ROSSI HEADS MOTOGP GRID FOR GRAN PREMI CINZANO DE CATALUNYA
17 June 2006 - Moto GP

Gran Premi Cinzano de Catalunya - Saturday 17th June 2006

Under bright Spanish sunshine on the outskirts of Barcelona, the MotoGP World Championship held the all important qualifying sessions to decide grid positions for tomorrow’s Gran Premi Cinzano de Catalunya. Fans flocked to the circuit from far and wide, and were not left disappointed after three fantastic battles to top the timesheets.

A rider with a history of success at the Circuit de Catalunya, Valentino Rossi will start tomorrow’s crucial race at the head of the field, taking the 31st premier class pole of his illustrious career. The Camel Yamaha rider justified his position as the favourite for tomorrow’s Gran Premi Cinzano de Catalunya by storming round the track in a time of 1’41.855, the fastest that he has ever ridden around the Montmelo track. The early stages of the qualifying session saw Rossi take a trip onto the grass, before he came back to take the spectacular pole.

Second place on the grid goes to John Hopkins, the Suzuki rider also breaking the 1’42 barrier on a great day for the team.

Another rider delighted with his qualifying performance will be Kenny Roberts Jr, one of the most prominent riders during the previous three sessions at the Catalunya Track. On board his father''s KR211V machine with the Honda engine, the American former World Champion takes his first front row start since Donington 2004, third on the grid.

Chris Vermeulen earned his best dry weather qualifying position of 2006, putting two Suzuki bikes in the first four whilst Shinya Nakano continued his fine run of qualifying form with a fifth position on the Kawasaki.

Championship leader Loris Capirossi rounds off the second row for tomorrow’s race, ahead of closest rival Nicky Hayden, Casey Stoner and late crasher Marco Melandri on row 3. French rider Randy de Puniet completes the top ten ahead of home rider Dani Pedrosa who disappointed in qualifying despite having shown good pace throughout the weekend.

Andrea Dovizioso took his second 250cc pole position of the season after a blistering final hot lap of the Montmelo circuit allowed him to overtake both Fortuna Aprilia riders.

Humangest Racing’s Italian star was one tenth of a second ahead of Jorge Lorenzo, with a lap of 1’46.792. Lorenzo had set this morning’s fastest time. The Spaniard’s team-mate and provisional pole-man Alex Debon, standing in for the injured Hector Barbera, took an impressive third position. Alex de Angelis will round off tomorrow’s front row, ahead of Aoyama brothers Hiroshi and Shuhei.

Roberto Locatelli and Jakub Smrz will also start from row two for the 250cc Gran Premi Cinzano de Catalunya, with Yuki Takahashi and Marco Simoncelli the other riders in the top ten.

Alvaro Bautista took his third pole position of the season in the 125cc category today in Catalunya, the Master MVA Aspar rider clocking a time of 1’50.281 to edge out Mika Kallio by two tenths of a second. Jorge Lorenzo’s 2004 pole record was beaten by Bautista as he headed a mainly Spanish front row, joined by Pablo Nieto and Hector Faubel.

Mattia Pasini, winner in Mugello, will lead the second row, alongside Julian Simon, Lukas Pesek and Simone Corsi. Nico Terol and Thomas Luthi completed the top ten.

There was disappointment for the Repsol Honda Team this morning, as their expected 125cc British partnership for tomorrow’s race was cancelled. Late wild card addition Daniel Webb, a rising star of the Red Bull MotoGP Academy, suffered a fractured radius of the right arm in the final practice session. He was assessed in the Clinica Mobile before being taken to the Clinica Dexeus in Barcelona, where the injury will be looked at by Dr Xavier Mir.

Rookie Bradley Smith will continue to ride in tomorrow’s race, whilst his expected team-mate will miss the next round of the CEV Buckler in Albacete.

Tomoyoshi Koyama will be another absentee from tomorrow’s 125cc grid, having suffered a fractured left wrist in the qualifying session, whilst Stefan Bradl also misses out.

Pole position, Valentino Rossi (Yamaha), 1''41.855 :

''It is a great, great pleasure to earn this pole. I finished with another mile left on the tyres, and I wanted to do another lap to say “ciao” to the spectators.
It’s been a long time off pole, and I’ve been struggling with the M1, but I need to thank Michelin and Yamaha. Especially at the end we had time to set up qualification tyres, and the last lap was a great one, I have a lot of fans in Spain and I am looking forward to racing in front of them against other great riders.''

2nd, John Hopkins (Suzuki), 1''41.984 :

''The possibility of that podium is always there, and we are trying as hard as we can. The Bridgestones are really coming along. You can’t count us out but it will be difficult race with the heat and I think we can get a good result.''

3rd, Kenny Roberts Jr. (KR211V), 1''42.055 :

''Certainly since China we got some advice from Honda. We added it to the bike and we have slowly been working on the set-up.
I knew we’d be competitive, the race pace has improved, and from yesterday to this morning we were riding well.
When two riders arrive at the team it’s going to be interesting, with our history in motorsport. We need to improve obviously but we can do better for sure.''

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