ROSSI FOURTH AFTER SCORCHING FIRST DAY AT RIO
02 July 2004 - Yamaha Racing

The MotoGP contingent encountered perfect weather and improving track conditions at Rio today, putting in a hot day of toil throughout the first of two timed qualifying sessions.

Valentino Rossi (Gauloises Fortuna Yamaha), who was fastest in the unofficial morning session, finished fourth fastest overall on day one; team-mate Carlos Checa was tenth quickest.

Of the two riders Checa was the first to show his speed, going second within minutes of the start of the qualifying session and only being slowly deposed as the session wound down. Rossi was in third spot for the first half of the hour, but fast laps from his rivals pushed the world champion to tenth place at one stage.

With five minutes left on the clock, Rossi re-entered the competition for provisional pole at the very top level, setting the best lap to that point, a 1''49.327s. Sete Gibernau (Honda) nonetheless proved to be the ultimate top qualifier on day one, his time of 1''48.618s the best ever at Rio. Makoto Tamada (Honda, 1''49.297) and Alex Barros (Honda,
1''49.299) filled the provisional front row, just ahead of Rossi. Checa''s best lap of the day was 1''50.031s, as the London-based Spaniard was hampered by rear traction concerns.

Fortuna Gauloises Tech 3 riders Marco Melandri (1''50.393) and Norick Abe
(1''50.710) had to work hard in the beating Brazilian heat today and still the results were less than ideal. Melandri ended today''s provisional qualifying session in a lowly 14th place while Abe put his Yamaha YZR-M1 in 15th on the grid.

Marco lost valuable time with machine trouble in the morning free training and this hampered his progress this afternoon. But the Italian and his crew are sure they can glean vital information from the data and raise their game in tomorrow''s final qualifying session.

The 27-degree air temperatures are expected to continue tomorrow and qualifying lap times should drop further, as the seldom-used Rio tarmac generally offers more grip with each passing session.

Valentino Rossi (Gauloises Fortuna Yamaha), fourth - 1''49.327 ''We have quite a lot of problems here. I wasn''t able to go as fast this afternoon as this morning, we seem to have lost our small advantage and could only manage fourth. I think we still haven''t made enough kilometres with this bike. I like this track and normally I have gone well here, but for some reason this afternoon we lost about half a second each lap, although I did make a good time with qualifying tyres. The temperature makes it difficult as well; the bike is very difficult to control. Apart from Assen, where we went immediately very well, we have generally needed more set-up time at the other tracks.''

Carlos Checa (Gauloises Fortuna Yamaha), tenth - 1''50.031
''We have a traction problem, with no side grip. We have been trying hard but after a few laps the tyre grip goes down and then there is nothing I can do. We have to try to find a solution to let me qualify in a better position tomorrow.''

Davide Brivio, Gauloises Fortuna Yamaha team director
''We need to work more on the settings to find the best. It is only the first day, so we have time. It is very bumpy here and that stresses the chassis, and makes finding the correct settings even more important. Valentino did a good lap time on his qualifying tyre but we need to improve the overall pace. This track is a favourite of Valentino so we have to create the right package for him. Carlos was good through the session but went back down the grid after fitting a qualifying tyre.''

Marco Melandri (Fortuna Gauloises Tech 3), 14th - 1''50.393
''We had problems with both bikes this morning and lost time and as a result this afternoon was very difficult. We''ll have a good look at the data and see what we can learn, but the fact is I can''t get on the gas quick enough at the moment.''

Norick Abe (Fortuna Gauloises Tech 3), 15th - 1''50.710
''This is my first time here on a four-stroke at this circuit. This morning felt good and we adjusted some settings for this afternoon and then things felt worse. The rear of the bike feels good, but the front is where the problem is at the moment. There''s more grip than there was this morning and the lap times are coming down, but we''ve got to try more settings tomorrow.''

Hervé Poncharal, Fortuna Gauloises Tech 3 team director
''I don''t quite know why we are where we are at the moment. After two good weekends at Catalunya and Assen it''s hard to accept where we are on the provisional timesheet. Marco had a few problems this morning and lost 40 minutes, but that doesn''t quite explain things. The bumps are a problem, but the weather looks stable and we''ll just try again to get things working better tomorrow.''

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: 2 July 2004
Temp: 27ºC

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

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