EDWARDS SCORES FIRST MOTOGP POLE
 Colin
Edwards took his debut MotoGP pole and Yamaha's fourth of the season at
Le Mans today after a close Qualifying session ahead of tomorrow's
French Grand Prix. The 33-year-old Texan's achievement was made all the
more impressive as it followed a crash in this morning's practice
session, when his M1 high-sided and he fell hard into the gravel trap
at turn two.
His Fiat Yamaha team-mate Valentino Rossi was also a
front-row contender but was edged out in the closing seconds and will
start from fourth tomorrow, the first time this season that he starts
off the front-row.
Proving
there were no problems remaining after his eventful morning, Edwards
was quickly running consistently at the top of the standings as he
looked to perfect the race set-up of his Yamaha. After yesterday's
issues Rossi had shown considerable improvement this morning and he too
was looking to use this afternoon's session to continue his progress
towards finding the right race setting.
The closing minutes of the
session saw Rossi move into second behind Carlos Checa before the
Italian was nudged down a place by Casey Stoner. Edwards meanwhile,
having made a small mistake with his first qualifying tyre, was
determined to make the most of his second and the Texan Tornado stormed
into pole with a perfect final lap in a time of 1'33.616, a new pole
position record for this circuit.
Colin Edwards. Position:1st Time: 1.33.616 Laps:28
"This
morning's off was a pretty big one and as I was flying through the air
I was pretty sure it was going to hurt! Somehow though I landed, the
bike sort of rolled over me, I stood up and realised I was ok! I
honestly think that had a positive bearing on my performance this
afternoon; my bike was working great but I screwed up the last section
with my first qualifying tyre and so I knew it had to make or break the
second time around. As I went into that final section I thought "here
goes, it's pole or crash and after this morning I've realised the
ground doesn't hurt so much after all!" I gave it everything I've got
and it paid off. Yet again the Michelin qualifying tyres were brilliant
and my bike worked really well with them. It's my first pole in MotoGP
so it feels good. As for the race, this place is something of a
turnaround for us because we've actually got two race tyres that are
working well. I can do 35.0s with both so it's just a case of checking
a few things tonight and making our final decision for the race. I've
got to say a big thank you to my team because they worked flat out to
rebuild my bike after this morning and that's the one I did my lap on.
I'm really looking forward to tomorrow; hopefully this is the start of
a great weekend."
Valentino Rossi. Position:4th Time:1.33.876 Laps:29
"Today was much, much better than yesterday! We changed a lot of things
on the setting and straight away this morning I could ride better,
although things still aren't perfect and we definitely still need to
improve more. I didn't use my qualifying tyres so well today and I lost
the front row through a small mistake, but anyway fourth isn't so bad.
Of course it would be better to be on the front row because I think,
with these bikes and with everyone so close, it's going to be a big
battle tomorrow! Our biggest decision now is about the tyre for the
race and I think we've got some work to do tonight and in warm-up.
Colin is looking really strong and I'm happy for him. Now I hope we can
get a good start and stay with the leaders tomorrow."
Davide Brivio: Team Director
Once again Yamaha is on pole and this time with Colin! It's his first
pole position in MotoGP so we're all very happy for him. He did a great
job and now we hope this can be a forerunner of his first win as well!
This pole position is amazing after such a big crash this morning, and
it's proof that he has enough trust in his bike to push hard like this
despite this morning's problem. Valentino didn't quite make the front
row but starting from fourth isn't a problem for him as we know.
However with him we know we still have some more work to do to perfect
his race package for tomorrow, when we have the real job to do!"
Qualifying 1
| Pos. |
Rider |
Manu. |
Nat. |
Total Time |
| 1 |
Colin Edwards |
Yamaha |
USA |
1'33.616 |
| 2 |
Casey Stoner |
Ducati |
AUS |
0'0.094 |
| 3 |
Carlos Checa |
Honda |
ESP |
0'0.243 |
| 4 |
Valentino Rossi |
Yamaha |
ITA |
0'0.259 |
| 5 |
John Hopkins |
Suzuki |
USA |
0'0.486 |
| 6 |
Toni Elias |
Honda |
ESP |
0'0.509 |
| 7 |
Nicky Hayden |
Honda |
USA |
0'0.631 |
| 8 |
Randy De Puniet |
Kawasaki |
FRA |
0'0.702 |
| 9 |
Marco Melandri |
Honda |
ITA |
0'0.744 |
| 10 |
Daniel Pedrosa |
Honda |
ESP |
0'0.796 |
| 11 |
Sylvain Guintoli |
Yamaha |
FRA |
0'0.891 |
| 12 |
Chris Vermeulen |
Suzuki |
AUS |
0'0.958 |
| 13 |
Alex Barros |
Ducati |
BRA |
0'1.201 |
| 14 |
Shinya Nakano |
Honda |
JPN |
0'1.218 |
| 15 |
Loris Capirossi |
Ducati |
ITA |
0'1.287 |
| 16 |
Makoto Tamada |
Yamaha |
JPN |
0'1.730 |
|
