FIM MotoGP World Championship Shanghai, China May 3, 2008 Final Qualifying Results: 1. Colin EDWARDS (Yam YZR-M1), Michelin, 1:58.139 2. Valentino ROSSI (Yam YZR-M1), Bridgestone, 1:58.494 3. Casey STONER (Duc GP08), Bridgestone, 1:58.591 4. Jorge LORENZO (Yam YZR-M1), Michelin, 1:58.711 5. Dani PEDROSA (Hon RC212V), Michelin, 1:58.855 6. Loris CAPIROSSI (Suz GSV-R), Bridgestone, 1:58.941 7. James TOSELAND (Yam YZR-M1), Michelin, 1:59.254 8. Chris VERMEULEN (Suz GSV-R), Bridgestone, 1:59.325 9. Randy DE PUNIET (Hon RC212V), Michelin, 1:59.357, crash 10. Nicky HAYDEN (Hon RC212V), Michelin, 1:59.507, crash 11. Andrea DOVIZIOSO (Hon RC212V), Michelin, 1:59.559, crash 12. Marco MELANDRI (Duc GP08), Bridgestone, 1:59.678 13. Shinya NAKANO (Hon RC212V), Bridgestone, 1:59.716, crash 14. John HOPKINS (Kaw ZX-RR), Bridgestone, 1:59.740, crash 15. Toni ELIAS (Duc GP08), Bridgestone, 1:59.933 16. Alex DE ANGELIS (Hon RC212V), Bridgestone, 2:00.316 17. Sylvain GUINTOLI (Duc GP08), Bridgestone, 2:00.760 18. Anthony WEST (Kaw ZX-RR), Bridgestone, 2:00.838 More, from a press release issued by JiR Team Scot Honda: Andrea Dovizioso’s main target for tomorrow: consistency in the race Today’s high temperatures during the qualifying session for tomorrow’s Chinese Grand Prix affected grip on the Tarmac of the Shanghai track affecting the starting position of JiR Team Scot’s Andrea Dovizioso. The conditions made it important to understand the setting of the bike and the choice of tyres for the race. The pace that Andrea has in race configuration seems to be very good and that will be the key target for the race tomorrow. The team and rider will be working hard to better their qualifying position in the race. The start will be vital to the overall result, but Andrea and the entire JiR Team Scot squad will always be attacking to get the result they deserve. Cirano Mularoni Team Manager, JiR Team Scot “What we did in qualifying doesn’t show our potential and obviously Andrea in the first part of the race tomorrow needs to be concentrating hard and needs to make some efficient overtakes, but I’m very positive and I do believe that Andrea can be part of the race up front as we have solved some things with the bike that we needed to improve. The team is giving the maximum to provide Andrea with the direction to achieve a very positive result.” Andrea Dovizioso Rider, JiR Team Scot MotoGP HONDA RC212V Best time: 11th – 1′ 59.599″ “I do have to work hard tomorrow, but I think that my pace in the race has very high potential. There are lots of riders who I feel are on similar lap times, so there’s a group of us who can put on a good show. The crash at the start of the session didn’t hurt me at all as it was very low speed. We were at a high angle of lean and the front-end of the bike simply washed away. The only thing that the crash affected was a loss of time which was important to us. The grip of the Tarmac is quite high and this makes the lap-times higher with racing tyres. On the other hand my pace is pretty consistent, which is positive. The start will be very important I’m in an area of the grid, which isn’t the best, but also the first corner isn’t one where you can brake late and take many positions: instead it’s a long corner so it’s difficult to do that. This is why my key target is a good rhythm in the race and to use to the maximum the good job the team has done on race set up over the last two days. We all realise that we have to do better in qualifying in the future.” Gianni Berti Technical Co-ordinator, JiR Team Scot “We have done a lot of work in terms of tyre choice either in race configuration or qualifying fit. I do think that Andrea can be competitive and be up there with the other riders. Ground temperature was at the maximum so far for the two days with 46 degrees and this is one of the facts that restricted us today. The crash changed a little the programme for the session, so we still have some small choices to make in warm-up tomorrow.” More, from a press release issued by Bridgestone: Shanghai front row for Rossi and Stoner Round 4: China Qualifying Shanghai International Circuit, Saturday 3 May 2008 Fiat Yamaha’s Valentino Rossi and Ducati Corse’s Casey Stoner used Bridgestone’s latest generation rear qualifying tyres to score competitive front row results in this afternoon’s qualifying practice at the Shanghai International Circuit. Tech 3 Yamaha rider Colin Edwards took pole position. Rossi will start tomorrow’s Chinese Grand Prix from second on the grid, his second consecutive front row using Bridgestone qualifying tyres, while Stoner enjoys his debut front row of the season in third place. The Rizla Suzuki MotoGP riders were both also on good form this afternoon with Loris Capirossi and Chris Vermeulen in sixth and eighth positions respectively, their best qualifying showing of the season so far. It is the first time this season that two Bridgestone riders frequent the front row of the grid and, with three teams inside the top six, the results mark a notable improvement in qualifying performance, with a reduced gap to the pole position time. Tyre Talk with Tohru Ubukata – Bridgestone Motorsport Manager, Motorcycle Race Tyre Development Bridgestone has two riders on the front row, you must be pleased with the results? “Yes, I am quite happy with the results of this afternoon’s qualifying session. We brought new rear construction qualifying tyres for this race, based on encouraging performances in recent post-race tests, and we were able to see some good improvements compared to qualifying in the first three races of the season. Although we were not able to get pole, we have reduced the gap and have three riders in the top six, which is encouraging.” Is there more work to be done with this latest spec qualifier? “The new qualifying tyre has given us valuable data with which to make further developments with all teams for the future. The gap to pole is still several tenths of a second, but we are making progress. Our best qualifying time at this track last season was 1m59.315 and we were able to significantly improve on this. Not all our teams were able to make big improvements in qualifying, so we will carefully look at the reasons for this, but in race trim I think we can be satisfied with all team performances so far this weekend.” And race tyres? “We finished our slick race tyre evaluation this afternoon and the performance also seems competitive. The overall grip level from our latest compounds has been good, and the durability and consistency appears to be in line with our targets. For dry conditions, I believe we are ready to race, but the forecast is for a wet race day.” How would rain affect preparations? “The important thing if we have rain tomorrow would be to have a wet warm-up session to give the teams an opportunity to set up the bikes for the wet conditions. We have several wet weather options available to our teams. Based on standing water levels and track temperatures we would have a good indication of the preferred wet specification to use, but we would benefit from having some wet track time to find the optimum balance between the tyre and the machine prior to the race.” Bridgestone-shod Riders’ Qualifying Session Results Pos. Rider Team Qualifying Time (pos) Gap to Pole P2 Valentino Rossi Fiat Yamaha Team 1m58.494s +0.355s P3 Casey Stoner Ducati Corse 1m58.591s +0.452s P6 Loris Capirossi Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 1m58.941s +0.802s P8 Chris Vermeulen Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 1m59.325s +1.186s P12 Marco Melandri Ducati Corse 1m59.678s +1.539s P13 Shinya Nakano San Carlo Honda Gresini 1m59.716s +1.577s P14 John Hopkins Kawasaki Racing Team 1m59.740s +1.601s P15 Toni Elias Alice Team 1m59.933s +1.794s P16 Alex de Angelis San Carlo Honda Gresini 2m00.316s +2.177s P17 Sylvain Guintoli Alice Team 2m00.760s +2.621s P18 Anthony West Kawasaki Racing Team 2m00.838s +2.699s Weather: Dry Air 30°C, Track 47°C (Bridgestone measurement) More, from a press release issued by Rizla Suzuki: Rizla Suzuki MotoGP racers Loris Capirossi and Chris Vermeulen secured their best grid positions of the season so far during qualifying for tomorrow’s Chinese Grand Prix at Shanghai. Capirossi will start from the second row of the grid in sixth place, as the experienced Italian narrowly missed out on his first front row start for Suzuki. His best time of 1’58.941 was only 0.350 seconds away from the third fastest time, set by World Champion Casey Stoner, and but for a small mistake on his final lap Capirossi may well have been on the front row. Vermeulen produced a fine display in qualifying, both on Bridgestone race tyres in the early part of the session and on