SUPER SHINYA SECURES SECOND ROW START IN SHANGHAI
13 May 2006 - Kawasaki

Kawasaki''s Shinya Nakano missed out on a front row start in tomorrow''s Grand Prix of China by just one tenth of a second today, after qualifying his Ninja ZX-RR fourth fastest during this afternoon''s hour-long timed session at the Shanghai International Circuit.

The 28-year-old Japanese ace will start tomorrow''s 22-lap race from the second row of the grid, one row in front of his Kawasaki teammate, Randy de Puniet, who set the ninth fastest time aboard his Ninja ZX-RR this afternoon.

The heavy rain of yesterday was replaced by dry but overcast conditions for this morning''s hour-long free practice session, giving both Kawasaki riders the chance to work on the dry set-up of their Ninja ZX-RR MotoGP machines, after the washout that was the opening day of practice.

The dry conditions continued into afternoon qualifying, but then, just 25 minutes into the session, the riders were forced back to the pit box by the onset of rain along Shanghai''s 1.2 km main straight. Fortunately the rain was both light and short lived and, with just 15 minutes of the session remaining, both Kawasaki riders were back out on track to assess the track conditions and the possibility of switching to qualifying tyres for the final quarter of the session.

Nakano used his first qualifying tyre to assess grip levels around the 5.281 km Shanghai circuit, before using his second qualifier to take pole position with just four minutes of the session left to run. The Kawasaki rider held onto the top spot until the dying moments, when a quick succession of fast laps saw Honda''s Dani Pedrosa snatch pole position as Nakano was pushed back to fourth place, and the second row of the grid.

With two runs on a qualifying tyre under his belt, Randy de Puniet looked set to snatch his first MotoGP pole position with his final flying lap, but it was not to be. In a calculated gamble the 25-year-old Frenchman chose the softest of Bridgestone''s qualifying tyres for his last run, but started losing time late in the lap when the tyre went off and the rear of his Ninja ZX-RR started to slide under power, forcing de Puniet to settle for ninth place and the third row of the grid.

With so little dry practice time ahead of tomorrow''s 22-lap race, both Kawasaki riders are confident that further improvements can be made to their Ninja ZX-RR machines overnight, which will allow them to improve their lap times on race tyres even further during tomorrow''s race.

Shinya Nakano: 4th - 1''59.570
''I was quite confident going into qualifying after this morning''s free practice session, and I was lying eighth when the rain started halfway through the session. After the difficulties we had yesterday, eighth was not bad, but I really wanted to try and improve on a qualifying tyre, and at that point it didn''t look as if I would get the chance. But the rain had almost stopped after 15 minutes, so we decided to try a qualifier anyway, just to get a feel for the conditions and to find out if it was possible to push hard with the soft tyre. It looked okay, so we put in another qualifier, but grip wasn''t consistent around the whole circuit, so at some corners I couldn''t push as hard as I would if it had been completely dry. Unfortunately, because of the time lost through the rain, I didn''t have time for another run on a qualifier. On race tyres we''re not so far off the leading riders, and I think we can still make some improvements to the bike overnight, so I''m fairly confident for the race tomorrow. For sure, starting the race from the front row would have been better, but I''m happy enough with fourth place on the grid.''

Randy de Puniet: 9th - 2''00.044
''This morning we concentrated on finding both a set-up and a race tyre for the dry conditions, and we continued with this during the first half of this afternoon''s qualifying session. Them just as we were starting to think about switching to a qualifying tyre, the rain started. Luckily it only lasted a few minutes, so with 15 minutes to go we tried our first qualifying tyre. I made a small mistake on the first qualifying run, which lost me some time, and then I got held up behind Carlos Checa on my second qualifier, which again cost me valuable time. Unfortunately, we decided to use the softest compound qualifier for my third and final run, and by the time I got to the long right hand turn before the straight, the rear was starting to spin up as the tyre went off and I had to settle for ninth place on the grid. I''m looking forward to the race tomorrow. In Istanbul I wanted to finish my first MotoGP race, so I was little bit cautious, but for tomorrow my plan is to go as hard as I can from the start, to try and stay in touch with the leading group of riders for as long as possible, and, hopefully, finish the race with a good result. That''s the plan anyway.''

QUALIFYING PRACTICE - FINAL TIMES
1. Dani Pedrosa (SPA) Repsol Honda Team 1''59.009; 2. John Hopkins (USA) Team Suzuki MotoGP +0.364; 3. Colin Edwards (USA) Camel Yamaha Team +0.374; 4. Shinya Nakano (JPN) Kawasaki Racing Team +0.561; 5. Nicky Hayden (USA) Repsol Honda Team +0.565; 6. Sete Gibernau (SPA) Ducati Marlboro Team +0.630; 7. Casey Stoner (AUS) LCR Honda +0.881; 8. Marco Melandri (ITA) Fortuna Honda +1.005; 9. Randy de Puniet (FRA) Kawasaki Racing Team +1.035; 10. Loris Capirossi (ITA) Ducati Marlboro Team +1.069

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