MotoGP 2005 - Round 5

Valentino Rossi will start the Gran Premio Alice d’Italia from the front of the MotoGP grid after a stunning final lap that saw him smash Sete Gibernau’s pole record and hold off a strong challenge from the Spaniard in this afternoon’s single qualifying session. Rossi’s time of 1’49.223 on his 25th lap of the Mugello circuit in searing summer heat kept Gibernau at bay by 0.138 seconds, with Max Biaggi also in close attendance and completing the front row in third place.

“It was a great practice and a hard battle for this important pole position,” commented Rossi afterwards. “At the beginning we started to work on the bike for tomorrow and at the end I tried with a qualifying tyre. I saw I was in second position and I knew I didn’t have much time to stop but I came in two and a half minutes from the end and the team did a great job to change the tyre in a short time. There are a lot of riders near to me so we need to set the bike to the maximum. Hopefully the weather will stay like this - for the riders and for the fantastic crowd around the circuit.”

In a thrilling finale to the session no fewer than twelve riders lapped within a second of Rossi’s best time, providing a tense battle for grid positions right up to the chequered flag. American youngsters Nicky Hayden and John Hopkins both produced grandstand final laps to gatecrash the second row in fourth and fifth place respectively, relegating Loris Capirossi to sixth place just minutes after the Italian had occupied provisional pole.

Marco Melandri ran out of time on his final lap after making a late tyre change and dropped to the third row of the grid in seventh place, with Carlos Checa taking eighth despite dominating the time sheets for much of the session. Japanese pair Shinya Nakano and Makoto Tamada, making his first appearance in almost two months after breaking his wrist, complete the top ten after both launching front row attacks in the closing stages.

Kenny Roberts and Colin Edwards are the other two riders to have lapped within a second of Rossi, qualifying eleventh and twelfth respectively, whilst Alex Hofmann sealed an encouraging fourteenth place on his return to action from injury. MotoGP debutante David Checa was also impressive, qualifying in sixteenth place as he covers for the injured Yamaha rider Toni Elías.

There was also big MotoGP news off the track today, as the Grand Prix Commission announced important rule changes to be implemented to the series in just over 18 months’ time. From the 1st January 2007 the maximum engine size capacity for MotoGP will be reduced to 800cc, whilst the use of two-stroke engines will be officially banned in the premier class. The maximum fuel capacity will be limited to 21 litres.

Jorge Lorenzo took his first pole position in the 250cc category with a last lap effort that knocked Casey Stoner off top spot with just seconds remaining. Provisional pole holder Stoner had dominated for much of the session but will have to settle for a front row start in second place after a strong performance from Lorenzo, who also headed the morning free practice and will now look to take Honda’s first win here since 1997. Local favourite and reigning 125cc World Champion Andrea Dovizioso will also challenge for that honour from the front row after qualifying third fastest ahead of Randy De Puniet on the Aprilia. De Puniet’s team-mate Sebastián Porto heads up the second row after escaping unhurt from a crash, with factory colleague Alex de Angelis sixth fastest. Defending World Champion Dani Pedrosa and Héctor Barberá complete the second row in seventh and eighth respectively.

Mika Kallio left it until the very last minute to improve on his provisional pole effort from yesterday, escaping from a packed group on the final lap to post a time of 1’58.662. Kallio’s late charge proved enough to hold off the challenge of his KTM team-mate Gabor Talmacsi, the only man to threaten the series leader’s position at the top of the time sheets. Héctor Faubel, who qualified over a second slower than Kallio, was third fastest and joins the Austrian factory pair on the front row ahead of Mattia Pasini, who failed to improve his provisional time and dropped from second to fourth. Thomas Lüthi, who lies second to Kallio in the championship standings, qualified sixth fastest ahead of impressive wildcard Michele Conti.

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