Camel Yamaha pair charge up the time sheets in qualifying

Valentino Rossi will start from the front row of the grid in third place with his Camel Yamaha team-mate Colin Edwards just two spots behind him in fifth when the Australian Grand Prix gets underway tomorrow, thanks to a much improved performance on the second day of action at Phillip Island. After initially struggling to find an adequate set-up for their YZR-M1 machines in yesterday's opening free practice sessions due to the cool spring temperatures, both riders worked effectively with their pit crews to find better grip for the rear tyre - improving their best lap times by almost two seconds and securing prime starting positions for tomorrow's crucial round in the process.

For Rossi the target is a sixth victory of the season as he looks to pull even closer to series leader Nicky Hayden (Honda). After an excellent run of recent form the Italian lies just 26 points short of the American and tomorrow promises to be another mouth-watering duel between the pair, with Hayden starting from pole position thanks to a record lap this afternoon. Edwards is also targeting his best finish of the season in front of a bumper Phillip Island crowd including many of his Australian family members and friends.

Valentino Rossi (3rd - 1'29.271; 28 laps) "The team did a really good job today because we had some difficulties setting the bike up yesterday, but today it worked really well and I was able to qualify on the front row, which is very important at this circuit. Because of the temperatures here we are finding it hard to get heat into the rear tyre and we struggled a bit again today, which is why I had to leave it so late before trying for the fast time on the qualifying tyre. We still have some work to do in this aspect on the race setting but with the qualifying tyre the grip was there and I was able to go third fastest, even though I ran off the track on my out lap and then my bike did a small wheelie in the last corner on my flying lap. Anyway I am happy and want to say a big thank you to my team and to Michelin for the excellent progress we made today. I'm surprised that Capirossi and Gibernau are so far back because they have got a very strong race pace so I suppose me and Nicky will be pushing hard from the start to try and escape."

Colin Edwards (5th - 1'29.680; 29 laps) "I don't think I've ever gone from one extreme to the other to this extent in my whole career! From being totally miserable yesterday I'm now really happy and content with our set-up and today's work. It's a good feeling! We've actually made a big move with the setting, back towards what we had at China and Le Mans and it seems to be working. The thing is we had a different chassis back then and we were suffering with chatter at the time so we never went back to that but the guys worked overtime and came up with a concoction that worked. I've really got to thank my team; we've changed almost everything possible since yesterday, from electronics to suspension and, bar the engine and the chassis, it's hardly the same bike today. They've put in the hours and it's clearly worked so I really am seriously grateful to them. I'm really happy with my race tyre and the set-up we used through the session and then the qualifier I used was like superglue! It's no secret that we were struggling in the tyre area too yesterday so I want to say thanks to Michelin, they've pulled something out overnight and it's looking good. I can't wait for tomorrow; it feels good to be starting at the right end of the grid for my favourite race of the year!

Davide Brivio - Camel Yamaha Team Director "It's been a very good day for us. Firstly we're all really pleased to see Colin back near the top again and feeling so much better with the bike. Then with Valentino we achieved our main target of starting on the front row and this is very important for tomorrow's race. I think it's going to be a very interesting race tomorrow! The race pace of both Valentino and Colin is very good and I think it's going to be a great fight, as it always is at Phillip Island, with a lot of overtaking. I hope that we will be in that fight with both our riders!"

Superb qualifying result for Tech 3 Yamaha Team at Phillip Island

Carlos Checa   

In another impressive step for the Tech 3 Yamaha Team, lead rider Carlos Checa scored the team a stunning qualifying position for the team when he secured the sixth fastest time in the solitary one-hour session as Nicky Hayden (Honda) claimed pole position.

Proving the giant leaps in the performance of the Dunlop qualifying tyres Carlos was also the fastest rider in the third free practice session held earlier in the day surprising the world with the result.

Besides providing the best qualifying time of 2006 for the Tech 3 Yamaha Team, Carlos was able to run very impressive times with race tyres instilling the team with confidence for what is hoped to be the best race result of the year.

