Fonsi keeps pole position. Rossi, Elias and Pedrosa in the front row.
Héctor Barberá clocks the sixth fastest time with Pablo Nieto eleventh in the 125.
The heat surprised everybody in Donington this afternoon, making it difficult for the riders to improve the times set yesterday. In the premier category, Rossi seemed to have everything under control but a defect rim made him loose pressure in the front tyre of his Repsol Honda RC211V, leaving him out off the fight for the pole, and he’ll be taking the start tomorrow from the fourth spot of the grid. His team-mate Nicky Hayden was not able to improve the result of yesterday having to settle for the thirteenth position on the grid.
In the 250cc, Fonsi Nieto has been able to keep yesterday’s pole position, while working in order to find a good setting for the race. The leader of the overall standings, Manuel Poggiali will be starting tomorrow from the second row despite crashing twice today, once in the morning and the second time during the last lap of the afternoon’s timed session. Toni Elias, who had some problems with the set-ups, but managed to solve them in the afternoon, will be starting from the third place of the starting grid. Sebastián Porto was eighth, Héctor Faubel sixteenth and Joan Olivé eighteenth.
In the 125cc, Dani Pedrosa and the Italian Dovizioso have been the main actors of the second qualifying session, fighting for the pole until the very last instant. But it was Stefano Perugini who finally set the fastest time in the last lap of the session. Pedrosa finished second, nine hundreds of a second behind Perugini and Dovizioso third, one tenth behind the fastest clock. Héctor Barberá, who seemed to have a secure spot on the front row, was passed in the last minute by Corsi and Kallio, having to settle for a final sixth place of the starting grid. His team-mate Pablo Nieto, runner-up of the recent Grand Prix in Holland, finished eleventh and will start tomorrow from the third row of the grid.
