BARCELONA, 15 June 2003 — MotoGP world champion Valentino Rossi will be on pole position for the Catalan Grand Prix after his scorching ride in the first qualifying practice session proved unbeatable yesterday.
The Italian Honda rider clocked one minute 43.927 seconds on Friday and posted the fastest time again in the second session, completing the 4.7-km circuit in 1:44.256 to stamp his authority on the race. In baking temperatures, no one could get near Rossi’s time from Friday and the Italian will start today as favorite to make it four wins out of six races this season and extend his 32-point lead at the head of the standings. The front row of the grid will be completed by Italian Ducati rider Loris Capirossi, Frenchman Olivier Jacque on a Yamaha and Spanish Honda rider Sete Gibernau.
Of that quartet, only Jacque was able to improve on his time from Friday, moving up from 10th to third thanks to a late run of 1:44.358 that just squeezed inside Gibernau’s best from the first session.
The American Colin Edwards made the early running in the second session but his best time was still almost a second outside Rossi’s mark on Friday. It was only in the final five minutes that positions up the leaderboard started to change, with Alex Barros squeezing into fourth with a time of 1:44.721.
The Brazilian improved that to 1:44.642 on his next lap but he was forced off the front row again as Jacque’s time of 1:44.358 proved enough to move the Frenchman up to third.
