Excellent performance of the Repsol riders at the first practice day of the South African Grand Prix
Valentino Rossi and Fonsi Nieto take provisional pole in their categories; Dani Pedrosa second and Pablo Nieto third in 125cc.
The usually high temperatures of the country have accompanied the first qualifying practice session of the South African Grand Prix, which will be held next Sunday at the Phakisa Freeway circuit. In the premier category, Valentino Rossi once again took provisional pole despite having a cold, with times that have improved his best time from last year by over a second. Nicky Hayden, racing for the first time on the South African circuit, managed to finish twelfth, ahead of riders such as Carlos Checa or Kenny Roberts, thus confirming his good progression in this category.
In the 250cc class, bad luck for Toni Elias who suffered two crashes, one in the free practice, without consequences, and one in the afternoon’s timed session, with only a few minutes remaining for the end of the session. In this second crash he suffered light injuries on his left hand and we’ll have to wait for tomorrow to see if the youngster will be able to get on the track tomorrow. His team-mate, Fonsi Nieto, took over and got the provisional pole breaking the circuit’s lap record. The Argentinean Sebastián Porto continues in line with good results and finished fifth fastest, while the youngest riders of the quarter-litre-class, Héctor Faubel and Joan Olivé, qualified tenth and fourteenth fastest. The second place in the minor category was taken by Dani Pedrosa who is not completely satisfied with the behaviour of his bike, closely followed by Pablo Nieto, third, whilst Héctor Barberá finished sixth after having to solve some mechanical problems.
