Rossi smashes pole record at Brno

Valentino Rossi will start a MotoGP race from the front of the grid for only the second time this season in tomorrow's Czech Republic Grand Prix after clocking an incredible pole record time in today's single qualifying session at Brno. Rossi's time of 1'56.191 was almost 1.5 seconds inside the previous best lap at this track and followed up an impressive performance yesterday, when he also set the pace. A trial run on a qualifying tyre in those first free practice sessions paid dividends today as the Italian defined his race set-up for the YZR-M1 machine before setting a devastating pace which knocked Loris Capirossi (Ducati) off the top spot in the dying moments of the session. Capirossi will line up in second place whilst Kenny Roberts (Team KR) completes the front row.

Rossi's Camel Yamaha team-mate Colin Edwards also enjoyed a productive day working on his race setting and was on course to challenge for a place on the front two rows before a minor mistake in the first section of his fast lap cost him vital tenths. It meant that his final effort recorded 1'56.967 on the stopwatch - enough for eighth place and a third row start. Tomorrow's race is the first of a final run of six, which will determine whether Rossi can cut back a 51-point gap to series leader Nicky Hayden (Honda) and defend the title of MotoGP World Champion for a fifth successive season.

Valentino Rossi (1st - 1'56.191; 25 laps) "I think the practice today was a great emotion for everybody but especially for us! We worked well on the bike, especially the tyres, because we have suffered too much this season during the practice sessions and my team and Michelin did a great job today. When I saw Loris' time I thought it was very fast and didn't know if I could beat it but I was very determined and I pushed hard on all three qualifying tyres. In the end the final lap was great and to set a 1'56.1 was unbelievable! For tomorrow pole position is definitely better than starting from the fifth row like in other races so for this I am very happy. We still need to decide two or three things about the setting before the race, but I am quite competitive."

Colin Edwards (8th - 1'56.967; 24 laps) "I really don't know what to think about today! Our race pace is okay, we're doing 58.6 which looks like it could compete for the top five, but I won't be happy with that! I think we need to make some more changes for tomorrow morning to the setting and see if we can find another three-tenths. With the setting we were using today, the race tyre was working well for 3 or 4 laps and then it was starting to lose grip and then the lap times were going. So we've got a few ideas and we'll fiddle with the setting in the morning a bit to see if we can sort that out. On the positive side, I think we're finally figuring out what we need to do with the setting in order to make the tyres work better with our bike, and today the qualifier especially worked really well for me. Unfortunately I lost half a second on the first split but the tyre was perfect so that's pretty encouraging after some of the problems we've had with qualifiers so far this season!"

Davide Brivio - Camel Yamaha Team Director "It is very nice to be back in pole position - our first target for the weekend was to qualify on the front two rows so we are delighted that Valentino has gone one better! The last three races have all been complicated for us because of the starting position but hopefully now this should not be a problem for us tomorrow. Now we need to fix a few things with the bike and find the best combination of the different settings we have tried over the course of the weekend so far. There are a few riders with a good pace so it will be a difficult race but we expect Valentino to be up there and if Colin can get a decent start then I believe he also has the pace to stay with the leaders and end the weekend with a good result. For Valentino this is a very important race because the championship could be a lot clearer tomorrow night."

Back to the drawing board for Tech3 Yamaha Team

James Ellison   

A promising opening day was a distant memory by this afternoon for Carlos Checa on his Tech 3 Yamaha YZF-M1 after he recorded his worst qualifying performance of the year. Carlos will start from 17th position on the grid as fellow Yamaha rider Valentino Rossi stormed to pole position with an astounding lap time over two seconds below his own current lap record. The team battled valiantly to overcome handling problems that surfaced in Carlos's bike during the morning's final free practice session only for the situation to be magnified during the afternoon's critical qualifying session. It wasn't all bad news for the Tech 3 Yamaha Team as James Ellison managed to subtract over two seconds off his time from yesterday although he is only one spot ahead of his teammate in 16th position

James Ellison (16th, 1'59.011, 24 laps) "It's been a long time coming and obviously I'm happing to be where I am in front of Carlos but you can see the guy has got a lot of problems - he is never three seconds off the pace. We both have things to work on I'm having chattering problems but we have managed to get it down to just two areas. We really need to find out where the problem is coming from. Everytime we improve the chatter I go half a second quicker, it's not just a little step. It's the quickest I've been around here and I know there is more that can come off but I can't believe how quick Rossi is going around here. That is incredible. I've come with the same attitude as ever to push as hard as I can but fortunately for this circuit has been quite good as we have been able to eliminate most of the chatter and I can push as hard as I want. We are by no means on the pace I would like to be but at least we are moving in the right direction. I don't want to change too much now and ruin it for the race. I've done 30 laps on the front tyre so I'm happy with that as it is the bigger tyre as well, so it's just a matter of finding a decent rear tyre for the distance.

Carlos Checa (17th, 1'59.289, 22 laps) "I think that is the worst qualifying session of my entire life. I don't know what happened but everything we tried nothing worked. It is very frustrating after how we felt after the first day when we were seventh fastest. Today was a major disappointment because I couldn't lap quicker on qualifiers today that what we did yesterday We haven't got too much time to find a cure and even if we do it will be very hard work from so far back on the grid. I think I will have to put it down to one of those days and hope we can work a bit of magic overnight. Saying that it mightn't be as bad as it seems because the lap times during the race will be nothing like the qualifying laps so that may help us to stay in touch if I can get a good start and stick with the pack

Herve Poncharal - Tech 3 Yamaha Team Director Clearly this is not a good day for the team. We were expecting a lot better especially after the last race in the US before the break. Although yesterday we did quite a good pace we have never been on the pace. We seem to have a lot of chatter and we didn't find any real solution to get rid of it and that is what is upsetting Carlos the most. On the other hand, I am quite happy with James. He has been using his qualifying tyre really well to be over a second quicker than on his race tyre. That is the only good point of the weekend so far. We have been struggling. We're nowhere near where we are supposed to be. Dunlop brought many, many new products but we haven't been able to test them properl. We are not so far off on race tyres so hopefully that will help us tomorrow. The only good news is that we have another two days to test here after the race to try and understand what is happening and to fix the problem for the next three overseas races. The other thing that may help us a bit is the weather. We do not pray for rain but if the situation remains the same the race will be quite difficult for us. We will be looking for a few points and then to work hard on Monday and Tuesday.

Circuit Length: 5403 Temp: 25 Weather: Dry     2006 MotoGP Brno 19/08/2006 Qualifying 1 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Valentino Rossi Yamaha ITA 1'56.191 2 Loris Capirossi Ducati ITA 1'56.441 3 Kenny Roberts Team Robert KR USA 1'56.603 4 Nicky Hayden Honda USA 1'56.694 5 Shinya Nakano Kawasaki JPN 1'56.770 6 Toni Elias Honda ESP 1'56.875 7 John Hopkins Suzuki USA 1'56.913 8 Colin Edwards Yamaha USA 1'56.967 9 Daniel Pedrosa Honda ESP 1'57.139 10 Randy De Puniet Kawasaki FRA 1'57.185 11 Marco Melandri Honda ITA 1'57.221 12 Casey Stoner Honda AUS 1'57.679 13 Chris Vermeulen Suzuki AUS 1'57.894 14 Alex Hofmann Ducati GER 1'57.906 15 Makato Tamada Honda JPN 1'58.239 16 James Ellison Yamaha GBR 1'59.011 17 Carlos Checa Yamaha ESP 1'59.289