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Capirossi in pole position for Dutch Grand Prix
Assen, June 28: Loris Capirossi, winner of the last MotoGP race in Spain, took pole position on Friday (June 27) for Saturday`s Dutch Grand Prix.
Assen, June 28: Loris Capirossi, winner of the last MotoGP race in Spain, took pole position on Friday (June 27) for Saturday's Dutch Grand Prix.
The Italian posted a time of one minute, 59.770 seconds on his Ducati, a record for the Assen circuit and 0.171 seconds quicker than Max Biaggi on a Honda. World champion Valentino Rossi was third fastest on his Honda, with Yamaha team mates Carlos Checa of Spain fourth and Frenchman Olivier Jacque fifth. "We still have to do a lot. My bike is doing well but it is not yet perfect," Capirossi said. Biaggi said he had found a new tyre to reduce shaking the front wheel. "I am happy. I was fast and the first Honda...I think everyone found some extra speed and so did I," he said.
Rossi, who had the provisional pole position on Thursday, said he had been running a new model of bike during practice, but would switch back to the old one on race day due to the noise from the exhaust pipes.
"I lost my position but that's okay. We have a good bike for tomorrow," the championship leader said.
Checa said he was determined to improve his position on Saturday. "I think we are catching up with the top riders. We have made good progress and I am ready to fight for the podium," he said.
In the 250cc, Manuel Poggiali of San Marino went from strength to strength in the afternoon sunshine, continually improving his lap times to consolidate his provisional pole position with a new circuit record of two minutes, 4.050 seconds.
As several of the top riders concentrated on their set-up for Saturdays race, it was not until the second half of the session that the lap times began to pick up, although Poggiali remained in supreme control at the top of the time sheets as he systematically destroyed the previous pole record held by current world 250cc champion Marco Melandri of Italy.
Frenchman Randy De Puniet moved to within 0.536 seconds of Poggiali to seal second place on his last lap, relegating Spaniards Toni Elias and Fonsi Nieto, who did not improve his provisional time, to third and fourth place respectively Nieto only just hung on to his front row slot as Argentine Sebastian Porto edged to within 0.054 seconds of an all-Aprilia front row on his Honda. Porto is joined on the second row by factory team-mate Roberto Rolfo of Italy, as the two Hondas sandwich the Aprilias of team-mates Silvain Guintoli and Franco Battaini.
Daniel Pedrosa slashed almost two seconds off his provisional qualifying time to take pole position for 125cc race, before crashing and destroying his Honda at the end of the session.
The youngster threw caution to the wind after struggling through various breakdowns on Thursday, smashing his own previous pole record by almost a second after just six laps.
Provisional pole holder Alex De Angelis of San Marino came close to edging the Spaniard off the top of the time sheets at the end of the session but could ultimately only pull to within 0.053 seconds.
Steve Jenkner and Stefano Perugini also made vast improvements to their provisional times to seal the final front two positions, with Perugini slipstreaming De Angelis to drop his previous best by 2.041 seconds.
Peruginis late effort knocked Thomas Luthi off the front row into fifth, after the Swiss youngster had demonstrated he could be ready to repeat his podium heroics from Catalunya with a string of fast laps.
Casey Stoner also dropped to the second row in sixth after severe chatter problems prevented him from improving on his provisional front row time from yesterday. Jorge Lorenzo was also unable to improve his provisional time and he was edged to the outside of the second row by Youcihi Ui, who moved up to seventh.
