Copyright 2002, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

Final 250cc GP Qualifying Results:

1. Fonsi Nieto, Aprilia, 1:47.315
2. Marco Melandri, Aprilia, 1:47.745
3. Roberto Locatelli, Aprilia, 1:47.792
4. Randy De Puniet, Aprilia, 1:47.805
5. Franco Battaini, Aprilia, 1:47.817
6. Roberto Rolfo, Honda, 1:48.058
7. Emilio Alzamora, Honda, 1:48.444
8. Sebastian Porto, Yamaha, 1:48.447
9. Toni Elias, Aprilia, 1:48.598
10. Alex Debon, Aprilia, 1:48.721
11. Naoki Matsudo, Yamaha, 1:48.737
12. Shahrol Yuzy, Yamaha, 1:48.772
13. Haruchika Aoki, Honda, 1:48.938
14. David Checa, Aprilia, 1:49.249
15. Taro Sekiguchi, Yamaha, 1:49.314

More, from an Aprilia press release:

Marco Melandri second in qualifying.

Four Aprilia RSW 250s make front row.

Nieto, Melandri, Locatelli and De Puniet put their names firmly on the front row of tomorrow’s grid. After going wide mid-way through the session, Macio lost none of his concentration and, just as the session was coming to an close, he made a final burst to secure second spot. Macio repeated his performance in the free practice in the morning and in yesterday’s qualifying session: in both events he had come in right after the quickest time.

# 3 Marco Melandri – (MS APRILIA RACING) – 2nd – 1’47.745

“In today’s qualifying sessions, the temperature was again much higher than in the morning. It was hellishly hot. Tomorrow we’ll be racing at a time of day when it shouldn’t be quite so hot, so I’m hoping the tarmac will be a bit cooler. In this heat, you get the impression your tyres just give out on you after 3 or 4 laps, and you lose your grip. That means it’s hard to guess what’ll happen tomorrow. You can try to spare them, but everything depends on how the race starts out. I don’t know what sort of pace the others will manage to keep up, but it’s sure going to be hard for everyone and I don’t expect many will be able to repeat today’s times. I went fast today and yesterday – though I’m now beginning to be fast and competitive just about everywhere. I’m very hopeful for tomorrow. A win would be important for the Championship ratings, and a great boost for me too. The important thing is to have fun and give the spectators something to enjoy. We’ll just have to see how things turn out.”