the qualifiers in the closing stages. Suzuki’s Australian rider was inside the top five on race rubber and the hard work that his crew have put in over the past two days certainly begin to show dividends. He will start from the middle of the third row, after qualifying in eighth place with a time of 1’59.325. Today’s qualifying was held in bright and sunny conditions with track temperatures again over 50ºC. Pole position went to Colin Edwards on his Tech3 Yamaha. Tomorrow’s 22-lap race gets underway at 15.00hrs local time (07.00hrs GMT) when both Rizla Suzuki racers will be looking to capitalise on their good grid positions and race to their best results of 2008 so far – but, with rain forecast at the 5,281m circuit, both riders will need to be ready for any conditions. Loris Capirossi: “I am quite happy today because this is the first time that we have had a good qualifying. We have worked hard to get the bike’s settings right and it is now working well on race tyres. We still have a couple of options for which tyres to use tomorrow and we will decide on that in the morning. The qualifying and race tyres worked well and we have a good rhythm with the race package, and it will be good to start nearer the front. We will see what happens tomorrow as the forecast says rain which will be awful after all the hard work we have put in. Our target remains the same, which is to win races and get podiums, I know that will be hard here, but we will certainly be pushing for it!” Chris Vermeulen: “Things have been a lot better today. The tests after the last few events have really paid off and Bridgestone has helped out and brought us some new rubber that is a lot more competitive so I am really thankful to them for that. My crew have worked really hard this week and we have had to overcome some major issues in some of the sessions – the guys have worked their hearts out! It has definitely paid off as we were consistently inside the top-five during the qualifying session on race tyres, and on the qualifiers it is a lot better to be right up there. It will still be hard work from the third row, but Suzuki had a good result here last year and we know we can be competitive. I’m looking forward to the race and I’ll certainly be giving it my best!” Paul Denning Team Manager: “It’s been a decent weekend’s work here in Shanghai and today’s qualifying is our best of the season so far. The Bridgestone tyres have worked better in qualifying than they have elsewhere, so at least the guys can see the lights and that will give them a better chance of getting into the front running pace early on. It’s no secret that Chris has sometimes struggled to get to his full potential in qualifying and we were all pleased that today he pushed as hard as possible – a few hundredths of a second certainly makes a difference to your grid position. “It looked like we were going to have our first front row start of the year with Loris, but when you are pushing that hard sometimes mistakes happen. He nearly crashed on his last lap, but he kept it upright and was still able to bring the GSV-R home for a second row start. “Whatever the conditions tomorrow, we are looking forward to a good race; we know our guys will be giving their maximum effort.” More, from a press release issued by Kawasaki Racing Team: SURPRISES IN STORE AT SHANGHAI? Tomorrow’s Grand Prix of China will see Kawasaki Ninja ZX-RR riders, John Hopkins and Anthony West, starting from 14th and 18th positions, respectively, after a tough qualifying session this afternoon. For Hopkins, the day proved especially frustrating as his times were putting him at the front of the field but then he suffered a lowside, at the almost 360Ëš turn one, and his chances of recovering a better starting position for his 100th MotoGP race were gone. However, after showing what strong form he is on all weekend, with consistent and impressive improvement on race tyres, those in front of him on the grid will have to watch their backs, as he’s got a point to prove. For West, the qualifying session also proved difficult but his times have been getting ever better throughout the weekend so far. Furthermore, with extremely heavy rain forecast for Sunday, many would consider the Bridgestone-shod, wet weather maestro a good bet for a solid result. After a day that saw a large number of riders lowsiding and running off, and bikes violently shaking their heads, it looks like tomorrow’s 22-lap round could prove a particularly entertaining, and unpredictable, one. John Hopkins #21: 14th 1’59.740 “We were expecting a lot better than this after three good practice sessions here. The bike feels strong at this circuit, we know we have a good race tyre for tomorrow if it’s dry and I’m feeling confident. But we’ve made our job a lot harder by not qualifying higher up the grid. We had two different types of qualifying tyre today, and one type worked well, but I made a couple of mistakes on my flying laps. The other type was virtually unusable because of the chatter it induced. In fact it was so bad, it virtually bounced me off the bike at the start of my last qualifying run. I’m disappointed because I was expecting much better but we’ve got a good set-up for the race. Now I just need to get my head down and go as hard as I can from the start.” Anthony West #13: 18th 2’00.838 “We came into this weekend with high hopes after a successful test at Estoril but we’ve ended up disappointed again. We seem to have the same problem that’s been plaguing us since the start of the season, where the bike just seems to spin up as soon as you touch the throttle on corner exit. John doesn’t seem to have the same issues, so we know it’s not a fundamental problem, but for now we’re struggling to find a solution. It’s frustrating but we’re not giving up and I’ll push as hard as I can. Rain is forecast and, while most people will be hoping it stays dry, a wet race wouldn’t be unwelcome on my side of the pit box!” Naoya Kaneko Kawasaki Technical Manager “We had some problems during qualifying, which means that John hasn’t qualified as well as we were expecting. He’s starting from further back on the grid than we would have liked but I’m confident he will make up places from the start of the race tomorrow, as he is happy with the performance of the bike in race trim. We need to continue working with Anthony during warm-up tomorrow, to see if we can improve his feeling with the bike. Of course, if the rain forecast for the race does actually materialise, then maybe he will surprise a few people!” More, from a press release issued by Repsol Honda: REPSOL HONDA RIDERS ON ROWS TWO & FOUR Chinese Grand Prix, Shanghai Qualifying, Saturday May 3 2008 Repsol Honda riders Dani Pedrosa and Nicky Hayden fought hard in a tough qualifying session at Shanghai this afternoon, ending up fifth and tenth quickest. Pedrosa, who had been just five hundredths of a second off the fastest time during the three free practice sessions, will start tomorrow’s Chinese Grand Prix from the second row of the grid. The Spaniard was trying as hard as ever, saving one major slide during the early stages of qualifying as he battled for a front-row start. There were several fallers this afternoon, Hayden one of them. The American slid off with 18 minutes to go while on a red-hot qualifying lap that would have put him much closer to the front of the grid. The tumble also lost Hayden some momentum because it took him a crucial five minutes to get back to his pit and collect his number-two machine. He ended the session just a fraction off a third-row start. Latest race-day weather forecasts predict rain for the Shanghai area. Dani Pedrosa, 5th fastest, 1m 58.855s “We improved from the morning to the afternoon session. We were lapping at a good pace on race tyres but unfortunately we couldn’t improve as much as we usually do with qualifying tyres, it seemed like we lacked a bit of grip. I don’t know why, but a lot of riders crashed during this afternoon’s qualifying session. All things considered, starting from the second row tomorrow is not so bad. If it’s dry for the race we need to improve our rhythm a bit. I hope we will be able to have a dry race because according to the latest weather forecasts it may rain tomorrow. In that case we will only have 20 minutes to prepare our settings for the wet.” Nicky Hayden, 10th fastest, 1m 59.507s “Qualifying didn’t go to plan, really. It was okay in the beginning, we were quite up front on race tyres. With my first qualifier I went to first place for a second, then with my second qualifier I just had an easy front push in turn 11 and down I went. I had a pretty good lap going but just didn’t get it down. The track is so long and so big it took