MotoGP 2005 - Round 5

Ducati Marlboro Team riders Loris Capirossi and Carlos Checa played a starring role in this afternoon's thrilling Italian GP qualifier, Checa on top for the first half hour and Capirossi also running fastest at one point. Both men improved on their 2004 qualifying times by around a second to end up sixth and eighth but are confident that they will be much closer to the front when it really matters - in tomorrow's race.

"I think we can race better than we qualified," affirmed Ducati Corse CEO Claudio Domenicali. "Before everyone fitted their qualifying tyres they were first and fourth. Loris is very quick on race tyres and Carlos is very, very quick, which makes us confident for tomorrow. We are very happy with our performance in race trim. Loris and Carlos now have two different Bridgestone rears from which to choose for the race, depending on track temperature. Neither could fully exploit the potential of their qualifying tyres - Loris had some difficulties on his final, fastest run, while Carlos just didn't improve his time as much as we'd expected. We would like to be on the front row but it is the race that really matters.

I would like to thank once again our technical partners Shell Advance and Bridgestone for their important support".

Loris Capirossi briefly led the final stages of qualifying aboard his Ducati Marlboro Team Desmosedici, eventually ending up sixth, just 0.4 seconds off pole. The determined Italian, 1.066 seconds inside his 2004 qualifying time, made some useful suspension adjustments this afternoon and believes he could have made the front row but for a minor riding error on his final run.

"Both me and Carlos have been in the hunt all weekend," smiled Capirossi, revelling in the Desmosedici's awesome speed. "If it hadn't been for a little mistake going into the esses in T3, I could've been on the front row. But what does it matter, I'll be in front by turn one! The bike is really strong here, the tyres too. I feel very confident, especially in the front end, which is so important at this track. The bike is also very fast, which is maybe why everyone wants to follow me, I found a lot of people waiting to follow me today. We worked really well this morning, doing a lot of fast laps on race tyres, then this afternoon we tried something different with the suspension, just small tweaks to the front and rear, which worked well."

Once again Carlos Checa was lightning quick on race tyres during qualifying. The Ducati Marlboro Team man led this morning free practices and the first 40 minutes of the session but when he fitted his qualifying tyres he couldn't improve his times as much as he wanted. His last and best lap, 1.047 seconds better than his 2004 best, did briefly lift him to sixth but he ended up eighth for a third-row start.

"I'm really looking forward to this race because I know we are very competitive on race tyres," said the quietly confident Spaniard, having his first ride on the Desmosedici at Mugello. "We didn't change much today, we just focused on running a lot of laps on race tyres and we made good progress. I'm confident I can get a good start and it seems we have good endurance performance from the tyres. But I know we need to improve the balance of the bike on qualifying tyres; I should improve seven or eight tenths on qualifiers but today I only improved one or two tenths."

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