Grid positions: MotoGP 1. Loris Capirossi (Italy) Ducat 1 minute 59.770 seconds 2. Max Biaggi (Italy) Honda 1:59.941 3. Valentino Rossi (Italy) Honda 1:59.964 4. Carlos Checa (Spain) Yamaha 2:00.169 5. Olivier Jacque (France) Yamaha 2:00.294 6. Alex Barros (Brazil) Yamaha 2:00.501 7. Sete Gibernau (Spain) Honda 2:00.553 8. Marco Melandri (Italy) Yamaha 2:00.553 9. Colin Edwards (U.S.) Aprilia 2:00.579 10. Shinya Nakano (Japan) Yamaha 2:00.693 11. Tohru Ukawa (Japan) Honda 2:00.929 12. Nicky Hayden (U.S.) Honda 2:00.998 13. Troy Bayliss (Australia) Ducati 2:01.147 14. Noriyuki Haga (Japan) Aprilia 2:01.188 15. Yukio Kagayama (Japan) Suzuki 2:01.601 16. John Hopkins (U.S.) Suzuki 2:01.715 17. Alex Hofmann (Germany) Kawasaki 2:02.172 18. Makoto Tamada (Japan) Honda 2:02.351 19. Jeremy McWilliams (Britain) Proton 2:03.996 20. Andrew Pitt (Australia) Kawasaki 2:03.371 21. Garry McCoy (Australia) Kawasaki 2:03.407 22. Ryuichi Kiyonari (Japan) Honda 2:03.707 23. Nobuatsu Aoki (Japan) Proton 2:06.172
250cc 1. Manuel Poggiali (San Marino) Aprilia 2:04.050 2. Randy De Puniet (France) Aprilia 2:04.586 3. Toni Elias (Spain) Aprilia 2:04.712 4. Fonsi Nieto (Spain) Aprilia 2:04.866 5. Sebastian Porto (Argentina) Honda 2:04.920 6. Sylvain Guintoli (France) Aprilia 2:05.190 7. Franco Battaini (Italy) Aprilia 2:05.190 8. Roberto Rolfo (Italy) Honda 2:05.547 9. Anthony West (Australia) Aprilia 2:05.755 10. Naoki Matsudo (Japan) Yamaha 2:05.755
125cc 1. Daniel Pedrosa (Spain) Honda 2 minutes 10.724 seconds 2. Alex De Angelis (San Marino) Aprilia 2:10.777 3. Steve Jenkner (Germany) Aprilia 2:10.814 4. Stefano Perugini (Italy) Aprilia 2:11.052 5. Thomas Luthi (Switzerland) Honda 2:11.545 6. Casey Stoner (Australia) Aprilia 2:11.632 7. Youichi Ui (Japan) Aprilia 2:11.700 8. Jorge Lorenzo (Spain) Derbi 2:11.714 9. Hector Barbera (Spain) Aprilia 2:11.741 10. Mika Kallio (Finland) Honda 2:11.957
Bureau Report
The Italian posted a time of one minute, 59.770 seconds on his Ducati, a record for the Assen circuit and 0.171 seconds quicker than Max Biaggi on a Honda. World champion Valentino Rossi was third fastest on his Honda, with Yamaha team mates Carlos Checa of Spain fourth and Frenchman Olivier Jacque fifth. "We still have to do a lot. My bike is doing well but it is not yet perfect," Capirossi said. Biaggi said he had found a new tyre to reduce shaking the front wheel. "I am happy. I was fast and the first Honda...I think everyone found some extra speed and so did I," he said.
Rossi, who had the provisional pole position on Thursday, said he had been running a new model of bike during practice, but would switch back to the old one on race day due to the noise from the exhaust pipes.
"I lost my position but that's okay. We have a good bike for tomorrow," the championship leader said.
Checa said he was determined to improve his position on Saturday. "I think we are catching up with the top riders. We have made good progress and I am ready to fight for the podium," he said.
In the 250cc, Manuel Poggiali of San Marino went from strength to strength in the afternoon sunshine, continually improving his lap times to consolidate his provisional pole position with a new circuit record of two minutes, 4.050 seconds.
As several of the top riders concentrated on their set-up for Saturdays race, it was not until the second half of the session that the lap times began to pick up, although Poggiali remained in supreme control at the top of the time sheets as he systematically destroyed the previous pole record held by current world 250cc champion Marco Melandri of Italy.
Frenchman Randy De Puniet moved to within 0.536 seconds of Poggiali to seal second place on his last lap, relegating Spaniards Toni Elias and Fonsi Nieto, who did not improve his provisional time, to third and fourth place respectively Nieto only just hung on to his front row slot as Argentine Sebastian Porto edged to within 0.054 seconds of an all-Aprilia front row on his Honda. Porto is joined on the second row by factory team-mate Roberto Rolfo of Italy, as the two Hondas sandwich the Aprilias of team-mates Silvain Guintoli and Franco Battaini.
