DONINGTON PARK, England, 13 July 2003 — Italian Max Biaggi grabbed pole position for today’s British Grand Prix with a scorching lap in the closing seconds of yesterday’s second qualifying session.
The Italian set a record time of one minute 30.740 on his Honda to edge Spain’s Sete Gibernau by 0.122 seconds, with another Italian, Marco Melandri, grabbing third place following a late burst on his Yamaha.
World champion Valentino Rossi, who grabbed provisional pole on Friday and led for much of yesterday’s session, was undone by the pace of the late laps from his rivals and ended up fortunate to make the front row at all in fourth place.
Earlier, Stefano Perugini edged Spanish championship leader Daniel Pedrosa to pole for the 125cc race. Perugini’s fellow Italians Andrea Dovizioso and Simone Corsi will also start from the front row after finishing third and fourth fastest.
