Rio GP. 2nd Qualifying session

The weather forecast, the big doubt of the Río GP
The threatening rain may turn the races on Saturday into a lottery
 None of the teams have forgotten Portugal and they are all feared of having to go through a similar situation tomorrow: sun and stable weather during practices and strong rainfall during the races. These situations turn races into a real skill test for the riders, as happened in the 250cc, where Fonsi Nieto, despite suffering a minor crash, managed to win the race after a spectacular recovery. In the MotoGP class, Max Biaggi was fastest again, showing that he and his Yamaha M1 are in a very good shape. Valentino Rossi was taken by surprise by the chequered flag while he was crossing the finish line and had to settle for second. His team-mate Ukawa, kept on having set-up problems with the rear wheel of his Repsol Honda RC211V and was set back to the third row of the starting grid in the last moments of the session with the ninth fastest time. In the 250cc the pole position was very contended until the very last instants of the second timed session. Finally it was De Puniet, who surprised everyone with his last lap, placing himself ahead of Porto, Elias, Melandri and Fonsi Nieto, who ended up fifth fastest and on the second row of the grid. The first five classified riders are within only three hundreds of a second. The racing rhythm may be the most important weapon both for Toni Elias and Fonsi Nieto, although everybody will be looking up to the sky hoping for a dry race. In the 125cc it has been a hard day for Alberto Puig’s pupils. Dani Pedrosa, pursuit by setting problems, will start tomorrow from the second row of the starting grid after setting the eighth fastest time. Things didn’t work out much better for his team-mate Joan Olivé, who will start from the fourth row after finishing sixteenth.