The first day of qualifying for the Dutch TT at Assen was particularly intense because of the new track configuration which has seen the overall length reduced from 6,027 metres to 5,997m.

Sete Gibernau and Marco Melandri spent the two hours of free practice gathering fresh references of the track layout and finding a base set-up to work from tomorrow.

In Sete’s case the job was made even harder by the fact that his Chief Mechanic was missing from the pit box today. Juan Martínez has spent the day in hospital due to a migrane attack which has caused him to have dizzy spells and sickness, as well as severe headaches. Sete focused on running up the laps on a basic setting and made only small changes with the help of the team. The World Championship runner-up completed a total of 41 laps of the new Assen track and recorded the third fastest time of the day, just two tenths slower than Loris Capirossi.

Marco Melandri kicked off with fifth place, happy with his race rhythm and confident of improving it tomorrow as he gathers more and more kilometres on the new track.

SETE GIBERNAU (3rd, 2’01”037): “We’ve started the weekend with difficulties because my Chief Mechanic has been in hospital since this morning and that affected our work programme. In these conditions I’m trying to do all the work myself with the help of the team. The morning session was tough for all of us because we didn’t know what state Juan was in and we were hardly able to test anything. In the afternoon we made the time up and found a basic set-up for the bike, without too many changes, and I just ran up the laps to provide as much information as possible. The whole team are making a big effort to lose as little ground as possible.”

MARCO MELANDRI (5th, 2’01”242): “It was a particularly difficult day because of the changes they made to the track – it’s much easier to make mistakes now because the reference points have changed a lot. One of the corners we took in fourth gear last season is now taken in second, for example. The heat also caught us by surprise. In general I’m happy with the way we’ve started. We have to keep working on our race pace.”

LAP TIMES

1. Loris Capirossi (Ita/Ducati) 2’00”757
2. Valentino Rossi (Ita/Yamaha) + 0”083
3. Sete Gibernau (Esp/Honda) + 0”280
4. Alex Barros (Bra/Honda) + 0”296
5. Marco Melandri (Ita/Honda) + 0”485
6. Nicky Hayden (USA/Honda) + 0”733
7. Carlos Checa (Esp/Ducati) + 0”767
8. Colin Edwards (USA/Yamaha) + 0”831
9. Max Biaggi (Ita/Honda) + 1”272
10. Shinya Nakano (Jap/Kawasaki) + 1”523