Australian GP. Second qualifying sesion

Ninth pole for Fonsi Nieto in the 2002 season
Toni Elias, fourth, will join him tomorrow in the first row
 Second practice day and second domination day for the Repsol riders in the 250cc class. Toni Elias and Fonsi Nieto have exchanged yesterday’s positions, with Fonsi Nieto taking pole this afternoon, ahead of his rival in the conquest of the title Marco Melandri, followed by the Argentinean Sebastián Porto and Elias. Toni Elias didn’t have an excessively good day; in the morning he suffered a spectacular crash at 240 Km/h, fortunately without physical consequences and in the afternoon he had trouble with the set-ups due to mechanical problems. In the MotoGP class, the big surprise was given today by the four riders that are going to start tomorrow from the front row of the grid. McWilliams, local hero McCoy, Aoki and Vd. Goorbergh, have set the fastest times on their two-stroke machines ahead of the powerful four-strokes of Barros, Ukawa, Rossi and Biaggi, who will start from the second row of the grid in this order. Both Ukawa and Rossi have shown themselves optimistic despite having to take the start from the second row, and trust in their possibilities to get a good result in tomorrow’s race. In the minor category, today hasn’t been a good day for Dani Pedrosa’s interests in his fight for the title. Due to several problems with the set-ups, Pedrosa hasn’t been able to make better than tenth and will have to start tomorrow from the third row of the grid. The other two riders joining him in the fight for the title, i.e. Poggiali and Vincent, finished first and second fastest respectively. Joan Olivé, who was hindered by slower riders at the end of the session, finished sixteenth fastest and will start tomorrow from the fourth row of the starting grid.