Rossi makes timely return to pole in Barcelona

Camel Yamaha Team rider Valentino Rossi will line up in pole position for the first time in almost a year when the MotoGP World Championship riders take their place on the grid for the seventh round of the season at Catalunya tomorrow. The Italian has been in excellent form all weekend and after continuing yesterday's job to set his YZR-M1 up for the 25-lap race, he was able to concentrate fully on a burst of quick laps at the end of this afternoon's qualifying session. His fastest lap registered a new pole record of 1'41.855 and put him at the front of the MotoGP grid for the first time since the 2005 British Grand Prix last July. Colin Edwards also followed up positive work on his two machines yesterday with further progress in the morning free practice, when he set the fourth fastest time on race tyres. However, slight changes to the setting of his bike and the extra grip offered by a softer rear tyre had a detrimental effect as he pushed for a quick lap time at the end of the qualifying session, the American eventually dropping to twelfth place on the grid as a host of riders posted one-off flying laps, despite not matching the consistency demonstrated by Edwards. Rossi will be joined on the front row by two of Edwards' compatriots, John Hopkins (Suzuki) and Kenny Roberts (Honda KR). Valentino Rossi (1st - 1'41.855; 26 laps) "I am really, really happy - it is a big satisfaction to be back on pole after such a long time. The bike has been working really well all weekend and I have to say a big 'thank you' to everybody at Yamaha and all my engineers because they have worked so hard to build this new chassis and then make it work so well in such a short space of time. I said yesterday that we have been able to work in a normal way and this meant that today I was able to focus on finding a good setting for the qualifying tyre and putting some fast laps in at the end. It is the first time I have had this pleasure in a long time and to do it at this track is amazing because it is so much fun to ride here. There are some tough riders out there but I have a special feeling in front of these fans. They always treat me so well and I want to put on a good show for them tomorrow." Colin Edwards (12th - 1'42.655; 26 laps) "I don't seem to be getting any kind of luck in qualifying lately. We haven't had so much time yet with the new chassis and unfortunately when I put the softer tyre on it kept folding the front end, so I couldn't push harder for a time and get the place on the grid that my pace would otherwise reflect. Also we made a couple of changes to the setting - nothing major, just a millimetre here or there - but it seemed to add to the extra force on the front so we perhaps would have been better sticking to what we found in the morning. Tomorrow we'll have to go backwards a little bit with the setting and no doubt we can go forwards a lot during the race!"

Davide Brivio - Camel Yamaha Team Director "Of course it is very nice to be back on pole but the most pleasing thing is to see the constant progression we have made with the bike from Le Mans to Mugello to here. To come off the back of that win in Italy to take pole here is a reflection of the excellent work the team has done with the bike and we hope that this situation is now the 'norm' until the end of the season. It will be a difficult race tomorrow and we are still not sure of the conditions, but we know we can be involved and it will be up to Valentino to keep fighting to the end, as he always does. Colin has a good race pace but he didn't manage to get the best out of the qualifying tyres at the end. He will have another fight on his hands over the first few laps so we will see what happens." Carlos Checa (16th, 1'43.606, 29 laps) ."On race tyres we are stronger than we have ever been and during qualifying we did over 70% of the race distance to show that we now have the consistency. This is very positive but what is disappointing is the lack of performance in the qualifying tyres. We were doing the same times on the qualifying tyres as we managed on race tyres yesterday. After being 11th yesterday it is very disappointing because with qualifying tyres we should be able to go at least a second quicker... On race tyres we can do 1.44s and this is the pace we can run at. If we can get a good start and maintain the lap times that we have done over the last two days on race tyres it should be a good race for us. I had the best race pace today I have ever had and we were able to maintain the same lap times so I am looking forward to having a good battle with a bunch of riders that are close to me. When it was time for the qualifying tyres we tried three but none of them worked so we still have to work on this also. To be frustrated in this way is not the best way to understand the situation. Also on the race tyres we have found much more grip so we have to play around with the setup. To be just 1.2 seconds away from the leaders when everyone is on race tyres is very good for us but we have to improve the qualifying tyres so we may be able to get a better grid position and so be in a better place to battle with a big bunch of riders James Ellison (18th 1'44.727, 25 laps) "It hasn't been the best of days but at least - like Carlos - we are getting some consistency with the race tyres but it's pretty frustrating that our qualifying tyres aren't working too well so we drop down the field. Saying that I have a pretty good race pace and we know that we now have the Dunlop tyres that can last the distance." We are working very hard with Dunlop to come up with a solution and the hard work they have been putting in has been reflected with the improvement to the race tyres. Also we have found some improvements to the chassis and that is allowing me to ride the bike the way I like to ride. Now I can slide it and back it in with a lot more confidence that I have been able to do in previous races. Now that we have tested the tyres for almost an entire race distance it should bring us some better results." Herve Poncharal - Tech3 Yamaha Team Director "A bit disappointing with the starting position as we definitely have to work on the qualifying tyre to get a better grid position. We were doing 43.6 Friday morning with a race tyre and we are 43.6 with a qualifying tyre on Saturday afternoon. Sure when we see what the opposition is doing there is a gap between race and qualifying tyres and we have to work on that. Having said that, I think we are the closest we have ever been on race tyres and race pace. We have been doing race distance this morning and again this afternoon with a high track temperature and we are very consistent in the low 44's. it wont be enough to be in front but I think for the first time if everything goes like we are planning we will have a race without any drop off in tyre performance where we can be all race long in the 44's and we will see where it will take us. I look forward to this race and I especially hope that our riders will be able to stay with other riders and we will have a nice battle through the race instead of seeing the others just disappear and just racing on our own. On this track that is a real distinct possibility. I am happy. I'm not happy with the grid position but if we get a good start I think we can carry a pretty good lap time for the whole race. We did 18 laps this afternoon on the one tyre and maintained the lap times and the race is 22 so I think we should be ok. Round: 7 - 2006 MotoGP Catalunya Circuit: Catalunya Circuit Length: 4727 Lap Record: 1' 43.195 (Valentino Rossi, 2005) Fastest Lap Ever: 1' 41.855 (Valentino Rossi, 2006) Date: 17 June 2006 Temp: 28ºC Session 1 : Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. 1st Qualifying 1 V. Rossi Yamaha ITA   1' 41.855  2 J. Hopkins Suzuki USA   1' 41.984  3 K. Roberts Team Roberts KR USA   1' 42.055  4 C. Vermeulen Suzuki AUS   1' 42.211  5 S. Nakano Kawasaki JPN   1' 42.216  6 L. Capirossi Ducati ITA   1' 42.247  7 N. Hayden Honda USA   1' 42.305  8 C. Stoner Honda AUS   1' 42.344  9 M. Melandri Honda ITA   1' 42.492  10 R. De Puniet Kawasaki FRA   1' 42.620  11 D. Pedrosa Honda ESP   1' 42.648  12 C. Edwards Yamaha USA   1' 42.655  13 S. Gibernau Ducati ESP   1' 42.712  14 T. Elias Honda ESP   1' 42.853  15 M. Tamada Honda JPN   1' 42.869  16 C. Checa Yamaha ESP   1' 43.606  18 J. Ellison Yamaha GBR   1' 44.727