me forever to get back to the pits, a little bit walking, a little bit scooter. Then I just got out on the other bike and did one run and didn’t get the chance to improve my time. It was a pity because things were looking quite good on race tyres this morning I did over race distance and was quite happy. This afternoon the track felt a bit greasy, there were a lot of guys crashing. I’ve put myself in a nice hole starting tenth, I haven’t qualified off the front two rows in the dry since Barcelona last year. I’m going to need an awesome start, try to pick a few guys off and move forward.” Kazuhiko Yamano – Team Manager “Both riders have a good race pace and their qualifying results do not reflect their race potential. Nicky was unlucky, he crashed and couldn’t improve his time on qualifiers. Dani will start from the second row. We are confident about both riders because they have a good pace on race tyres. They have finalised their bike specifications, they are very determined and are highly motivated.” More, from a press release issued by Dorna Communications: In the latest chapter of his surprise resurgence with the Tech 3 Yamaha team, Colin Edwards took pole position for the Pramac Grand Prix of China with a last-gasp lap of the Shanghai International Circuit. Having previously been amongst the frontrunners in the practice sessions, Edwards smashed Valentino Rossi´s 2007 pole position record by nearly three tenths of a second with a lap of 1´58.139 in the final stages of the qualifying run. He was the only rider to do so, thus claiming pole position number three of his MotoGP career and his first since moving to the satellite Yamaha outfit. Rossi himself will start from second place on the grid, with a 1´58.494 lap only slightly slower than his marker from last year. The Italian battled for victory with eventual race winner Casey Stoner in 2007, and a repeat of this could be on the cards if the pair can get past Edwards and break away. The front row will be completed by 2007 World Champion Stoner, who lines up in the top three for the first time this season. The Australian was in contention for pole throughout the session, before eventually succumbing to the pace of the Yamaha riders. The poleman at all three of the previous 2008 rounds, Jorge Lorenzo will head row two in Shanghai. Lorenzo´s performance was truly remarkable considering the doubts surrounding his participation in the session. A left ankle fracture and serious bruising in his right leg meant that the Spaniard was not guaranteed to play any part in proceedings, and the extent of his injuries meant that he had to be helped from his bike by crew members. Meanwhile, he nearly repeated his huge highside from yesterday, but had his wits about him to save himself another impact with the asphalt. Inseparable in the opening three races, Lorenzo and Repsol Honda´s Dani Pedrosa will continue their title battle from the second row of attack, level on points in the current World Championship standings. Like Edwards a member of the MotoGP veteran´s brigade, Loris Capirossi took the sixth spot on the grid with his Rizla Suzuki GSV-R, the final rider to go round in under 1´59. The third row is comprised of Tech 3 Yamaha´s second rider James Toseland, Capirossi´s fellow Suzuki man Chris Vermeulen and LCR Honda´s Randy de Puniet. The latter suffered a late crash in an incident-filled session, which included falls for Andrea Dovizioso, Nicky Hayden, Shinya Nakano and John Hopkins. 250cc Alvaro Bautista consolidated his provisional pole from Friday in the 250cc class, although once again he had to fight for the quarter litre top spot. As in the opening qualifying session, Bautista was pushed in the final moments of the session by Team Toth Aprilia´s Hector Barbera and Red Bull KTM World Championship leader Mika Kallio as they battled for superiority, but a 2´04.882 hot lap and a fall from his Finnish rival left the Spaniard on pole, half a second quicker than any other rider. Lining up alongside the Mapfre Aspar rider and the duo of Barbera and Kallio, Julian Simon moved up from the second row with some speedy laps onboard his Repsol KTM machinery. Marco Simoncelli heads row two as he attempts to follow up his maiden 250cc podium, joined by Thomas Luthi, Mattia Pasini and Manuel Poggiali. In addition to Kallio´s crash, there were run-offs for the likes of Hiroshi Aoyama and rookie Doni Tata Pradita. Yuki Takahashi was the protagonist of the biggest incident of the session, taking a Jorge Lorenzo-esque highside from which he managed to walk gingerly away. 125cc After conceding his 100% 2008 pole position record in Estoril, Bradley Smith put himself back on the 125cc top spot and claimed another Tissot watch in Shanghai. The Polaris World rider confirmed the fast pace set in both yesterday´s opening qualifying session and this morning´s runout to take the third front spot of his World Championship career. Smith´s fastest time was a 2´12.364 lap of the Chinese circuit, improving his Friday time by nearly a second and denying Jack&Jones WRB´s Nico Terol his first pole position by just 0.028. Mike di Meglio and 2007 World Champion Gabor Talmacsi moved up to the front row for the Sunday race, whilst there was a big improvement made by I.C. Team´s Andrea Iannone to head the second row. The Italian will be joined by Joan Olive and Pol Espargaro from Belson Derbi and yesterday´s provisional poleman Stefan Bradl. World Championship leader Simone Corsi dropped down from the front row to eleventh place, unable to improve upon his qualifying time. Also falling, in the most literal sense of the word, were Raffaele de Rosa and Jules Cluzel, involved in an incident at the end of the session. De Rosa´s Onde 2000 KTM teammate Pablo Nieto took a tumble soon after. More, from a press release issued by Marlboro Ducati: STONER BACK ON FRONT ROW AS MELANDRI MAKES IMPORTANT PROGRESS Casey Stoner and Marco Melandri played leading roles in qualifying practice for the Grand Prix of China this afternoon. The Australian returned his Ducati to the front row of the grid with the third fastest time whilst the Italian managed to find a good race pace and was as high as fourth place with race tyres before the push for grid positions on qualifying tyres. Stoner found a good setting for his GP8 in race trim and on the Bridgestone qualifying tyres and he is delighted to have rediscovered his feeling with the bike. Melandri, meanwhile, finally enjoyed a session without any setbacks and was able to work on weight distribution, electronics and tyres he was able to find a much improved set-up for tomorrow’s race. CASEY STONER (Ducati Marlboro Team) 3rd fastest (1’58.591) “First of all I want to say a big thank you to the team. We had a great result in Qatar and we knew Jerez and Estoril would be tough but we didn’t realise how tough. Despite that nobody lost their head, everybody has stayed calm and together and this is the sign of a great team. It has meant that we have been able to come here with a clear focus, without panicking and making drastic changes to the bike. We found a good base setting for this track yesterday, with much improved front feeling, and today we were able to work on finding better grip on the rear. It’s still not perfect but the lap times are good and it feels great to know we’re competitive again. Also, I want to say thanks to Bridgestone because they came up with a really competitive qualifying tyre and it allowed us to get on the front row for the first time this season. We’re all waiting to see what the weather will do but I won here in the wet in 250 back in2005 and I won in the dry last year in MotoGP so we certainly have nothing to fear.” MARCO MELANDRI – (Ducati Marlboro Team) 12th fastest (1’59.678) “Finally I can say I am happy! After three sessions when for one reason or another we couldn’t work properly, this afternoon everything clicked. We’ve worked well, made some important modifications to the weight distribution to reduce spinning and that’s allowed me to ride more comfortably. On qualifiers we’ve struggled a bit but the main thing is race pace. I don’t want to make any predictions for tomorrow, about the weather or anything else, we’ll just have to wait and see if we can continue this progression in the race. That’s the way it should be – the team have always kept believing, remained optimistic and now we hope we can turn that into a result.” More, from a press release issued by Fiat Yamaha: FRONT ROW FOR ROSSI AS RAIN LOOMS FOR CHINESE CHALLENGE Valentino Rossi put his Fiat Yamaha M1 onto the front row of the grid for the second time this season in Shanghai today, qualifying second for tomorrow’s Chinese Grand Prix. Rossi looked to have pole position