Daniel Pedrosa slashed almost two seconds off his provisional qualifying time to take pole position for 125cc race, before crashing and destroying his Honda at the end of the session.
The youngster threw caution to the wind after struggling through various breakdowns on Thursday, smashing his own previous pole record by almost a second after just six laps.
Provisional pole holder Alex De Angelis of San Marino came close to edging the Spaniard off the top of the time sheets at the end of the session but could ultimately only pull to within 0.053 seconds.
Steve Jenkner and Stefano Perugini also made vast improvements to their provisional times to seal the final front two positions, with Perugini slipstreaming De Angelis to drop his previous best by 2.041 seconds.
Peruginis late effort knocked Thomas Luthi off the front row into fifth, after the Swiss youngster had demonstrated he could be ready to repeat his podium heroics from Catalunya with a string of fast laps.
Casey Stoner also dropped to the second row in sixth after severe chatter problems prevented him from improving on his provisional front row time from yesterday. Jorge Lorenzo was also unable to improve his provisional time and he was edged to the outside of the second row by Youcihi Ui, who moved up to seventh.
Grid positions: MotoGP 1. Loris Capirossi (Italy) Ducat 1 minute 59.770 seconds 2. Max Biaggi (Italy) Honda 1:59.941 3. Valentino Rossi (Italy) Honda 1:59.964 4. Carlos Checa (Spain) Yamaha 2:00.169 5. Olivier Jacque (France) Yamaha 2:00.294 6. Alex Barros (Brazil) Yamaha 2:00.501 7. Sete Gibernau (Spain) Honda 2:00.553 8. Marco Melandri (Italy) Yamaha 2:00.553 9. Colin Edwards (U.S.) Aprilia 2:00.579 10. Shinya Nakano (Japan) Yamaha 2:00.693 11. Tohru Ukawa (Japan) Honda 2:00.929 12. Nicky Hayden (U.S.) Honda 2:00.998 13. Troy Bayliss (Australia) Ducati 2:01.147 14. Noriyuki Haga (Japan) Aprilia 2:01.188 15. Yukio Kagayama (Japan) Suzuki 2:01.601 16. John Hopkins (U.S.) Suzuki 2:01.715 17. Alex Hofmann (Germany) Kawasaki 2:02.172 18. Makoto Tamada (Japan) Honda 2:02.351 19. Jeremy McWilliams (Britain) Proton 2:03.996 20. Andrew Pitt (Australia) Kawasaki 2:03.371 21. Garry McCoy (Australia) Kawasaki 2:03.407 22. Ryuichi Kiyonari (Japan) Honda 2:03.707 23. Nobuatsu Aoki (Japan) Proton 2:06.172
250cc 1. Manuel Poggiali (San Marino) Aprilia 2:04.050 2. Randy De Puniet (France) Aprilia 2:04.586 3. Toni Elias (Spain) Aprilia 2:04.712 4. Fonsi Nieto (Spain) Aprilia 2:04.866 5. Sebastian Porto (Argentina) Honda 2:04.920 6. Sylvain Guintoli (France) Aprilia 2:05.190 7. Franco Battaini (Italy) Aprilia 2:05.190 8. Roberto Rolfo (Italy) Honda 2:05.547 9. Anthony West (Australia) Aprilia 2:05.755 10. Naoki Matsudo (Japan) Yamaha 2:05.755
125cc 1. Daniel Pedrosa (Spain) Honda 2 minutes 10.724 seconds 2. Alex De Angelis (San Marino) Aprilia 2:10.777 3. Steve Jenkner (Germany) Aprilia 2:10.814 4. Stefano Perugini (Italy) Aprilia 2:11.052 5. Thomas Luthi (Switzerland) Honda 2:11.545 6. Casey Stoner (Australia) Aprilia 2:11.632 7. Youichi Ui (Japan) Aprilia 2:11.700 8. Jorge Lorenzo (Spain) Derbi 2:11.714 9. Hector Barbera (Spain) Aprilia 2:11.741 10. Mika Kallio (Finland) Honda 2:11.957
Bureau Report