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As predicted by the weather forecasts,
qualifying for the Czech Republic Grand Prix took place in wet conditions today,
with light morning rain intensifying throughout the day. Despite the difficult
conditions Casey Stoner took his sixth consecutive pole position - a new record
since the introduction of the four-stroke MotoGP era.
Marco Melandri
enjoyed his best qualifying session of the season as he set the eleventh fastest
time, which he set when the track conditions were at their worst - with vast
quantities of standing water. The Italian will start tomorrow's race from the
fourth row of the grid.
CASEY STONER
(Ducati Marlboro Team) Pole position
"We went out at the start
and tried to basically put a good few laps together because we still didn't
really know what weather was going to do. It looked like it might clear up but
it actually did the opposite. I still wasn't totally happy with the set-up so I
came in to make some changes but when we went back out there was two or three
inches of standing water in some places and the bike was aquaplaning everywhere.
We knew that as long as the rain kept coming as it did then nobody was going to
be able to go much quicker because the track conditions were so difficult. Once
again we have worked well together as a team, Bridgestone have given us some
excellent rain tyres and we're on pole, so that is very satisfying. The points
are not dished out until tomorrow and anything can happen, especially in the
wet, so we'll just stay focused, stay relaxed, and hope the weather stays
dry!"
MARCO MELANDRI (Ducati Marlboro
Team) 11th - 2'15. 880
"I know this is my best qualifying result
of the season but I was hoping for better given that in the wet this morning we
did such a good job. Unfortunately in the afternoon I didn't have such a good
feeling over the first few laps with the power delivery and then the conditions
deteriorated. I stayed out on track and got quite a long run together, trying to
improve and we made up some positions. We'll see - tomorrow should be dry but
I'm still expecting a difficult race because we didn't get chance to improve the
front-end setting today, which is what we'd planned."
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