Australian GP. 1st qualifying sesion

Provisional pole for Elías in Australia and fourth fastest time for Nieto
Valentino Rossi and Dani Pedrosa, fifth fastest in their respective classes
 Toni Elias is becoming the protagonist of the 250cc given his excellent season finish. After his victory in Japan and his second place in Malaysia, the Aprilia rider has arrived in Australia in very good shape, setting today the fastest time of the day despite suffering an annoying flu. Under strong wind and much lower temperatures than those in Malaysia just one week ago, Nieto and Elias have dominated both sessions, since  Fonsi was fastest in the free practice. Nieto, who still has got options for the title, has shown himself very focussed on preparing Sundays race together with his team. The weather forecast for tomorrow announces again strong winds and rain. In the MotoGP class, the arrival of more four-stroke bikes and the substantial improvements of the M1 Yamahas, despite not having shown the expected performance today, are levelling the class considerably. The fight for the pole this afternoon has been very even with Barros, the local rider McCoy, McWilliams and Vd Goorbergh as main protagonists of the contest. Valentino Rossi, more satisfied with the behaviour of his bike along the day, set the fifth fastest time, followed by his team-mate Tohru Ukawa, who finished two places behind him. In the minor category, today has been another hard-fought day, with the German rider Jenkner finishing fastest of the timed session, followed by Poggiali, De Angelis, Nieto and Pedrosa, fifth, on the second row. His team-mate Joan Olivé finished in a back seventeenth position, hoping to improve tomorrow. The leader of the overall standings, the French rider Arnaud Vincent, finished twenty-first, suffering from a heavy stomach infection.