sewn up before fellow Yamaha rider Colin Edwards took his third career pole, Yamaha’s fourth from four races this season. Rossi continued in the same vein as yesterday by setting the pace in this morning’s free practice and continuing to do so through most of this afternoon’s session. Three-quarters of the way through a strong flying lap put him in provisional pole position and the Italian was confident that a slight improvement with the next qualifying tyre could be enough to take the front slot. He improved again but a last-minute lap from Edwards was 0.355 seconds faster, and Rossi will now have to wait a little longer for his 50th career pole. Meanwhile Rossi’s team-mate Jorge Lorenzo stunned onlookers by qualifying fourth, despite riding with a broken left ankle and having missed the most of the day yesterday following a crash in first practice. After qualifying on pole for his first three MotoGP races, Lorenzo’s fourth is no less impressive and he makes it three Yamahas in the top four. Tomorrow’s 22-lap race gets underway at 1500 local time and a forecast of heavy rain could make for some unexpected twists and turns. Valentino Rossi Position: 2nd Time: 1’58.494 Laps: 23 “I’m quite happy with this position; third in Estoril, second here”¦hopefully one better next time! I’ve been fast here since Friday morning and we’ve worked so hard with the team and with Bridgestone lately to improve the situation with the qualifying tyre, so we definitely deserve to be here. Today I had fun and I was able to fight with my rivals, plus I really enjoyed having the chance to ride at the maximum around this track. When I saw 58.5 on the clock I thought that I had a chance to try for the pole, but then Colin did 58.1 and this was a bit too much for us! Anyway it’s very important to be on the front row, especially because we don’t know whether it will rain or not. Thanks to my mechanics for doing a great job, and now we’ve just got to hope the rain stays away!” Davide Brivio Team Manager “We’re getting closer! Congratulations to Colin for a great lap, it’s good for Yamaha to have another pole position; hopefully it will be us soon! We’ve done a good job overall in the four practice sessions and it seems like we’re ready to be competitive now tomorrow, if it’s dry. Everyone is expecting rain in which case the situation is less clear, but for the moment we’re relaxed and looking forward to an exciting race.” More, from another press release issued by Fiat Yamaha: BRAVE LORENZO DEFIES INJURIES TO QUALIFY ON SECOND ROW Fiat Yamaha Team rider Jorge Lorenzo battled through the pain barrier to put in an amazing qualifying performance for tomorrow’s Chinese Grand Prix, defying the odds after badly injuring himself in a crash yesterday and putting his Michelin-shod M1 on the second row. The Mallorcan, who celebrates his 21st birthday tomorrow, fractured a bone in his left ankle and caused severe trauma to various parts of his right ankle and foot when high-siding just 11 laps into the first practice session yesterday, but he showed his spirit and determination today to qualify 4th, just over half a second off pole. The youngster completed 21 laps in this morning’s session and finished a creditable 14th. Having missed out on two sessions yesterday, the pain was not the only problem as the team also faced a difficult task to set the bike up in very limited time and with little data to work with. It was a painful day’s work for Lorenzo but, after finding a comfortable race set-up this morning, he felt able to push as hard as his injuries allowed on both of his Michelin qualifying tyres this afternoon and fourth place on the grid is a deserved result for the courageous championship leader. Team-mate Valentino Rossi qualified second and, following Lorenzo’s three poles so far this season, Tech 3 rider Colin Edwards made it four in a row for Yamaha. After two days of sunshine rain is forecast for tomorrow’s 22-lap race, which starts at 1500 local time. Jorge Lorenzo Position: 4th Time: 1’58.711 Laps: 21 “The way I felt yesterday, I couldn’t even imagine a result like this today. In fact it was all I could do to believe that I would be able to ride at all. This result is amazing for me, as good as my other pole positions, and it’s given me a lot of confidence despite the pain. Now I have to take care and tomorrow I will just try to do the best I can; who knows what can happen in the race? I have a lot of pain in both feet and ankles and it’s difficult to change down with the left and to change direction with the right, but I showed I am able to do it. Yesterday’s crash was big, probably the biggest of my career, but I think I was actually quite lucky not to have worse injuries. The doctors at the clinic are working very hard to help me and now I will go back there for more treatment. Hopefully I will be feeling better again tomorrow and we will do what we can, rain or shine!” Daniele Romagnoli Team Manager “Jorge is still surprising us! He did an unbelievable job in today’s qualifying considering his injuries, and after the crash yesterday we could never have imagined a result like this. Having missed all of yesterday, we only had one session to set-up the bike but we managed to find a good race pace and some good tyres with Michelin. Then fourth place with the qualifying tyre this afternoon is very impressive! Thank you to Dr. Costa and to all of the team at the Clinica Mobile; they’ve played a very important part in today’s result. The race is a different story because it’s long and it will be arduous for Jorge, but hopefully he will be feeling a little bit better tomorrow and we know how brave he is!” More, from a press release issued by Honda: PEDROSA DIGS DEEP TO QUALIFY ON SECOND ROW Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda RC212V) was the best Honda qualifier here at Shanghai in what proved to be a troublesome session for the Honda runners. Colin Edwards took pole with Valentino Rossi second fastest (both Yamaha) and Casey Stoner (Ducati) completing the front row. Dani managed the fifth quickest time fractionally behind Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha) in fourth. He will be encouraged by his consistency on race rubber although he didn’t manage to work his qualifying tyres to maximum advantage. Andrea Dovizioso (JiR Scot Honda RC212V) fell just four minutes into this hour-long final session and the Italian premier class rookie never got up among the pace-setters after this unscheduled incident. Stoner made the early running with a 2m 01.215s time before an in-form Shinya Nakano (San Carlo Honda Gresini RC212V) relieved the reigning World Champion of pole posting a 2m 00.577s lap. But Stoner then responded with a 2m 00.389s time before Dani slotted in a 2m 00.389s effort quickly followed by a 2m 00.163s lap. Rossi showed his intent with 43 minutes to go running a 1m 59.876s lap to take pole with Nicky Hayden (Repsol Honda RC212V) in the frame as fourth fastest man and Nakano in the hunt holding seventh spot as the halfway mark approached. With thirty minutes left on the clock the order was Rossi, Stoner, Hayden, with Chris Vermeulen (Suzuki) heading the second row closely followed by Toni Elias and Marco Melandri (both Ducati). Dani then cut a 1m 59.693s time to head the standings as the pace hotted up. Dani had a huge moment as he worked on shaving vital tenths off his time, the Spaniard was launched out of the seat of his RC212V as he put the power down in a bid to get the edge over determined rivals. With 21 minutes to go Rossi went pole at 1m 59.362s before Loris Capirossi (Suzuki) and then Nicky Hayden bettered it. Seconds later Edwards sped to a 1m 59.088s time and Nicky fell on the entry to the back straight as he hustled his machine out of the tight turn leading onto it. The Kentucky Kid was forced to run back to the pits when he couldn’t bump start his largely undamaged RC212V. Lorenzo too nearly crashed again after a massive high-side yesterday. The Yamaha man was riding with broken bones in both feet and another ‘off’ might have put his participation in tomorrow’s 21-lap race in severe doubt. Nakano fell with ten minutes to go and although he managed to get going again, the best he could manage at the end was 13th place for a fifth row start. Dovi meanwhile was languishing in 14th spot as Stoner again upped the pace with a 1m 58.591s time to retake pole and put the pressure on the rest of the field. The order with five minutes left on the clock was Stoner, Rossi, Lorenzo, Pedrosa then Randy de Puniet (LCR Honda RC212V) with Nicky holding seventh. Rossi then slotted in a 1m 58.552s lap to go pole and with just two minutes remaining it looked as if the former champ might have secured