MOTOGP QUALIFYING 2 - DONINGTON
24 July 2004 - Yamaha Racing

Rossi reigns supreme in Donington qualifying

Gauloises Fortuna Yamaha rider Valentino Rossi secured pole position for Sunday’s 30-lap MotoGP race at Donington with a superb series of high-paced laps, setting a best ever time around the 4.023km Donington track of 1’28.720. His lap beat the previous qualifying best by over two seconds. His team-mate Carlos Checa improved on his Friday time but was forced to settle for seventh position with a lap of 1’29.329, after a front-end slide during what might have been his best lap.

The Fortuna Gauloises Tech 3 riders rode a tough final session with typical grit and determination. But Donington Park is proving tough for both Marco Melandri (1’29.900) and Norick Abe (1’30.460) who qualified 11th and 17th respectively in today’s final hour.

Rossi, second for most of the final hour long session before being deposed by Troy Bayliss (Ducati, 1’29.214) and then a forceful Checa, promptly put in the first ever sub-1’28s Donington lap with eight minutes remaining. He further improved his time to 1’28.879 and finally 1’28.720, taking pole position by 0.432s over one of his main championship rivals, Sete Gibernau (Honda, 1’29.152). Loris Capirossi (Ducati, 1’29.209) was the third fastest rider, completing the front row.

Riding in near-perfect track conditions, Checa made an almost immediate improvement on his Friday time as the session began, setting a 1’29.834 lap time and putting himself fourth for the majority of the hour. He temporarily displaced Rossi from second place with a lap of 1’29.408, before the Italian rider and world championship leader reasserted himself at the top, finishing the session as the only rider in the 1’28s mark.

For Marco this was a Herculean effort after he broke a bone in his right thumb yesterday. After a pain-killing injection he bravely headed on track today to better his time – and succeeded, despite missing this morning’s free practice. He knocked 0.262 seconds off his Friday time, but fell in the final minute almost exactly where he slid off yesterday, at the Melbourne Loop.

He sustained no further injuries, but the durable Italian will decide shortly whether he will make a start from the fourth row of the grid in tomorrow’s 30-lap race, or sit it out. Norick circulated the 4.023km track with consistent speed, and although he only put his YZR-M1 on row six of the grid, the Japanese has proved before that he can make ground on his rivals in a race.

Valentino Rossi (Gauloises Fortuna Yamaha) first – 1’28.720
''I am in pole position and maybe it was possible to make the lap time a little bit better because I made a small mistake with the gears on one corner. I put it into fourth instead of third. I lost a little bit but anyway we are on pole. I am very happy because my Yamaha works very well here, it worked well with the qualifying tyre and is also good with the race tyre. Now we need to make the tyre choice for tomorrow. I have two or three possible race tyres and for sure we need to start with a harder tyre. The setting is good and I love this track, I have fans all around here. I hope that we have good weather tomorrow.''

Carlos Checa (Gauloises Fortuna Yamaha) seventh – 1’29.329
''We went out to improve our pace in the first two split times and I think we have done that. I am satisfied with that but our position for the start tomorrow is not the best. It would have been better to be one or even two rows higher but in the end I almost lost the front going downhill, on the lap before I did my best time. I think that was my real chance on a new tyre. I think it was just a bit too much and I lost some tenths. This is only qualifying and I did not want to upset the bike. We know that when we put the bike over to maximum lean we need more front traction. We have made some changes for the race and the improvements we made through qualifying have been very good. For the race we are not so bad, but it will be a long race over 30 laps. I have a choice of two possible race tyres but already I have made my mind up which one to use.”

Davide Brivio, Gauloises Fortuna Yamaha team director
''I’m happy with that because were still able to remain in front on Saturday and Valentino has been in the top places over both days. The lap time was fantastic and we know he could do even better again – unbelievable. He did a great job and he is in good shape for the race because his pace is good. I really hope it stays dry because otherwise we will waste the great job we have made in these two days. Carlos is seventh but I’m sure he can keep the pace of the top guys. We are aiming to get both riders on the podium. Each team and the Yamaha engineers did a great job.”

Marco Melandri (Fortuna Gauloises Tech 3) 11th – 1’29.900
“I can’t really ride like this. I can’t control the throttle. I’ll have to think about whether I ride or not because my hand was swelling up lap by lap. With the injection I had I didn’t feel so much pain but it lost me feeling in my throttle hand. I only crashed at 50km/h so I didn’t get injured. I’m just angry about my luck – nothing seems to be going right. It’s a shame because the bike is great here.”

Norick Abe (Fortuna Gauloises Tech 3) 17thth – 1’30.460
“Coming into turns the back end is sliding a lot; we tried to fix it but didn’t really make that much improvement, so we have to try a few more things tomorrow. I couldn’t do a fast lap on qualifiers but my times are consistent and so the race might be okay for me.”

Guy Coulon (Marco Melandri’s Crew Chief)
“Tough. We didn’t make any changes and Marco wanted to ride but he had a lot of trouble with his hand. But he improved his time despite that and made a good grid position. We’ll have to wait for a final decision on whether he rides or not. The injection he had in his hand lost him some feeling which was why he crashed.”

Gilles Bigot (Norick Abe’s Crew Chief)
“The same as yesterday, the bike is still a little unstable into the turns. The lap times are quite good and consistent and so it’s a shame to be so far away on the grid. We’ll see if a few little changes make any difference in warm-up but he’s more or less happy with the set-up. The harder front springs we fitted made a difference and we’ll see what happens over race distance.”

Round: 9 - Donington MotoGP
Circuit: Donington
Circuit Length: 4023
Lap Record: 1'' 31.023 (Valentino Rossi, 2003)
Fastest Lap Ever: 1'' 30.740 (Max Biaggi, 2003)
Date: 24 July 2004
Temp: 20ºC

Session 2 :
Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. 1st Qualifying 2nd Qualifying
1 V. Rossi Yamaha ITA 1'' 29.584 1'' 28.720
2 S. Gibernau Honda ESP 1'' 29.910 1'' 29.152
3 L. Capirossi Ducati ITA 1'' 29.681 1'' 29.209
4 T. Bayliss Ducati AUS 1'' 30.258 1'' 29.214
5 C. Edwards Honda USA 1'' 29.919 1'' 29.250
6 N. Hayden Honda USA 1'' 29.295 1'' 29.382
7 C. Checa Yamaha ESP 1'' 29.833 1'' 29.329
8 M. Biaggi Honda ITA 1'' 29.961 1'' 29.502
9 A. Barros Honda BRA 1'' 30.269 1'' 29.801
10 R. Xaus Ducati ESP 1'' 30.305 1'' 29.840
11 M. Melandri Yamaha ITA 1'' 30.162 1'' 29.900
12 S. Nakano Kawasaki JPN 1'' 31.164 1'' 30.214
13 K. Roberts Suzuki USA 1'' 30.366 1'' 30.239
14 N. Hodgson Ducati GBR 1'' 30.478 1'' 30.297
15 M. Tamada Honda JPN 1'' 31.141 1'' 30.371
17 N. Abe Yamaha JPN 1'' 30.559 1'' 30.460

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