can up the pace for tomorrow’s final session.

“The track was wet for much of this morning, so we couldn’t try some of the settings we wanted to try,” said Capirossi. “Anyway, we made a few changes for this afternoon but we still lack some traction coming out of the corners. This track is very slippery in the heat, so we need to work at solving that problem for tomorrow and Sunday. But I’m happy with my lap times so far and I’m very confident that we can work to go faster tomorrow, when we will also be able to use my qualifying tyres to get some good qualifying laps.”

BAYLISS ON ROW THREE AFTER MINOR SPILL
Ducati Marlboro Team rider Troy Bayliss today began preparations for his Sepang race debut, ending this morning’s mostly damp ‘free’ practice session in 15th spot, before moving up to 11th position in this afternoon’s opening qualifier. The Australian ran well in his second outing of the day despite a minor turn-one spill in the early stages of the session.

“It was wet most of this morning, so we lost most of the session,” said Bayliss. “Then we were struggling a little with front grip at the start of the afternoon and I basically fell off. I’m still a second off what I did here during testing but I normally take a while to really get going and I’ve really only had an hour’s riding today, so things aren’t going so bad and I’m sure they’ll get better. We’ll make some changes to a few chassis settings tonight, but we’ve not yet decided exactly what we’re going to change. I need a longer chat with my guys to decide that.”


More, from a press release issued by Pramac Honda:

Sepang – (Malaysia)
Round 14 – 10/11/12 October 2003
Friday – qualifying sessions

Tamada determined at Sepang: second-best time and provisional front row.

Makoto Tamada has got off to a flying start: not liking the look of the clouds on the horizon and fearing rain tomorrow, he aimed to set a fast time in the first day of practice. A day that was by no means easy in terms of choice of tyres. The temperature excursion on the tarmac from the free practice in the morning (31° Celsius) to the official sessions in the afternoon (56°) cannot be underestimated: a range of no less than 25 degrees (77° Fahrenheit) . At the end of the session, Tamada chose a normal race tyre for the front and a soft (race) tyre – the softest in the range chosen for Sepang – for the rear.

Gradually and doggedly picking up speed, in the end he made the second quickest time for the provisional pole. Now the definitive race configuration needs to be decided (no easy task in the opinion of the rider) and the final adjustments need to be made to the general settings.

The two test sessions in the winter months of January and February certainly helped Tamada get a good feeling for the track, even though he now has far more advanced tyres and a more tailor-made setup on his RC211V. It is now “made to measure” for his riding style, taking into consideration all the requirements that have emerged during the season.

MAKOTO TAMADA (PRAMAC HONDA TEAM): 2nd – 2:03.730
“I don’t know if everyone was pushing as hard as they could have done, but if the weather does change I’ve already secured a good place for Sunday’s starting grid. I used a soft rear tyre that gave the results we were hoping for, though the rear race tyre wasn’t absolutely perfect. The track’s slippery and we’ve got to find a better solution for the race, and one that will last for 21 laps. So we’ve still got plenty of work to do. After selecting the tyres, we’ll get the settings right. But this is just the first day, and I haven’t done all that much yet. We’ll carry on working even harder tomorrow.”


More, from a press release issued by Fortuna Yamaha:

EXCEPTIONAL PACE SET IN MALAYSIA GP FIRST QUALIFYING

An electrifying pace was set in today’s first qualifying session of the Malaysian Grand Prix and it was an incident-filled day for Fortuna Yamaha riders Carlos Checa and Marco Melandri. Track temperatures as high as 46 degrees C and a slick surface claimed a fair share of fall victims today including both Melandri and team-mate Checa. The former highsided his factory YZR-M1 in the opening stages of this afternoon’s session, which caught on fire as it lay in the gravel trap. Spaniard Checa also took a tumble but with just fifteen minutes of qualifying time left. Despite their setbacks both riders returned to the fray to post some respectable times and eventually finished with eighth and 14th place respectively.

After producing the third fastest time this afternoon Checa looked set for a front row performance. The Fortuna Yamaha rider improved further still in the closing stages with a time of 2:04.825, before lowsiding his M1 entering the tight right-hand turn one. Unable to continue with the damaged machine Checa was forced back to the pits to mount his number two bike, but lacked the time to defend his provisional front row start. The 30-year-old currently sits eighth on the grid after the qualifying tyre reshuffle.