the top spot. But Edwards had other ideas and the Texan grabbed the third pole of his MotoGP career with a 1m 58.139s time although Rossi came closest to it when he carved 1m 58.494 around the 5.281km track to secure second place. But with rain forecast for tomorrow’s race riders are only too aware that two days of dry set-up work may prove of limited worth if the conditions change. Dani said of his fifth place on the grid, only 0.716 seconds off the pole time: “We improved from the morning to the afternoon session and were lapping at a good pace on race tyres but unfortunately we couldn’t improve as much as we usually do with qualifying tyres, it seemed like we lacked a bit of grip. I don’t know why, but a lot of riders crashed during this afternoon’s qualifying session. All things considered, starting from the second row is not so bad. If it’s dry we will have to improve a little bit more. But I hope we will be able to have a dry race because according to the latest weather forecasts it may rain tomorrow. In that case we will only have 20 minutes to prepare the settings for the wet.” De Puniet made it to ninth, 1.218 seconds off pole. He said: “After yesterday’s technical problems which prevented me going faster, we finally found a good pace especially on race tyres. The situation improved a lot and now I can ride with more confidence. We fixed some things before this morning’s free session such as engine mapping to control the braking stability, power delivery to make the bike smoother, the chassis geometry and the suspension setting. I had a small crash on the last lap on qualifying tyres but the most important thing is my pace on race tyres. At the end I was able to lap consistently fast even though we still have some things to adjust in tomorrow’s warm up session.” Nicky, tenth on the grid, said: “Qualifying didn’t go to plan, really. It was OK early on, we were quite up front on race tyres. With my first qualifier I went to first place for a moment, then with my second qualifier I had the front push in turn 11 and down I went. I had a pretty good lap going but just didn’t get it down. The track is so long and so big it took me forever to get back to the pits, a little bit walking, a little bit scooter. Then I just got out on the other bike and did one run and didn’t get the chance to improve my time. I’m going to need an awesome start, try to pick a few guys off and move forward.” Dovi, 11th at the end of the session, said: “I have to work hard tomorrow, but I think my race pace has potential. There are lots of riders who I feel are on similar lap times, so there’s a group of us who can put on a good show. The crash at the start of the session didn’t hurt me at all as it was very low speed. We were at a high angle of lean and the front-end of the bike simply washed away. The start will be very important and my key target is a good rhythm in the race and then to use to the maximum the good job the team has done on race set-up over the last two days.” Nakano qualified 13th and said: “I’m disappointed with qualifying today because in free practice I was fast and consistent. Unfortunately I crashed on a lap that could have potentially given us a better grid position I got back on track with the second bike but I didn’t have the same feeling and couldn’t improve my best time. It’s hard to start from the fifth row but my pace isn’t bad so I’m confident. Now my thoughts are on tomorrow’s race I have to focus on getting a good start in order to stay with the fast group.” Alex de Angelis (San Carlo Honda Gresini RC212V) finished the session 16th, 2.177 seconds off the pole time, and said: “Unfortunately we know we still haven’t reached anywhere near our optimum potential on qualifying tyres. At the moment we haven’t got a good feeling with the new qualifiers that Bridgestone brought here to Shanghai the chattering is similar to before so that’s why I’m starting so far back. It won’t be an easy race because when you start from so far back it is always tricky to make up positions. In any case I will give my best a little rain might help us out.” 250cc Pole belonged to Alvaro Bautista here with Hector Barbera second quickest, Mika Kallio (KTM) qualified third with Julian Simon (Aprilia) completing the front row. Yuki Takahashi (JiR Scot Honda RS250RW) fell with 25 minutes left of the 45-minute final stint and had to be satisfied with 10th on the grid. Takahashi, said: “The crash hurt my lower right leg, in the shin and calf area. I’m hoping that by tomorrow the pain will not have increased, but decreased. I still think I can race with the top group tomorrow because the technical condition of my Honda is very good and when I was riding with the other guys I could see that we are competitive. Shanghai is not my favourite circuit, but I feel better at the track than before, so tomorrow I need a good start.” Ratthapark Wilairot (Stop And Go Racing RS250RW) qualified 18th and said: “Everything went OK in the morning’s free practice, but I got confused in the final part, and I made a pit stop three minutes from the end, so I couldn’t make the most of the last laps. In the afternoon I improved my best time by 0.7 seconds in just four laps, but I couldn’t progress more, and I lost two positions at the end. I hope to make a good start tomorrow, and join at least the second group.” 125cc Bradley Smith took pole in this class with a 2m 12.364s lap ahead of Nico Terol, Mike Di Meglio and Gabor Talmacsi (all Aprilia). Louis Rossi (FFM Racing Honda RS125R), recovering from a broken ankle managed 34th on the grid, 6.076 seconds off the pole time. Rossi said: “It’s my first time on this racetrack quite a complicated one with long straights and endless bends. I’m not suffering too much from my fractured tibia I got during the qualifying in Portugal. I’m not in too much pain, and anyway I must forget about the pain, since riding while injured is part of my job. I’m hanging on and I continue working hard with the team behind me.” Honda rider quotes Chinese GP qualifying May3, 2008. MotoGP: Dani Pedrosa, Repsol Honda: 5th 1m 58.855s. “We improved from the morning to the afternoon session. We were lapping at a good pace on race tyres but unfortunately we couldn’t improve as much as we usually do with qualifying tyres, it seemed like we lacked a bit of grip. I don’t know why, but a lot of riders crashed during this afternoon’s qualifying session. All things considered, starting from the second row tomorrow is not so bad. If it’s dry we will have to improve a little bit more our rhythm but I hope we will be able to have a dry race because according to the latest weather forecasts it may rain tomorrow. In that case we will only have 20 minutes to prepare the setting for the wet.” Randy De Puniet, LCR Honda: 9th – 1m 59.357s. “After yesterday’s technical problems which prevented me to go faster, we finally found our good pace especially on race tyres. The situation improved a lot and now I can ride with more confidence. We fixed some things before this morning free session such as engine mapping to control the braking stability, power delivery to make the bike smoother, the chassis geometry and the suspension setting. I suffered a small crash in the last lap on q-tyres but the most important thing is my pace on race tyres. At the end I was able to lap consistently fast even though we still have some things to adjust in tomorrow’s warm up session. We need to fix the front feeling in two corners but I feel very satisfied about the job we made and thank all my Team for their efforts.” Nicky Hayden, Repsol Honda: 10th 1m 59.507s. “Qualifying didn’t go to plan, really. It was okay in the beginning, we were quite up front on race tyres. With my first qualifier I went to first place for a second, then with my second qualifier I just had an easy front push in turn 11 and down I went. I had a pretty good lap going but just didn’t get it down. The track is so long and so big it took me forever to get back to the pits, a little bit walking, a little bit scooter. Then I just got out on the other bike and did one run and didn’t get the chance to improve my time. It was a pity because things were looking quite good on race tyres – this morning I did over race distance and was quite happy. This afternoon the track felt a bit greasy, there were a lot of guys crashing. I’ve put myself in a nice hole starting tenth, I haven’t qualified off the front two rows in the dry since Barcelona last year. I’m going to need an awesome start, try to pick a few guys off and move forward.” Andrea Dovizioso, JiR Scot Honda: 11th 1m 59.559s. “I do have to work hard tomorrow, but I think that my pace in the race has very high potential. There are lots of riders who