2001 Grand Prix 500 - Round 4 - Final Qualifying/Combined
| Italian Max Biaggi will start from pole position at Le Mans for the second successive year after clocking the fastest lap of 1-min 38.421-secs on a Marlboro Yamaha in today's second session. He was followed by 2000 world champion Kenny Roberts of the United States on a Telefonica MoviStar Suzuki, and Italy's Valentino Rossi on a Nastro Azzuro Honda. Rossi leads this year's championship after winning all three previous rounds.
Max Biaggi 1st - "We’re working very well here and the fundamental difference is what we learned from our Mugello tests, it’s great to get pole, I really wanted it today and it’s good for everyone involved. It’s like a re-launch for the team, and hopefully this will see us back at the top of the sport. When you’re working well, everything comes much more easily, we were just unlucky at the last two races. Today we ran both bikes with the Mugello set-up, just working on a few detail settings. I feel good now that we’ve focused in this new direction. We’ve been working to improve the bike’s agility with the 16.5, and tyres will play a very important part in the race. I will do everything I can do to win tomorrow." Kenny Roberts 2nd - "Between the morning and the afternoon sessions Warren (Willing) and Bob (Toomey) changed the geometry. At first I was not sure if it was better, but overall it allowed me to brake a little harder and go into the corners quicker. It gave me confidence in areas of the track where the engine is out of its range, because I could square off the turns more and have less lean angle when I got on the gas. I was picking up tenths everywhere and that's what made the difference. I've always said that my level of effort is there. It's up to the team and Suzuki to improve the bike. If so we'll be going for pole positions, lap records and race wins." Valentino Rossi 3rd - "Basically we found a solution to our problems of yesterday. We found the tyres we need for the race and no longer have chattering problems. I could have set a better qualifying time if I hadn't made a small mistake on my fast lap, this is shown by the 'Ideal time' (the best times on the circuit split timing). Of course we don't have the same advantage we had at Welkom and Jerez. But, as I said yesterday, I don't especially like this kind of stop and go track. I don't think it's a very technical circuit but if you make a mistake you can easily crash. So I am planning a conservative race tomorrow. I can imagine that Biaggi and Roberts will be fast in the first few laps. Both are good in the early laps. On the contrary I'm usually more cautious with a full fuel tank, the bike is top heavy and difficult to stop. So, we might see a race divided into two parts tomorrow. In the second part everybody will be riding hard having saved their tyres as much as possible." Carlos Checa 5th - "I’m comfortable at this pace and I think the race will be run in 39s and 40s, our goal here, and during last week’s tests, was to work on feeling, and that’s why we’re running a different front tyre to give me more feel. Once you’re getting good feedback, you know what the bike’s going to do, how it’s going to react. That makes you feel more confident, which means you can give your technicians better information, which in turn allows you to further improve your set-up. I’m still having a few problems with front-end push which is spoiling my rolling speed through the corners but I feel good about the race." Loris Capirossi 8th - "Yesterday we went the wrong way on gearbox ratios, so I was sad, now I'm fairly confident for the race because the times are close, even though I'm on the second row. If I make a good start I can run with the leaders, and I must get a good getaway because it's hard to pass
here." Teenage Australian motorcycle racer Ant West has withdrawn from tomorrow's 500cc French Grand Prix after cracking his left wrist in a second crash within 24 hours at Le Mans. The 19-year-old was treated soon after his accident by Grand Prix Medical Officer Dr Claudio Costa, who advised him to miss the race. The injured wrist is now in a plaster cast, and West expects to resume racing in round five of the championship at Mugello in Italy on June 3. West had previously crashed at Le Mans in the opening qualifying session yesterday afternoon, suffering back bruising, but x-rays cleared him of broken bones. He had recorded a best lap of 1-min 43.976-secs in first qualifying, and had clocked a quicker time of 1-min 43.800-secs in practice before he crashed in a left-hand corner on his 16th lap of the session. The withdrawal of West is part of a lengthy casualty list at Le Mans. Briton Leon Haslam fractured a wrist yesterday when he crashed his Shell Advance Honda in qualifying, and Australia's Garry McCoy was injured in a fall on his Red Bull Yamaha in practice today. Neither rode in today's second qualifying session. As well, Frenchman Olivier Jacque opted to miss the race at Le Mans because of ongoing problems with an arm injury. West's injury follows championship points-scoring results in his first two 500cc grand prix races for finishing 14th at Welkom in South Africa on April 22, and 15th at Jerez in Spain on May 6. Anthony West - "Dr Costa told me not to race tomorrow. He said the crack isn't so bad and that I should be okay for the next race at Mugello. According to Dr Costa, if I was to come off again and make the break worse then I might be out for three months. I also landed on my back again in the second crash and it's sore. I hate missing races, but in this instance it's probably the way to go. Today I fell at the second-last left-hander and landed on my wrist and back. It's a second-gear turn. I was on my first lap out of the pits on a new tyre. I tipped the bike into the corner and I'd barely touched the throttle, the back kept coming around and it flipped me off. It was the same place where (Leon) Haslam crashed yesterday. There seem to be a lot more crashes than usual this weekend. The track temperatures are cold, and the surface changes at different places so maybe that's got something to do with it." Mark Willis qualified 20th on the Pulse - "We had another shit day today. In the 1st session I did about 4 laps and felt the bike get a bit slower so pitted and made a change to the carburation , but it was a crank so that ended FP2. We do not have a spare engine so the boys worked flat out to change it and I was able to get the last 20 min of Q2 to run in a crank and learn some more of the track. No one said it was easy. We knocked 2 secs off yesterdays times so that was OK but still need more track time as we gave away 2 full sessions. Tomorrow is another day and we will be classing the race as another set-up and learn the track day."
|
MCNEWS.COM.AU