“It’s a shame that I fell off towards the end of the session because I was going really well,” said the regretful Checa. “It was my own fault. We lost a lot of time this morning because of the rain and we only had about 20 minutes of real testing but I had a good rhythm in those 20 minutes. We have been using my basic set-up from Motegi but have made some small alterations. I’m so annoyed with myself for falling because I knew that my second bike wasn’t totally ready in the same set-up, and it just didn’t feel as good as my first bike. I’m confident that I can find a good rhythm for tomorrow and should improve my time by quite a lot.”

Marco Melandri’s first qualifying session began with an unexpected off track excursion, which put the 21-year-old’s preferred machine out of action. This left the 250cc World Champion with only one bike for the remainder of the hour-long session, limiting the amount he could achieve in such a short time. As a result Melandri completed only 15 laps this afternoon, finishing with the 14th quickest time of 2:05.807.

“I lost the rear of the bike and highsided on turn seven,” said Melandri, who fell off his M1 in the opening part of this afternoon’s session. “It was very strange because it seemed like the rear was just going to slide out a bit and then I could carry on, which also happened in this morning’s practice. But I lost it a bit, and then completely. Anyway I took my second bike out, but it didn’t have the same feeling, I don’t know why. I also nearly fell off again on the last corner as Jacque came very close, which was quite scary. This morning everything felt okay with our Motegi base set-up. We made some modifications since then but lost time this afternoon. I think we can improve tomorrow.”

Team Director Davide Brivio said, “Both riders started this morning in the wet with their Motegi set-ups. As the track dried out we found that this set-up works well here too, so first impressions for the weekend are good. Then this afternoon unfortunately both riders had falls, which slowed things down and reduced their track time. They were both forced to use their second bikes and neither felt as comfortable as they had on their number one bikes. We couldn’t use all our potential this afternoon, but we’re okay, we just need to finish the final set-up adjustments tomorrow and try for better times.”

Defending MotoGP World Champion Valentino Rossi (Honda) set the benchmark early with a time of 2:03.516, with rookie Makoto Tamada (Honda, 2:03.730) the only rider able to challenge the Italian. Maxi Biaggi (Honda, 2:04.142) and Loris Capirossi (Ducati, 2:04.161) completed the front row.

PROVISIONAL FRONT ROW
1. Valentino Rossi (ITA) Repsol HONDA 2:03.516

2. Makoto Tamada (JPN) Pramac HONDA 2:03.730

3. Max Biaggi (ITA) Camel Pramac Pons HONDA 2:04.142

4. Loris Capirossi (ITA) DUCATI Marlboro Team 2:04.161

8. CARLOS CHECA (SPA) Fortuna YAMAHA Team 2:04.825

14. MARCO MELANDRI (ITA) Fortuna YAMAHA Team 2:05.807



More, from a press release issued by Team Suzuki News Service:

ROBERTS LEADS DEPLETED SUZUKI SQUAD

Team Suzuki rider Kenny Roberts Jr. set ninth-fastest time in today’s first qualifying session for Sunday’s Malaysian GP, heading the third row of the provisional grid on a machine incorporating the latest improvements that arrived in time for last weekend’s Pacific GP in Japan.

Wild card rider Akira Ryo was 17th fastest, as he came to grips with the Sepang circuit south of the capital Kuala Lumpur, and confident of improving both his time and position tomorrow, after finishing in the top ten of the Pacific race last week.

Roberts is riding the stock machine, incorporating mainly engine developments; Ryo is again on the experimental development machine, with a number of variations to chassis, suspension and engine, the outward evidence of which is an exhaust tail pipe on the left rather than the right of the machine.

But the second regular rider, Anglo-American racer John Hopkins, was absent from the track. Controversially disqualified from this race after a first-corner incident in the Pacific GP at Motegi, Hopkins has already left for Australia to prepare for the GP there next weekend. His bike, bearing the number 21, was parked idle in the pits, a testimony to the support he has received from other riders and teams in the wake of the decision to rule him out of this race.

Roberts’s lap time today represented an improvement on last year of better than a full second. Now he will concentrate on making sure that the times can be achieved consistently, to underline the improvement in the machine. Prior to the latest round of upgrades, this has not always been so easy to achieve. Last year, Roberts finished eighth at Sepang.

Roberts is twice a winner at Sepang. Ryo is starting from further back, having only ridden here once before, as a wild card in last year’s race.