I feel are on similar lap times, so there’s a group of us who can put on a good show. The crash at the start of the session didn’t hurt me at all as it was very low speed. We were at a high angle of lean and the front-end of the bike simply washed away. The only thing that the crash affected was a loss of time which was important to us. The grip of the Tarmac is quite high and this makes the lap-times higher with racing tyres. On the other hand my pace is pretty consistent, which is positive. The start will be very important I’m in an area of the grid, which isn’t the best, but also the first corner isn’t one where you can brake late and take many positions: instead it’s a long corner so it’s difficult to do that. This is why my key target is a good rhythm in the race and to use to the maximum the good job the team has done on race set up over the last two days. We all realise that we have to do better in qualifying in the future.” Shinya Nakano, San Carlo Gresini Honda: 13th 2m 59.716s. “I’m disappointed with qualifying today because in free practice I was fast and consistent. Unfortunately I crashed on a lap that could have potentially given us a better grid position but I got back on track with the second bike but I didn’t have the same feeling and couldn’t improve my best time. It is hard to start from the fifth row but my pace isn’t bad so I’m confident. Now my thoughts are on tomorrow’s race I have to focus on getting a good start in order to stay with the fast group.” Alex De Angelis, San Carlo Gresini Honda: 16th 2m 00.316s. “Unfortunately we know that we still haven’t reached anywhere near our optimum potential on qualifying tyres. At the moment we haven’t got a good feeling with the new qualifiers that Bridgestone brought here to Shanghai . the chattering is similar to before so that’s why I’m starting so far back. It won’t be an easy race because when you start from so far back it is always tricky to make up positions. In any case I will give my best a little rain might help us out.” 250cc: Yukio Takahashi, JiR Scot Honda: 10th 2m 06.245s. “I’m sad because of my fall as at the time I was riding with my best tyre for qualifying but I’m satisfied about practice as a whole, because for the race I feel ready and want to get a good result. The crash has hurt my lower right leg, in the shin and calf area. I am hoping that by tomorrow the pain will not have increased, but decreased! I still think I can race with the top group tomorrow because the technical condition of my Honda is very good and when I was riding with the other guys I could see that we are competitive. Shanghai is not my favourite circuit, but I feel better at the track than before so tomorrow I have to do a good start to get the best final result as possible so I can move up in the championship table. The team as usual has worked very hard for me today.” Ratthapark Wilairot, Thai Honda PTT SAG: 18th 2m 07.114s. “Everything went OK in the morning’s free practice, but I got confused in the final part, and I made a pit stop at three minutes to the end, so I couldn’t seize the last laps. In the afternoon, I started very well the official turn, so I improved in 0.7 seconds my best time in just four laps, but I couldn’t progress more then, and I’ve lost two positions in the grid at the end. I hope to make a good start tomorrow, and join at least the second group.” 125cc: Louis Rossi, FFM Honda: 34th 2m 18.440s. “It is the first time I am riding on this racetrack, quite a complicated one with its long straights and endless bends. I don¹t suffer much from my fractured tibia I got during the qualifying sessions for the previous Grand Prix in Portugal. I am not in too much pain, and anyway I must forget about the pain, since riding whilst injured is part of my job as a rider. My main problem is a lack of confidence which in turn causes small problems to accumulate. But I am hanging on and continue working hard with the team behind me.” More, from a press release issued by Repsol Media Service: SECOND ROW FOR DANI PEDROSA ON TOMORROW’S STARTING GRID IN CHINA The Repsol Honda Team rider is fifth after the timed session, while teammate Nicky Hayden is tenth. Julián Simón, fourth, will start tomorrow on the front row In spite of the weather forecast which had predicted rain, the sun shone again today on the Shanghai Circuit and the bad weather held back. However, the forecast for tomorrow is not too promising, and the teams are worried about not having trained in wet conditions, in order to know the precise setup to use if it does actually rain tomorrow. In MotoGP, the third free morning training sessions followed the same pattern as the two held yesterday, with Rossi, Pedrosa and Stoner switching the lead of the classification. Rossi was the fastest at the end of the morning session, followed by Dani Pedrosa and Australian rider Stoner. In the afternoon, in the definitive timed session, Pedrosa was again one of the fastest of the top category, lap after lap setting a pace which puts him among the favourites, along with Stoner and Rossi, to win the victory tomorrow. However, during the last half hour of the training sessions, when the qualifying tyres came into action, things started to go wrong for the two Repsol Honda Team riders. While Nicky Hayden took second position with his first qualifying tyre, Dani Pedrosa’s rear tyre skidded hard, and though he avoided a fall, he lost a lot of time. The first failed attempt by the Spanish rider. But things were to get worse for American Repsol Honda Team rider Hayden, who during his second attempt and when he was riding a pole position time, suffered a light fall when the front tyre of his Honda RC212V lost adherence. That was it for Hayden, who thus lost his options of fighting for pole position. In his third and last attempt with his spare bike after a quick run to boxes, Hayden was very far from the fastest time set by Edwards, and had to make do with a tenth fastest register, a result which puts him back down on the fourth row of the starting grid. Teammate Dani Pedrosa, back on the track with his second qualifying tyre, ran the third fastest time. While he did a pitstop to fit his third qualifying tyre, Pedrosa fell to ninth position, overtaken by a number of riders who were running their fastest lap. Back on the track, the winner of the last Spanish Grand Prix ran the fifth fastest time, securing himself a place on the second row of tomorrow’s starting grid. The fourth and last qualifying tyre only helped the Repsol Honda Team rider to maintain his final fifth position. In the 250cc category, Julián Simón completed his fastest timed session to date on his new bike. Simón, in spite of a few technical problems at the start of this afternoon’s timed session, ran the third best time behind Bautista and Barberá, securing himself a place on the first row of the starting grid. The Repsol KTM Team rider was fourth in the overall result of the two timed sessions, as Kallio, rider with support from Repsol, ran the second fastest time yesterday, and this was enough to keep him on the front row -third-, though today he did not improve on his times. Hiroshi Aoyama, KTM rider who also receives technical support from Repsol, ran the 11th fastest time. In the quarter-litre category, a complicated day for the Repsol KTM Team riders. Marc Màrquez was 22nd. The young Repsol rider could have improved his position, but during the final moments of the timed session, when we was returning to the track with a new tyre to improve his time, he had a technical problem with his bike that prevented him from making any progress. Teammate Esteve Rabat, who also had technical problems and a setup which limited his pace, finished in 23rd position. Quotes MotoGP Dani Pedrosa >> 5th fastest, 1m 58.855s “We improved from the morning to the afternoon session. We were lapping at a good pace on race tyres but unfortunately we couldn’t improve as much as we usually do with qualifying tyres, it seemed like we lacked a bit of grip. I don’t know why, but a lot of riders crashed during this afternoon’s qualifying session. All things considered, starting from the second row tomorrow is not so bad. If it’s dry we will have to improve a little bit more our rhythm but I hope we will be able to have a dry race because according to the latest weather forecasts it may rain tomorrow. In that case we will only have 20 minutes to prepare the setting for the wet.” Nicky Hayden >> 10th fastest, 1m 59.507s “Qualifying didn’t go to plan, really. It was okay in the beginning, we were quite up front on race tyres. With my first qualifier I went to first place for a second, then with my second qualifier I just had an easy front push in turn 11 and down I went. I had a pretty good lap going but just didn’t get it down. The track is so long and so big it took me forever to get back to the pits, a little bit walking, a little bit scooter. Then I just got out on the other bike and did one run and didn’t get the chance to improve my time. It was a pity because things were looking quite good on race tyres this morning I did over race distance and was quite happy. This afternoon the track felt a bit greasy, there were a lot of guys crashing. I’ve put myself in a nice hole starting tenth, I haven’t qualified off the front two rows in the dry since Barcelona last year. I’m going to need an awesome start, try to pick a few guys off and move forward.” 