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2001 Grand Prix 500 - Round 7 - Assen - Final Qualifying / Grid
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Loris Capirossi (West
Honda Pons NSR500) will start tomorrow's Dutch GP from pole position
after a stunning performance in this afternoon's final qualifying
session at ultra-quick Assen. In warm, breezy conditions, Capirossi
twice upped his pace from yesterday's opening qualifier to hold off
strong challenges from fellow Italians Max Biaggi (Yamaha) and Valentino
Rossi (Nastro Azzurro Honda NSR500), the men he's chasing in the contest
for this year's 500 crown. The three Italians, who currently occupy first, second and third in the series in reverse order from today's qualifier, were the star performers at Assen, but the entire 500 pack was in impressive form. All but one rider from the front two rows was inside last year's pole time, also set by Capirossi, proving once again that the 500 pace has made a massive jump forward in 2001. "I love this track so much, I really wanted to be quickest," grinned Capirossi, who took pole by just 0.13 seconds. "We were fastest yesterday but we still had a few minor problems which I knew were preventing me from going even faster. We managed to improve our settings today, then find good tyres to do the lap times. I really enjoyed myself out there and I think the race will be very interesting too!" Rossi spent the last half of the session swapping places with Biaggi, the duo going faster and faster as they tried to outdo Capirossi and each other. Rossi looked like he'd made sure of second when he dislodged Biaggi with a minute to go, but the Roman bounced back to retake second on his final lap. "Practice was okay for us, it was just that the level was incredibly high today," said Rossi, who has scored four pole positions so far this year. "The lap times were very good. Last year I did a 2m 03.2s, today I was two seconds better than that but it still wasn't enough for pole. I think the race pace will be in the 2m 02s area and I expect to be in the fight for victory with Capirossi, Biaggi and Barros." Alex Barros (West Honda Pons NSR500), who won last year's Dutch GP, his first success on a Honda, was 0.307 seconds off Rossi in fourth. Like most of the fastest men here, the Brazilian found that race-compound tyres work even better than softer 'qualifying' tyres around this very grippy circuit. "I tried the softer rear yesterday so we stuck with race tyres today and that makes me confident for the race," said Barros. "I'm sure I can fight for the win tomorrow, we've got a good set-up and I usually go well here." Former Assen winner Alex Crivillé (Repsol YPF Honda NSR500) slipped three places to tenth after running into set-up problems. "There's not much to say, except that I'm not happy," he said. "We couldn't get the right set-up, we've got a lot of chatter." Team-mate Tohru Ukawa (Repsol YPF Honda NSR500), making his 500 debut at this most demanding of tracks, was one place and 0.392 seconds behind Crivillé. "I'm a little confused with our set-up," said the Japanese. "I'm also getting some chatter and I had to push really hard at the end of the session just to stay on the third row." Fellow Assen 500 rookie Chris Walker (Shell Advance Racing Honda NSR500) won't be starting tomorrow's race. He suffered a 250kmh tumble this morning at the Meeuwenmeer right hander, sustaining concussion and a minor finger injury. The Briton hopes to be fit for next weekend's British GP. Loris Capirossi, West Honda Pons, pole position: "It's been a great weekend for the team so far. I have been testing mainly tyres and suspension during the last session. With 20 minutes to go I put in new tyres and went out and did the fastest lap. Then I came in and put on a softer tyre and put in an even faster time, which was fantastic. But for sure the race will be very different from today. For 20 lap race we will start with race tyres and 30 litres of fuel. It will not be possible to go as fast as today. The weather is also important, I just hope we have a good dry race." Valentino Rossi, Nastro Azzurro Honda, 3rd: "It has been a very exciting final qualifying session. Everybody tried very hard and the fantastic lap times show that. I tried very hard for pole but on my best attempt I made a mistake in section three and arrived at the fast right hand corner and lost time. Apart from that I could have run in 2m 00s. But I cannot say I would have got pole position. The important thing is that we worked to find a good race set-up. Of course the race will be different, we will run in 2m 02s not 2m 00s. Unfortunately for me Loris (Capirossi) and Biaggi also found very good race settings, and I think Barros will also be in the fight to win the race. Talking about myself I have some small problems when changing direction in the fast corners because I don't have so much weight on the front wheel. I also feel my machine is using more rear tyre than the others. Probably at the end of the race I will be sliding a lot. For sure I am not in the same situation as in Barcelona when I could start slowly and recover to win the race with a small gap. I just hope for a good start and then have a hard race. It's rather too early to think about the world championship I want to take it race by race now. If tomorrow I see it's not possible for me to win I will take as many points from the race as possible." Alex Barros, West Honda Pons, 4th: "First time on front row this year, now we hope for a good race. In the last session we worked hard on race set-up, I didn't use a soft compound tyre. Tyres are not a big problem here. The race will be very, very competitive, like Barcelona. Maybe as many as six riders will be in the race for the win. For me any weather is OK but it will be a lot more fun if it's a dry race. In the wet you can also have some riders going fast you don't expect but I think not tomorrow." Alex Criville, Repsol YPF Honda, 10th: " I cant say much about this practice session just that I'm angry. We haven't been able to find a set-up for my motorcycle, and it's impossible to ride fast with this bike at the moment.. Every time I try to go into a turn really quick, the wheels start to bounce and I cant steer the bike in the direction as I want. Now we have to find solutions, but I personally don't know what the solution could be. I explained my feelings on the bike to the technicians of the team and now it's their turn to find a solution for tomorrow. Tohru Ukawa, Repsol YPF Honda, 11th: "I am quite confused because I have no idea what went wrong. I'm well physically, so yesterdays crash has nothing to do with my result. What is happening is that we have a lot of chatter on the front and rear and, for the moment, we don't have a solution to our problem. I admit my crash distracted me a bit yesterday. But today we worked our way through all possible combinations and variations of the set-up without being able to find a configuration that eliminates the chatter. During the warm-up tomorrow we will try some other changes to see what happens then but at the moment it is not obvious to me where the solution might be." Jurgen Van Den Goorbergh, Proton Team KR, 14th: "No speed. That was my problem this afternoon. I also had a bit of front tyre chatter that meant I had to stop and make some changes .... at exactly the wrong time of the afternoon. At the start of the session it all felt good. Then I felt something was wrong - the engine was losing its edge. We tried various things with the jetting, but it didn't help. At the end, I was trying to pick up a slipstream, but I couldn't stay close enough. Then, when I did get a tow off Barros, he stopped. I'm disappointed. I should have stayed on the third row at least. But with the engine running right, and if the new clutch works well and I can get off the line with the pack, I am still confident for tomorrow." Australia's 500cc
rookie Ant West today improved his best qualifying lap time by more than
1-second for tomorrow's Dutch Grand Prix after ongoing carburettor
problems were finally solved on his Dee Cee Racing Honda V-Twin. Garry McCoy will not
race this weekend due to the injuries he sustained two rounds ago. |
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