Today’s practice took place in blazing sunshine, high humidity, and 34 degree temperatures, with the track at 46 degrees. After unsettled weather earlier in the week, Sepang’s traditionally punishing heat had returned with a vengeance. There is one more day of qualifying with one hour-long timed session, before Sunday’s race.

KENNY ROBERTS Jr. – Ninth Position, 2:04.837
Everything’s unchanged here as far, with nothing new or different from the last race, and we’ve been going along as usual. We stayed with the same set-up throughout practice, again the same as in Japan, though we did try some tyres. I’d like to go quicker than last year for the race. I was doing 2:06s in the race, and we’ve found it difficult to match our race pace at some tracks.

AKIRA RYO – 17th Position, 2:06.856
My bike is the same as at Motegi, and this is my second time at the track, after racing here last year. I haven’t tested here, but it is not such a difficult circuit. It was going okay at the beginning of the session, then we were struggling to find the right rear suspension settings, for the overall balance. I wanted to try with a qualifying tyre, but we ran into a problem and there was no time to switch to the other machine. But we have some good ideas to try tomorrow, and still have two qualifying tyres … so I am looking forward to it, and confident I can improve.

GARRY TAYLOR – Team Manager
John left Malaysia yesterday, and we are operating with our numbers depleted. It’s nice to see Kenny achieving a good top ten position, and that Ryo-San is optimistic for tomorrow. We’ll take it on from there.



More, from a press release issued by Team Proton KR:

HOME-RACE PROTON KR RIDERS RIDE SEPANG HEAT WAVE

Round 14: Malaysian GP, Sepang First Qualifying: Friday, October 10, 2003

Jeremy McWilliams: 16th, 2:06.726
Nobuatsu Aoki: 20th, 2:07.681

Team Proton KR riders Jeremy McWilliams and Nobuatsu Aoki braved searing conditions in today’s first qualifying session for Sunday’s Malaysian GP, getting to grips with the latest round of machine improvements that have arrived in the week since the Pacific GP at Motegi, where the radical new V5 four-stroke scored its first point.

The Malaysian GP, home race for the Proton Cars, major backers of the England-based project, will be the eighth race for the bike, which only ran at a race track seven months ago, after the season had begun.

The latest upgrades include a new and longer megaphone exhaust pipe, that improves power, most especially at the top of the rev range; and a new fairing, to improve aerodynamic penetration in the interest of a higher top speed.

McWilliams set the Proton pace today, moving up the order towards the end of the session to end up knocking on the door of the top 15 – the first 15 places pay World Championship points. Aoki was thwarted on his fast lap on softer-compound tyres by a high-speed traffic incident, and remained in 20th place.

The real enemy was the heat, with 45 percent humidity, 34-degree temperatures, and the track surface at a searing 46 degrees. The improvement in the machine’s reliability since the first races was clear. Each rider has two machines, and all four ran without trouble for the two hours of practice today.

There is one more day of practice and qualifying before Sunday’s race.

JEREMY McWILLIAMS
We honestly can’t do much better. If I can find another half a second, I’ll be delighted. I don’t know what we’ll do. Today we tried every combination we have of all the new parts, and we ended up in a similar position to our usual. My best time came with the old fairing, because that was on the bike with a little more grip, so I tended to favour that. The other bike has a stronger engine, so I hope we can marry up that engine with the other set-up. It was hard to tell any difference with the new fairing because of the different chassis set-up. The biggest problem today was how much everything was spinning up. It’s going to be a difficult race.

NOBUATSU AOKI
It seems quite tough … it’s not only the heat. I knew we were lacking top speed, but it seems more than I expected. I lost time when I had a softer tyre for a fast lap, because I was following Melandri and Barros when Olivier Jacque passed me going like hell down the back straight. Then he couldn’t stop, and he almost hit Melandri and Barros. That spoiled my lap. I have a fresh engine for one of my bikes tomorrow. The megaphone exhaust also seems to be working very well, with more push in the middle of the rev range, so that is pretty good. But it’s still really tough.

CHUCK AKSLAND – Team Manager
The new exhaust with extra length has boosted the power at the top and a bit in the middle, and also lets the engine rev on a bit. It’s working better, and it’s good to bring another part to the track that is another clear step. With the heat, this is one of the most difficult tracks. It’s pretty impressive what Jeremy did – a good achievement. Nobu’s position is typical for him – he’s working up the pace, and come Sunday he’ll be at his best. The temperature is a concern, and we’re taking a look at what we can do. Barcelona was pretty hot too, but if we can keep it in that range it should be okay. It would be nice to keep it cooler.