250cc Julián Simón >> 2’05.561 secs, 37 laps, 195 Km. “Today things went slightly better for us. This morning we were still having a few of the problems we had yesterday morning, and though we were able to solve them, we didn’t manage as good a position as the one we took in the afternoon. We did some drafting during the timed session and that helped us get a position on the first row, so I’m happy about that. We did our best and the team is doing a great job. As for tomorrow, if the conditions are wet, I hope to ride fast right from the start, adapt as quick as possible and run a good race. I think we deserve it, because we’ve been working hard this weekend.” 125cc Esteve Rabat >> 2’14.830 secs, 23 laps, 121 Km. “I’m not happy at all, because the bike isn’t performing. Today’s training session was a disaster. There was no way I could follow the other riders, they got away from me on the bends. I didn’t find a good setup for the bike. I couldn’t follow them on the straights either, because they escaped ahead. I’d do some drafting and they’d still get away. There was nothing I could do. I was close to falling on a couple of occasions, and avoided falling with my knee. It’s a shame, because I’m not 100% and the bike isn’t being of much help. The team, as always, is doing it’s best to improve things. Let’s see tomorrow during the warm-up if we can find a proper setup for the race.” Marc Márquez >> 2’14.796 secs, 27 laps, 143 Km. “This morning we tried out both bikes and saw that one was performing better than the other, so we decided to concentrate on the one we thought was more adequate. I was feeling well, very comfortable, and ran my time quite easily. In the afternoon we changed a few adjustments and improved things, but when we changed the tyre we had a problem and were unable to improve our fastest lap. The race is tomorrow, so we’ll try to get off to a good start and find a good position. We’re quite sure about the setup of the bike, though this afternoon we’ll have a look at a couple more things. I think I can run a good race if the bike and everything else goes well.” More, from a press release issued by Michelin: MICHELIN MAN EDWARDS BLITZES QUALIFYING Michelin rider Colin Edwards (Yamaha Tech 3 YZR-M1-Michelin) scored Michelin’s fourth consecutive pole position this afternoon at Shanghai, maintaining the company’s full house of 2008 MotoGP poles. The Texas Tornado left it until the last gasp, snatching pole from Valentino Rossi (Fiat Yamaha Team YZR-M1) just four seconds before the checkered flag came out. Joint World Championship leader Jorge Lorenzo (Fiat Yamaha Team YZR-M1-Michelin) completed a heroic session in fourth place, riding with both ankles injured following his accident yesterday morning at turn two. Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda RC212V-Michelin), who is equal on points with Lorenzo, was fifth in qualifying after running a close second fastest on race tires in the first three practice sessions. “Qualifying went well ? we were very impressed by Colin’s lap time,” said Jean-Philippe Weber, Michelin’s director of motorcycle racing. “It was great to watch him ride that lap, more than three tenths ahead of Rossi, it’s a great result for him. Lorenzo also did a fantastic job; we were amazed by his performance. But we were surprised that the bike-tire combination didn’t work as well as expected with the Hondas. We didn’t expect that and we will sit down to examine the reasons. Dani was very fast on race tires though, so he has a good chance. The forecast suggests it will rain tomorrow. If the race is dry our race tires are working very consistently and it’s pretty clear what tires our riders will use. We also expect a big fight because the lap times on race tires are very close. The forecast says it will rain in the morning and then maybe not so much rain in the afternoon. We will see.” Edwards was delighted with his third MotoGP pole position, all scored on Michelin tires. “We made quite a few changes after yesterday’s sessions, so my thanks to my guys for their work,” he said. “Then when we put the Michelin qualifiers on the bike was just great. On that last lap I closed my eyes and told myself: okay let’s see what happens!” Shanghai first-timer James Toseland (Yamaha Tech 3 YZR-M1-Michelin) qualified seventh, just off row two. Nicky Hayden (Repsol Honda RC212V-Michelin) was looking good for a strong grid position until he slid off during one of his qualifying runs. He ended up tenth, just off the third row. More, from a press release issued by Alice Ducati: FIFTH AND SIXTH ROW FOR THE ALICE TEAM PAIR Alice Team rider, Toni Elias didn’t make it to maintain the same position obtained in the first day of work in Shanghai, where he concluded in eleventh position, finishing today’s qualifying session in fifteenth position. The Spaniard was in eight position after half session, but couldn’t make it to use in the best way Bridgestone qualifying tyres. Sylvain Guintoli, seated in the other side of the Alice Team box, has improved his lap times registered during the firsts three free sessions, but it wasn’t enough to conquer a good position in the starting grid. Today’s temperatures were similar to the first day of work on the Shanghai circuit, with the asphalt temperature that reached 48 degrees. Weathermen are promising rain for tomorrow, with more than 80% of possibilities for a wet race. Fabiano Sterlacchini – Technical Director “Maybe we wanted too much today. We had found a good compromize that allowed us to have a good race set up, but for the qualifying session maybe we changed too much ruining our lap times. Anyway the race rhythm has improved compared to the previous races. The distance from the firsts is sensibly lower even if we still have a lot of work to do. If the track will be dry tomorrow, I believe Toni can do well.” Toni Elias – Alice Team Rider (15th best lap time in 1:59.933, Total laps 20) “I am not happy with fifteenth position, but I know that I have good race rhythm, surely with a lower distance to the fastest riders, not like in the firsts three races. It will be very important to start well, if I’ll do so we can obtain a good result. This weekend we are surely enjoying racing much more, but we still have to improve to climb the classification.” Sylvain Guintoli – Alice Team Rider (17th best lap time in 2:00.760, Total laps 19) “What to say, sincerely I expected much more. We started well in the afternoon, but when I tried to push the bike hard to improve, things don’t go as expected. It isn’t an easy situation, but the only solution we have is to work more and more. Tomorrow, it seems that it will be raining. I can’t hide this could be a small advantage for me right now, as I enjoy racing with wet track, but I also want to be competitive with dry track conditions.” More, from a press release issued by Yamaha Racing: Edwards surges to stunning Shanghai pole position Tech 3 Yamaha rider Colin Edwards produced a brilliant late attack to claim pole position for tomorrow’s 22-lap China MotoGP clash in Shanghai. Edwards powered his Tech 3 YZR-M1 to a best lap of 1.58.139, which makes the American the fastest rider ever to lap the challenging 5.281km circuit. Edwards’ best time comfortably secured him the third pole position of his MotoGP career with closest challenger Valentino Rossi 0.355s adrift in second. Edwards’ pole position was the first for the Tech 3 team since the 2002 German MotoGP race at the Sachsenring, and secured him a third front row start in four races during his first season with the French-based squad. Edwards’ stunning performance also preserved Yamaha and Michelin’s 100 per cent pole position record in 2008 as he took full advantage of a radical overnight set-up change by his team and senior Japanese engineers to help solve a grip issue that hindered his progress yesterday. James Toseland will start from seventh on the grid after the British rider continued to make big progress in his quest to master the Shanghai circuit. His best lap of 