YAMAHA BATTLES HARD IN FINAL QUALIFYING
03 July 2004 - Yamaha Racing

Gauloises Fortuna Yamaha riders Valentino Rossi and Carlos Checa continued their joint quest to find a perfect set-up around the bumpy Brazilian tarmac at Rio, with Rossi finishing his two days of qualifying eighth overall, and Checa a disappointed 12th.

But it wasn’t only the factory Yamaha team that found the going tough with Fortuna Gauloises Tech 3 riders Marco Melandri and Norick Abe qualifying 13th and 15th respectively.

A sensational and overheated final qualifying session saw Rossi on the grass in his efforts to improve his starting position, his last lap providing him with a time of 1’49.075. For Checa his very last lap was the only one which improved on his Friday best, his time of 1’49.673 leaving him with a fourth row start in 12th place.

None of the top riders were able to improve on their first day times until the final 15 minutes of the Saturday session, at which point Max Biaggi (Honda, 1’48.572) and pole sitter Kenny Roberts (Suzuki, 1’48.418) hopped up the starting order. Their progress started an avalanche of improvements in lap times from other top riders and all but one, Rossi’s great championship rival fourth placed Sete Gibernau (Honda, 1’48.618), went faster before the clock timed out.

Marco managed a fifth row start from 13th while his team-mate Norick also qualified on row five in 15th – their times 1’49.773 and 1’50.128 respectively. After two strong races, where he finished third in each at Catalunya and Assen, Melandri had a suspicion this track would not suit him or the YZR-M1 so well. Despite massive efforts, in the beating Brazilian heat, the Italian is not where he wants to be and a lightning-quick start is essential if he is to get on terms in the race.

Norick feels he has a strong race set-up and his bike is better in race trim than it has been on super-sticky qualifying rubber. The buoyant Japanese has won here before and he will give his all to finish higher up the race order than his qualifying work might suggest.

Valentino Rossi (Gauloises Fortuna Yamaha), eighth – 1’49.075 ''We are having many problems here and we have tried to resolve them, but with not much luck. The set-up and the tyres are not working satisfactorily. The bike is moving around too much. Tomorrow will be difficult because we will be starting from further back. It’s quite an interesting starting grid and I’m still going to fight for the podium. We will try more modifications tomorrow morning to improve the stability. The bike is affected a lot by the track here. We still have some ammunition up our sleeves and hopefully in the 20-minute warm-up tomorrow we can make a difference.''

Carlos Checa (Gauloises Fortuna Yamaha), 12th – 1’49.673
''When we got rid of one problem in one area we had another problem in another area. It is difficult to find a good compromise here without losing something important somewhere else. We have to increase the grip of the front contact patch and improve the rear movement. With this feeling it is impossible to keep the speed up when leaning over. That was the main reason that I cannot be more competitive on this track, a track I really like. I am struggling to find a better compromise. For tomorrow, I hope we can start the race in a better condition.''

Davide Brivio, Gauloises Fortuna Yamaha team director
''For Valentino we were able to fix some problems with his bike set-up and he had a good pace through the session. I think it is a pace which will allow him to stay in the top positions tomorrow. The problem is that after his last lap on a qualifying tyre he did not have time to come in and get another one, so he had to stop before the end. Also he made a small mistake when coming out of the last corner, when he drifted onto the grass. That is why we have this grid position, but overall Valentino has a good consistent pace. The grid position on the third row means he will have to work more tomorrow. With Carlos it is a little bit different because he is still not fully comfortable with the settings. We will have to see what we can improve in morning warm-up. It will be a difficult race because of the starting positions, so we will have to see.”

Marco Melandri (Fortuna Gauloises Tech 3) 13th – 1’49.773
“This track looks like the worst of the season for us. I’ve got a few problems. The bike is so nervous here, and now today chatter became a problem too. The bumps really affect the rear of the bike – as soon as you get on the gas it starts pitching. I’m a bit too far from the front and need a great start, but we’ll see.”

Norick Abe (Fortuna Gauloises Tech 3), 15th – 1’50.128
“My lap time is better this session and the bike also feels better which is good. On qualifying tyres there’s much better rear grip, but the front still feels loose. On race rubber I’ve got good feel from the bike and if I can get away well at the start I could have a good race. The biggest problem is still the bumps – we’ve been here two days now and the bumps won’t change.”

Hervé Poncharal, Fortuna Gauloises Tech 3 team director
“It was always going to be difficult to predict this weekend and after two races with two Yamahas on the podium it’s hard to accept that we are this far back. We’re definitely missing something here, but we have to be optimistic for the race, which should be easier for us. We have the capacity to do a lot of fast laps at the race pace and our race distance work has been more rewarding than outright qualifying times. If both riders can get a good start, we’ll see what happens.”

Round: 7 - Rio Grand Prix
Circuit: Rio
Circuit Length: 4933
Lap Record: 1'' 50.453 (Valentino Rossi, 2003)
Fastest Lap Ever: 1'' 49.038 (Valentino Rossi, 2003)
Date: 3 July 2004
Temp: 28ºC

Session 2 :
Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. 1st Qualifying 2nd Qualifying
1 K. Roberts Suzuki USA 1'' 49.876 1'' 48.418
2 M. Biaggi Honda ITA 1'' 49.714 1'' 48.572
3 N. Hayden Honda USA 1'' 49.790 1'' 48.580
4 S. Gibernau Honda ESP 1'' 48.618 1'' 48.829
5 A. Barros Honda BRA 1'' 49.299 1'' 48.675
6 L. Capirossi Ducati ITA 1'' 49.350 1'' 48.844
7 M. Tamada Honda JPN 1'' 49.297 1'' 48.848
8 V. Rossi Yamaha ITA 1'' 49.327 1'' 49.075
9 S. Nakano Kawasaki JPN 1'' 49.531 1'' 49.153
10 T. Bayliss Ducati AUS 1'' 50.366 1'' 49.546
11 C. Edwards Honda USA 1'' 50.164 1'' 49.648
12 C. Checa Yamaha ESP 1'' 50.031 1'' 49.673
13 M. Melandri Yamaha ITA 1'' 50.393 1'' 49.773
14 A. Hofman Kawasaki GER 1'' 50.156 1'' 49.853
15 N. Abe Yamaha JPN 1'' 50.710 1'' 50.128

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