MotoGP 2005 - Round 3

Kawasaki factory rider Shinya Nakano turned in a superb qualifying effort today, to secure sixth place, on the second row of the grid, for the French Grand Prix.

Riding his Ninja ZX-RR, Nakano was the highest placed Bridgestone rider; finishing just 0.3s from the pole position claimed by Valentino Rossi, in a session run in mainly sunny but slightly overcast conditions.

Teammate and local hero Olivier Jacque will start from 13th position, in just his second race for Kawasaki as a replacement for the injured Alex Hofmann.

Nakano was twice on the provisional front row during the one-hour session and with 13 minutes remaining he was the fastest rider on the 4.1 km Bugatti circuit. He briefly dropped to seventh and then surged to third quickest with five minutes left to run in a highly competitive session, before finishing in a close sixth place.

Jacque continued to demonstrate his fast adaptation to the ZX-RR after a seven month break from MotoGP, and is now much more comfortable in dry conditions.

There is intense fan support for Jacque at his home race, following his impressive second place podium result in the rain-hit Chinese GP two weeks ago.

Both Nakano and Jacque appear ready for any conditions in tomorrow's 28-lap race. The forecast is for showers, although both riders would prefer a continuation of this afternoon's warm and sunny conditions.

In the morning free practice session run on a wet track Jacque and Nakano were seventh and eighth fastest respectively, an indication they will contend for top ten results in the wet or dry.

Shinya Nakano: #56 - Sixth - (1'33.536) - "I was aiming for the second row, so sixth position is right where I wanted to be for the race. I went faster on each qualifying run and tried for pole, it was very close. I did some race tyre runs early in the session, and it appears we have two options for the race if it is dry, and the Bridgestone wets have performed very impressively. I have good chassis balance in both the wet and the dry, especially for turn-in for all the slow corners, so we are ready for the race."

Olivier Jacque: #19 - Thirteenth - (1'34.403) - "I was much more comfortable in the dry conditions this afternoon compared to yesterday, although I'm still struggling a little in the final sector of the lap. Yesterday I was hoping for rain, but now I'm really enjoying the ZX-RR in the dry, so I hope it is sunny for the race. The bike feels more balanced following adjustments to the engine brake system. I'm not paying attention to the hype, I'm just concentrating on the race."

Harald Eckl: Team Manager - "Shinya is very fast in both the dry and the wet, so I expect him to be very competitive no matter what the weather conditions for the race. Olivier goes faster in every session, despite a limited amount of test kilometres in dry conditions. He has been very impressive, especially in out-qualifying some regular MotoGP riders from Honda, Suzuki and Yamaha."

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