1.59.254 put him as high as fifth place at one stage before he dropped back to the third row. Tomorrow’s race could be the first wet encounter of 2008, with weather forecasts predicting a strong chance of rain. Colin Edwards 1st 1.58.139 “I’ve got to say big thanks to my team, Yamaha and Michelin. I truggled yesterday but today it really came good. My guys and the Japanese got together last night and they came up with a set-up scenario to get the bike working which is completely foreign to what I’ve been riding. I haven’t used this set-up in all my time at Yamaha, but based on the problems I was describing they suggested a plan and when I was thinking about it I was like ‘do what’? We were just looking for more traction because I struggled so badly in that area yesterday. We made a big change to the bike to get some weight on the rear and it worked. It was a great team effort and it definitely worked because when I went out this morning I was a second faster instantly. And it felt easy because I had no issues from the front like yesterday and my comfort level went up from 50 per cent to 95 per cent. My first two qualifiers weren’t bad but it felt like I was playing a computer game when the shadow passes you and you are always trying to catch that shadow. It felt like that I could see where I wanted to be but I just wasn’t hammering the throttle. So for the last tyre I went into turn one and knew I just had to get in deep enough and I really hammered it round the first two corners. I was 0.3s up just in that one section. From there I rode a good lap but I didn’t have any real moments. It was weird because I didn’t really have to take any risks like normal to do that time. |Everything was pretty calm and collected and the Michelin qualifier is awesome. It is going to be at tough race. I haven’t done a 59 yet on a race tyre and Casey and Valentino look to be doing consistent 59. I just got to get a good start and hang in there.” James Toseland 7th 1.59.254 “I’ve had to dig deep this weekend because this is a much tougher track to master than Portugal. It is tough learning it on race tyres so to then throw the qualifiers in with the extra grip it almost makes it a completely new track again because you’ve got to go so much faster. On my first tyre I was out on my second bike and we’d changed the clutch and I had a problem with the gear shifter. I went out on my first bike on the second tyre and pinned it out of the double left and had a really big moment. My feet came off the pegs and I bit the screen so that was the end of that lap too. I only had one tyre really to make a time but without the experience of knowing how hard to push with the first two, I wasn’t really up to speed. I went out on the last tyre and braked a bit early for one corner and ran a bit wide at another but these things are going to happen on a brand new track. I was fifth when I did my best lap but unfortunately I just dropped off the second row. That can happen though when you don’t know the track so well against this class of field. I’m confident for tomorrow rain or shine but congratulations to Colin and the team. He did a great job and its good for me to see Colin performing like that because it shows what the package is capable of. That’s why I can’t wait to get to some tracks I know.” Valentino Rossi put his Fiat Yamaha M1 onto the front row of the grid for the second time this season in Shanghai today, qualifying second for tomorrow’s Chinese Grand Prix. Rossi looked to have pole position sewn up before fellow Yamaha rider Colin Edwards took his third career pole, Yamaha’s fourth from four races this season. Rossi continued in the same vein as yesterday by setting the pace in this morning’s free practice and continuing to do so through most of this afternoon’s session. Three-quarters of the way through a strong flying lap put him in provisional pole position and the Italian was confident that a slight improvement with the next qualifying tyre could be enough to take the front slot. He improved again but a last-minute lap from Edwards was 0.355 seconds faster, and Rossi will now have to wait a little longer for his 50th career pole. Meanwhile Rossi’s team-mate Jorge Lorenzo stunned onlookers by qualifying fourth, despite riding with a broken left ankle and having missed the most of the day yesterday following a crash in first practice. After qualifying on pole for his first three MotoGP races, Lorenzo’s fourth is no less impressive and he makes it three Yamahas in the top four. Tomorrow’s 22-lap race gets underway at 1500 local time and a forecast of heavy rain could make for some unexpected twists and turns. Valentino Rossi 2nd 1.58.494 “I’m quite happy with this position; third in Estoril, second here”¦hopefully one better next time! I’ve been fast here since Friday morning and we’ve worked so hard with the team and with Bridgestone lately to improve the situation with the qualifying tyre, so we definitely deserve to be here. Today I had fun and I was able to fight with my rivals, plus I really enjoyed having the chance to ride at the maximum around this track. When I saw 58.5 on the clock I thought that I had a chance to try for the pole, but then Colin did 58.1 and this was a bit too much for us! Anyway it’s very important to be on the front row, especially because we don’t know whether it will rain or not. Thanks to my mechanics for doing a great job, and now we’ve just got to hope the rain stays away!” Davide Brivio – Team Manager “We’re getting closer! Congratulations to Colin for a great lap, it’s good for Yamaha to have another pole position; hopefully it will be us soon! We’ve done a good job overall in the four practice sessions and it seems like we’re ready to be competitive now tomorrow, if it’s dry. Everyone is expecting rain in which case the situation is less clear, but for the moment we’re relaxed and looking forward to an exciting race.” Fiat Yamaha Team rider Jorge Lorenzo battled through the pain barrier to put in an amazing qualifying performance for tomorrow’s Chinese Grand Prix, defying the odds after badly injuring himself in a crash yesterday and putting his Michelin-shod M1 on the second row. The Mallorcan, who celebrates his 21st birthday tomorrow, fractured a bone in his left ankle and caused severe trauma to various parts of his right ankle and foot when high-siding just 11 laps into the first practice session yesterday, but he showed his spirit and determination today to qualify 4th, just over half a second off pole. The youngster completed 21 laps in this morning’s session and finished a creditable 14th. Having missed out on two sessions yesterday, the pain was not the only problem as the team also faced a difficult task to set the bike up in very limited time and with little data to work with. It was a painful day’s work for Lorenzo but, after finding a comfortable race set-up this morning, he felt able to push as hard as his injuries allowed on both of his Michelin qualifying tyres this afternoon and fourth place on the grid is a deserved result for the courageous championship leader. Jorge Lorenzo 4th 1.58.711 “The way I felt yesterday, I couldn’t even imagine a result like this today. In fact it was all I could do to believe that I would be able to ride at all. This result is amazing for me, as good as my other pole positions, and it’s given me a lot of confidence despite the pain. Now I have to take care and tomorrow I will just try to do the best I can; who knows what can happen in the race? I have a lot of pain in both feet and ankles and it’s difficult to change down with the left and to change direction with the right, but I showed I am able to do it. Yesterday’s crash was big, probably the biggest of my career, but I think I was actually quite lucky not to have worse injuries. The doctors at the clinic are working very hard to help me and now I will go back there for more treatment. Hopefully I will be feeling better again tomorrow and we will do what we can, rain or shine!” Danielle Romagnoli “Jorge is still surprising us! He did an unbelievable job in today’s qualifying considering his injuries, and after the crash yesterday we could never have imagined a result like this. Having missed all of yesterday, we only had one session to set-up the bike but we managed to find a good race pace and some good tyres with Michelin. Then fourth place with the qualifying tyre this afternoon is very impressive! Thank you to Dr. Costa and to all of the team at the Clinica Mobile; they’ve played a very important part in today’s result. The race is a different story because it’s long and it will be arduous for Jorge, but hopefully he will be feeling a little bit better tomorrow and we know how brave he is!”