While Carlos proved how well the team has progressed through the year in Dunlop's return to the premier class of racing, teammate James Ellison struggled as he will start from 18th position on the grid although he took two seconds of his lap times.

Carlos Checa (6th, 1'29.865, 29 laps) "That was definitely the best result for us for the year and being able to do laps in the 1'29 sec bracket was outstanding. It is also the biggest improvement for the Dunlop qualifying tyres that I have seen and doing it at a track like Phillip Island that is so hard on tyres is very satisfying and proves how hard Dunlop have been working. To be the fastest the morning gave me one of the best feelings I have ever had in racing. I love this track and I have had some very good results here over the years so I am looking forward to another good result tomorrow. Besides the times we could do on qualifying tyres we also have good pace on race tyres with excellent durability and stability so we are confident that we can get our best result of the year. As we have found this big improvement in our qualifying tyres it gives us a perfect chance to get away with the leaders as we are on the second row of the grid. If you said to me a few weeks ago that we would be on the second row of the grid I would've laughed at you but I must thank Dunlop and my Tech 3 team for all the hard work they have been putting in to try and make us more competitive."

James Ellison (18th1'31.998, 28 laps) "We are basically struggling with the same stuff as normal in the front and rear tyres using different rim sizes and different profiles. We found that as we are using very similar tyres to what Carlos is using and then we were able to start working ion the bike and see some changes to our times. We have been moving forward and finally broke into the 1'31 sec bracket so we made a few steps forward then we hit a wall. The next wall we have hit is in the three fast corners as its running into the corner and we're pushing wise so we are limited to how fast we can go into the corners. We have a plan and the boys seem to know what to do so hopefully we will find something overnight and be able to try something new in the morning to ensure we can run at a decent pace in the race Saying that, I'm really happy for Carlos as it's a fitting reward for all the hard work the team has been putting in and shows that the Dunlops are improving."

Herve Poncharal - Tech 3 Yamaha Team Director "First up I want to thank Carlos a lot. He has worked so hard all year and this proves the work and information he has been supplying is helping us and Dunlop. It has been a really good week so far and for sure the best weekend we have had all year. We are really happy to see everything improving the way it is and to see Carlos on top of the sheet this morning was truly a great moment. To be on the second row is also very important as this track is which is supposed to be one of the most difficult for tyres and we are doing well on both race and qualifying tyres. Second row is our best grid position so far and we are very optimistic but it is such a close grid and the racing is always so close here that anything can happen so you can hope for a top five but you can easily finish 14th or 15th The start will be very important as we have to be very aggressive for the first few laps so if we can do that we are in a very good shape so we can look for a strong result which would be superb. This result confirms what I have been saying all year with Dunlop improving race by race and together with Yamaha we have a very good package so this looks good for the future. Again I would like to congratulate Carlos as he has doing a very tremendous job."

Circuit Length: 4448 Temp: 17 Weather: Dry     2006 MotoGP Phillip Island 16/09/2006 Qualifying 1 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Nicky Hayden Honda USA 1'29.020 2 Shinya Nakano Kawasaki JPN 1'29.258 3 Valentino Rossi Yamaha ITA 1'29.271 4 Kenny Roberts Team Robert KR USA 1'29.662 5 Colin Edwards Yamaha USA 1'29.680 6 Carlos Checa Yamaha ESP 1'29.865 7 Marco Melandri Honda ITA 1'29.949 8 Casey Stoner Honda AUS 1'29.969 9 Randy De Puniet Kawasaki FRA 1'30.037 10 Daniel Pedrosa Honda ESP 1'30.081 11 Makato Tamada Honda JPN 1'30.132 12 Sete Gibernau Ducati ESP 1'30.237 13 Loris Capirossi Ducati ITA 1'30.393 14 Toni Elias Honda ESP 1'30.498 15 John Hopkins Suzuki USA 1'31.143 18 James Ellison Yamaha GBR 1'31.998