Dani Pedrosa sets the pace with the pole in the 125 class and Valentino Rossi second fastest in MotoGP.
Fonsi Nieto, fifth and Toni Elias sixth, will try to get a place in the front row tomorrow
With temperatures close to thirty degrees, the riders taking part in the World Championship have carried out the first qualifying practices of the Czech Grand Prix at the Brno Circuit. The track was completely wet this morning due to last night’s rainfall and therefore the riders were quite limited with regard to working on the bike’s dry condition settings. In the premier category, Valentino Rossi took the morning session with ease, making only nine laps due to the condition of the Czech track. However, the twenty-three laps in the afternoon gave him the second fastest time, behind Max Biaggi on his Honda. Nicky Hayden, who has started to show how much he has adapted to the class, set the fifth fastest time in the morning and was sixth fastest in the afternoon.
In the 250cc, the French rider Randy De Puniet was fastest this afternoon, ahead of Rolfo, Battaini and Poggiali. Fonsi Nieto and Toni Elias, focussed on finding the right settings for their bikes and testing different tyre compounds, finished fifth and sixth fastest respectively, followed by Sebastián Porto who set the seventh fastest time. Aspar’s pupils, Héctor Faubel and Joan Olivé, clocked the eleventh and the twenty-second fastest time respectively. Joan Olivé fell back in the result’s sheet due to a crash suffered during the qualifying session, fortunately without physical consequences. In the minor category, Dani Pedrosa has returned from holidays with the conviction of not giving any option to his rivals from the first day on. After using most of the timed practice to find the right race settings for his bike, Dani set the fastest time in his last lap, thus securing the provisional pole of these first qualifying practices. Héctor Barberá and Pablo Nieto weren’t as lucky today, finishing seventh and twelfth fastest.