More, from a press release issued by Harris WCM:

MALAYSIAN GRAND PRIX
First Qualifying
Friday 10th October 2003

DAVID DE GEA: 22nd 2:08.956
“I am working on improving my settings and selecting the right tyres for the race. We have a bit of work to do on tyre selection as I was sliding a lot this afternoon. Also we have a few chatter problems to fix on the bike. Otherwise, it was okay today. I quite like this track, and hope to improve tomorrow.”

CHRIS BURNS: 24th 2:09.768
“It’s my first time here and we had basically a problem free day. My first problem free day for a while actually. The bike seems to be all right and I’m handling the heat quite well. We could do with some more grip from the tyres and tomorrow I am sure to find some parts on the track to make up some time.

“I’m getting a good feel for the circuit, learning my way through the blind corners.”


PETER CLIFFORD ­ (Team Manager)
“We always want better and are looking forward to improving tomorrow. It’s a long lap here, a lot for the guys to learn and they are coming to grips with it.”


More, from a press release issued by Alice Aprilia Racing Information:

MALAYSIA GP/1ST QUALIFYING SESSION

POSITIVE START
A lot of work and interesting data to study for the Alice Aprilia Racing Team on the Malaysian track for the first qualifying session with 50° on the Sepang surface. The team and the riders, who lost the free session because of the damp track, concentrated on the set up of the RS Cube in order to be competitive for the race. Good results for the moment.

COLIN EDWARDS: “Considering that it’s my first time ever on this track I feel satisfied. We also lost this morning free session because of the damp track. I studied this track with the Playstation and watched some videos of the last years. Today I did not use the qualifying tyres as I have to find the right set up first”.

NORIYUKI HAGA: “Today I made a good work finding interesting solutions in order to solve my chattering problems. We are working hard to improve the suspensions and the traction because they play an important role here. I used the qualifying tyre as I do not know how the weather can be tomorrow”.

GIGI DALL’IGNA (Project Leader): “It’s a pity as this morning in the free session we were not able to get any interesting regulation because of the damp track. Anyway Colin never saw this track before and he needs to get the right feeling. Tomorrow we could test new material for the chassis but the main objective is the right balance that allows our riders to achieve a top position in the grid”


More, from a press release issued by Camel Pramac Pons Honda:

Max Biaggi and Tohru Ukawa on the pace in Sepang

The first day of qualification for the Malaysian Grand Prix, the fourteenth race of the season, lived up to expectations as the two Camel Pramac Pons riders were on the pace right from the start. Max Biaggi, who was victorious last year at a Sepang Circuit which seems to suit his riding style, posted the third fastest time of the day and showed that the excellent run of recent form, which culminated with victory in Motegi last week, has not yet come to an end. Tohru Ukawa, meanwhile, was fifth fastest for the day at a circuit which he also likes and he is hoping to come away from the weekend’s action with a positive result.

3rd Max Biaggi
“I am quite happy with this first day of practice. The track was a little damp in the morning session, but had dried completely for the afternoon’s action. We focussed our work on the bike set-up, which is different from the set-up we were using here in winter because we now use a different configuration for the bike’s chassis and engine. I think we can make further improvements tomorrow as we are working in the right direction, but we must improve the traction and also the engine management system. I love this circuit and it suits my riding technique”.

Santi Mulero (Chief Engineer Max Biaggi)
“We are trying to find the ideal settings for the bike in the areas of suspension, geometries and electronics so that we can get the maximum performance out of the material we have at our disposal because the references we took from winter testing here are of little use because we are now using a different chassis and engine”.

5th Tohru Ukawa
“It has been a good day today and for a first practice day I am quite satisfied. The track does not have too much grip and is slippery because of all the dust on the surface. This winter we trained here in January and February and now I have a good feeling with the bike. I like this circuit although the high temperatures can cause problems. The heat affects the performance of the engine and we must also work hard to find the right tyre that adapts well to the conditions. I have recovered from the crash in Motegi although I am still a little sore”.

Ramon Forcada (Chief Engineer Tohru Ukawa)
“We have worked a lot on the rear suspension, because it is where we normally have problems with the rear wheel spinning, and also on the front end for braking. Tohru’s quickest lap was done on a normal tyre, not on a specially prepared qualification compound”.