Clutch problem prevents late pole challenge

Sete Gibernau took yet another front row grid position, as he has at every round since South Africa, and is confident going into the Dutch TT, where races begin an hour later than usual, starting at 15:00 CET. Sete is the only rider in all three categories to have finished on the podium at all five of the races which have taken place up to now in 2004, and at the technical Assen circuit, which has the highest average speed in the whole championship, he feels prepared to give a hundred percent whether in wet conditions - in which he took provisional pole on Thursday – or in the dry, as in today’s session. Colin Edwards will start the race from the fifth row of the grid.

SETE GIBERNAU

(3rd, 1’59”903): “The session was tough for everyone, but I think we did some good work and we found what we needed, even within the limitations of only having an hour to do so. At the end with the qualifying tyre fitted, the clutch broke and I couldn’t complete a good lap. However it is enough to start from the front row, which is the important thing. Tomorrow the race will be a complicated affair and the we will have to work flat-out as a team and with Michelin in the warm-up, so we can make a good tyre choice for the race.”

COLIN EDWARDS

(13th, 2’01”642): “We made a mistake this afternoon. The weather was really unpredictable and we were worried that it might start raining, so we decided to use the qualifying tyre at the start of the session. It was a gamble because after three wet sessions we really needed to work on the dry setting. It was a shame. It will be tough tomorrow starting from the fifth row but I hope to make positions up quickly and keep going forward”.

FAUSTO GRESINI

(Team Manager): “After a wet session yesterday, the hour in the dry today wasn’t much use because this track is so complicated. Despite everything we tried to find the best possible settings and it’s gone well. Third is a good grid position and the warm-up will be important to refine a few details. It will be a long hard race – like all of them this year”.

QUALIFICATION TIMES

1. Valentino Rossi (Ita/Yamaha) 1’58”758
2. Carlos Checa (Spa/Yamaha) + 0”682
3. Sete Gibernau (Spa/Honda) + 1”145
4. Marco Melandri (Ita/Yamaha) + 1”966
5. Shinya Nakano (Jap/Kawasaki) + 1”997

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