MotoGP : Gauloises Yamaha riders ready for Brno battle

Round: 11 - Czech MotoGP
Circuit: Brno
Date: 27 August 2005
Temp: 26ºC
Weather: Sunny

The eleventh round of the MotoGP World Championship looks set to be one of the
most exciting yet after a dramatically close qualifying session at the Brno
circuit in the Czech Republic this afternoon. Gauloises Yamaha Team riders
Valentino Rossi and Colin Edwards will start from the second and third rows of
the grid respectively with less than two seconds covering the top sixteen riders.

Rossi qualified fourth fastest after launching a late pole attack that saw him
dip almost a full second inside his own previous pole record from 2003 with a
best lap of 1'57.875. The Italian's effort was just 0.371 seconds short of the
eventual pole time set by Sete Gibernau (Honda) but it wasn't quite enough to
dislodge Nicky Hayden (Honda) or Loris Capirossi (Ducati) from the front row.
Rossi's team-mate Colin Edwards made another encouraging start to the day as he
lapped third fastest in the morning free practice but the American again
struggled to convert his good race pace to a top qualifying time as he lapped
ninth fastest.

Valentino Rossi (Gauloises Yamaha Team), 4th - 1'57.875

"Today we have done a good job with the set-up of the bike, especially on race
tyres, and I am quite happy with the pace. I thought a 1'57.8 would be enough
for the front row but Loris Capirossi put in a very fast lap at the end and I am
fourth. Gibernau and Hayden are also strong and I think tomorrow will be a very
close race because it is so difficult to escape here - it could be like Mugello
earlier in the season. I hope so because I won that race! I have great rivals
and the men on the front row tomorrow are strong, but I never, never give up
until the finish. The championship is definitely not over yet and my only
thought now is to try and win the race tomorrow."

Colin Edwards (Gauloises Yamaha Team), 9th - 1'58.323

"We made another good start to the day and I'm really happy with the way the
bike is working on race tyres. Unfortunately when we put the qualifying tyre in,
the front end started to hop around a little and I wasn't comfortable enough to
push for the time I think I was capable of. We've also got a little bit of work
to do to make the right side of the race tyre a little happier after ten laps.
If I can still be doing 59.5s or 59.6s in the second half of the race then we've
got a chance of a good result. I'd love to say I'm going to go out and destroy
everybody tomorrow but that's not looking like the case at the moment. We'll
have a chat within the team tonight and see what we can come up with for the
warm-up tomorrow."

Davide Brivio - Gauloises Yamaha team director

"Valentino has a good pace for tomorrow but he is not alone in that aspect and
it looks like it's going to be a very hard race. I think several riders are
going to be in the middle of it and I expect it will be a good battle. Even so,
I don't think it will be just about the guys at the front of the grid because
there are riders further back who can join in and make it close - hopefully
Colin will be one of them. He still has some problems to solve but I have
confidence they can be ironed out. Neither rider is starting from the front but
that is not a problem because they will still fight a great battle for the best
possible finish!"

Toni Elias (Fortuna Yamaha Team), 15th - 1'58.815

"I am happy about today's qualifying time. We've improved step by step and I did
hope to start from the front tomorrow but the rest of the riders improved as
well. We've solved some problems that occurred but it is still very difficult.
We will keep on working and hopefully improve during tomorrow's warm-up. For the
first time this season I could really take the benefits of a qualifying tyre
which I could not do before."

Ruben Xaus (Fortuna Yamaha Team), 20th - 2'01.535

"I won't give up but this circuit, which I haven't ridden a lot, is one of the
most difficult ones of the year. My main problem is the lack of confidence going
into the turns. With soft tyres it feels a lot better but obviously they will
not last the entire race distance. We need to improve the corner stability which
we will try to achieve in the warm-up session."

Round: 11 - Czech MotoGP

Circuit: Brno
Circuit Length: 5403m
Lap Record: 1' 59.302 (Alex Barros, 2004)
Fastest Lap Ever: 1' 57.504 (Sete Gibernau, 2005)
Date: 27 August 2005
Temp: 26ºC

Session 1 :

Pos.Rider         Manufacturer  Nat.  1st Qualifying
 1  S. Gibernau   Honda         ESP   1'57.504
 2  N. Hayden     Honda         USA   1'57.551
 3  L. Capirossi  Ducati        ITA   1'57.685
 4  V. Rossi      Yamaha        ITA   1'57.875
 5  M. Melandri   Honda         ITA   1'57.999
 6  C. Checa      Ducati        ESP   1'58.185
 7  A. Barros     Honda         BRA   1'58.223
 8  J. Hopkins    Suzuki        USA   1'58.277
 9  C. Edwards    Yamaha        USA   1'58.323
10  M. Biaggi     Honda         ITA   1'58.337
11  S. Nakano     Kawasaki      JPN   1'58.490
12  M. Tamada     Honda         JPN   1'58.610
13  T. Bayliss    Honda         AUS   1'58.662
14  A. Hofman     Kawasaki      GER   1'58.793
15  T. Elias      Yamaha        ESP   1'58.815
16  N. Aoki       Suzuki        JPN   1'59.495
20  R. Xaus       Yamaha        ESP   2' 1.535