KUALA LUMPUR, 9 October 2004 — Japan’s Makoto Tamada took provisional pole position for tomorrow’s Malaysian Grand Prix after lapping inside the track record in yesterday’s first qualifying.
MotoGP championship leader Valentino Rossi, under pressure from Honda rival Sete Gibernau after crashing out of the inaugural Qatar Grand Prix last weekend, was 0.306 of a second slower and in third place for Yamaha.
Gibernau, 14 points adrift of Rossi with 75 still to be won from the season’s last three races, was second fastest.
Several riders ran into the gravel trap at the start of the session as light rain fell but the pace soon hotted up with Honda’s Tamada lapping in two minutes 02.394 seconds.
That time compared to Rossi’s 2003 pole of 2:02.480. The Italian went on to clinch his third straight championship for Honda in Malaysia last year before switching to Yamaha.
Argentine Sebastian Porto set the pace in the 250cc class after winning in Qatar while Spain’s championship leader Dani Pedrosa was second and 0.704 slower. Pedrosa, just 19, can become the youngest 250cc champion at Sepang if he beats Porto by at least eight points. France’s Randy de Puniet, also still mathematically in with a chance, was sixth fastest.
In the 125cc category, Italian teenager Andrea Dovizioso moved a step closer towards the title with provisional pole.
