DOHA, 30 September 2005 — Valentino Rossi served notice that a fifth successive world title was not enough to fulfill his ambitions by setting a record pace in yesterday’s practice sessions for the Qatar Grand Prix.
The Italian Yamaha rider, who clinched the championship in Malaysia last week, clocked 1:58.714 in the afternoon session to beat the previous best time of 1:58.988 set by Carlos Checa when the Spaniard claimed pole position last year.
Rossi, who has won nine of the 13 races so far this season, showed no signs of his professed dislike of the Losail track, one of the three active circuits where he has yet to win a race.
“We had problems with the front end of the bike in Japan and Malaysia,” he said. “It was very hard to solve the problem. But we managed to solve it and the set-up for the bike is very good.
“The track was slippery in the morning, but it was much better in the afternoon.
“For sure myself and the whole team are more relaxed now that we have won the world championship.”
Spain’s Toni Elias clocked the second best time of 1:58.860 also on a Yamaha, while American Nicky Hayden was the best of the Hondas 0.330 seconds behind his former teammate Rossi.
Italian Loris Capirossi, who has won the last two races for Ducati, was fourth fastest just in front of his team mate Checa, while the winner of the inaugural Qatar Grand Prix last year, Spanish Honda rider Sete Gibernau, was a disappointing 12th.
Jorge Lorenzo of Spain took provisional pole for the 250cc race in a time of 2:03.727 with his compatriot and championship leader Dani Pedrosa second quickest. Australian Casey Stoner, who is second in the title race, was fifth fastest.
In the 125cc class, Italian Marco Simoncelli is on provisional pole after clocking 2:11.209 with Swiss championship leader Thomas Luthi and his closest rival Finn Mika Kallio 11th and 12th fastest respectively.
