Dutch GP. 1st qualifying practice

New assault on the first row by the Repsol riders Rossi, Nieto, Elías and Pedrosa
The already usual unsteady weather conditions of this Grand Prix and the new track, with loads of improvements, both with regard to safety as well as the infrastructure have been the protagonists of today’s first qualifying practice. In the MotoGP class, Rossi has had shown again a superb practice session, despite some problems with the settings which have been following him all day. Far away from the five front positions during three quarters of the session, Rossi made up positions during the last five minutes. On the final lap, being third, the Repsol rider made a perfect lap finish jumping up to the first place. His team-mate Tohru Ukawa didn’t show much fighting spirit today and finished eighth fastest. In the 250cc. Fonsi Nieto, third, and Toni Elias, fourth, insist in attracting the attention in their class. Fonsi Nieto, because he has been able to set a time only two tenths less than the pole position, in the circuit where he suffered a serious crash last year breaking his both ankles. And Toni Elias because despite this being only the seventh race of the season, the brave rider is proving that his adaptation process in this new category is being extremely fast, and he’s getting closer and closer to the fastest riders of the category. For Dani Pedrosa, today has been an excellent practice session. He finished first, while his toughest rival, the provisional overall leader and current World Champion, Manuel Poggiali, only managed to finish sixth, almost a second slower than the Spanish rider. His team-mate Joan Olivé has shown again his evident improvements finishing on the twelfth position of the provisional starting grid.