Team Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra riders Max Biaggi and Yukio Kagayama suffered slightly mixed fortunes at Brno in first qualifying at Brno today, with Max ending up third and Yukio tenth. The temperatures rose to the mid-thirties this afternoon, causing grip problems for all riders, and the conditions were nothing like when the teams tested here less then four weeks ago. Japanese rider Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha) posted the days fastest lap, with a time of 2:01.603, just one tenth of a second ahead of his team mate Troy Corser. Third is Max, with series leader James Toseland (Honda) fourth.
Max - 3rdWhen we tested here recently the grip level was much better - because the temperatures were lower - but now that it is much hotter, the grip level has dropped drastically. So, at the moment we are looking to try and improve the grip and also see how the tyres will last. I think, that whatever we do, after half race distance things are going to be quite interesting. Whatever set-up we decided to go with is probably going to have to be some kind of a compromise. We started the day with the set-up we found at the test and tomorrow we will try and improve it and get a better feeling for raceday. What I have to do here is be strong from lap one right to the end. I like this track, its nice to ride and once you have a good set-up its one of the most enjoyable tracks in the world.
Yukio - 10thConditions today were not similar to when we tested here and Im sure all the riders feel this way today! We began with the set-up from the test here three weeks or so ago, but the feeling was so different, we had to make adjustments straightaway and that wasnt so easy. This afternoon, I had problems with front and rear grip, so we have to work on improving the feeling and find a good set-up for the race. We have to find tyres that give good grip and will last a race distance and that is not going to be easy.
For me today was not about trying to set a good lap time, but trying to find a set-up for raceday because that is more important. Today was physically quite demanding because when the grip level is down, you have to concentrate so much harder otherwise its easy to crash! You have to consider every corner carefully and when you do that sometimes you forget to breathe and that was a bit of a problem for me this afternoon.
Circuit: 5.403 kms
Weather: Dry, sunny 31-35 C
Friday Qualifying:1 Haga (J-Yamaha) 2:01.603,
2 Corser (Aus-Yamaha) 2:01.724,
3 Max Biaggi (I-Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra) 2:01.968,
4 Toseland (GB-Honda) 2:02.200,
5 Bayliss (Aus-Ducati) 2:02.295,
6 Rolfo (I-Honda) 2:02.315,
7 Nieto (E-Kawasaki) 2:02.523,
8 Fabrizio (I-Honda) 2:02.556,
9 Laconi (F-Kawasaki) 2:02.638,
10 Yukio Kagayama (J-Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra) 2:02.990,
