Disappointed again !

Valentino Rossi was at a loss to explain the tyre problems that he suffered in his disastrous Turkish Grand Prix.

The 28-year-old Italian led a Yamaha one-two in qualifying, but slipped back in the race to finish tenth – a result that saw his nine point advantage in the world championship turn into a ten point deficit to Casey Stoner – who won the race.

"We are very disappointed today because we had high expectations for this race,” said Rossi. “But instead we had some unexpected problems with the tyre and it's been a disaster for us.

Rossi lost the lead on the opening lap when he slid wide on the exit of turn 13, but instead of coming back at the Ducatis of Stoner and Loris Capirossi, he instead found himself falling down the field on his Michelins on a day when Bridgestone-shod bikes took eight of the top nine places.

“Something happened to it after some laps and I couldn't fulfil the potential we had here,” Rossi added. “We don't know the reason yet for the problem but now Michelin are trying to understand what happened.”

“The tyre started to lose all grip and I had to slow right down because I was quite scared. It felt like there was a big problem with the tyre and I had to go very carefully just to finish.”

The five-time world champion kept up his record of having never won at the Istanbul Park circuit, but at least he fared better than his team-mate Colin Edwards, who emerged bruised and battered after a first-lap pile-up that eliminated him, Dani Pedrosa and Olivier Jacque from the race.

Perfect qualifying for Rossi in Istanbul

Valentino Rossi and Colin Edwards put themselves in the best possible starting positions for tomorrow’s Grand Prix of Turkey with a one-two in today’s Official Qualifying. Shaking off the mild set-up problems they had encountered on yesterday’s dirty track, the pair worked steadily on fine-tuning their 800cc YZR-M1s throughout the majority of the hour-long session before posting the best flying laps on qualifying tyres to take the top two spots on the grid for tomorrow’s 22-lap race.

With the weather staying dry once again the grip on track was considerably better than yesterday and Rossi’s eventual pole time of 1’52.795 was just inside the existing lap record, although still slightly slower than last year’s pole time. The Italian moved into pole with eight minutes remaining after his first flying lap before consolidating his position with another even faster lap on his second qualifying tyre soon after. Rossi’s second pole of the season and ninth consecutive front row start puts him in a strong position to challenge for a win at one of only three circuits on this year’s calendar where he has yet to stand on top of the podium. Edwards’ second qualifying lap of 1’52.944 was good enough for second position behind his team-mate and the American will start ahead of Dani Pedrosa, who mounted a strong challenge in the closing stages but finished 0.027 adrift of the American.

Valentino Rossi
“I’m very happy to have a pole position at this track, which has never been one of my favourites! I’ve had some bad moments here in the past but this year it feels like a different track for me and I’m having great fun! My M1 is very competitive, a lot more fun to ride here than in the past and the new modifications we have for our engine have made an important difference to our overall performance. The team has done a great job because we had some problems yesterday but they’ve found some good solutions and now Colin and I are first and second. My tyres are working well and we’ve found the right front for tomorrow.

We need to make a final decision about the rear in the morning. With the qualifying tyre my bike really flew and I was able to do a very good lap; I started my first lap a few minutes earlier than the others and then I knew that I could improve a little bit more with the second qualifying tyre. Anyway all three of us are very close on the front row so I think it’s going to be a tight battle tomorrow. Let’s hope for good weather and see what happens. “

Fright for 1st Turkey title

Valentino Rossi hopes to win for the first time at Istanbul as he bids to strengthen his place at the top of the MotoGP standings.

The Fiat Yamaha team rider has never won at the Turkish venue but aims to put that right on Sunday as he bids to pull further away from Ducati Marlboro's Casey Stoner in the championship standings.

Rossi does not favour Istanbul or the following venue in the championship, Shanghai in China, but has set his sights on a first win in Turkey.

"The next two races, Turkey and China, are ones that I don't like so much and I have never won at Istanbul, but it's a great circuit with some very fast corners," said Rossi.

"If the bike works well then it will be great fun I think. Last year I made an error early in the race and it cost me the chance for a podium, but I won't be making the same mistake this year.

"We are leading the championship but it's a long season and we have to aim to get on the podium at every race."

Rossi knows Stoner's Ducati will have the edge in the next two GPs as the layout favours his bike's superior top speed.

"The difficult thing over the next two races is going to be horsepower, because both Istanbul and Shanghai have very long straights," said Rossi.

"We tried some new things at the Jerez test to improve this and I know that Yamaha have been working very hard in Japan so hopefully we will have a little bit of improvement in this area when we get to Turkey."

Putting the record straight

Istanbul Park is one of only three circuits on the current calendar where Valentino Rossi has yet to take victory in the premier-class of MotoGP, the others being Laguna Seca in the USA and Misano in Italy, which will this year host a Grand Prix for the first time since 1993. It is a figure the 28-year-old is looking to reduce as he aims for his first back-to-back victories since Mugello and Catalunya last year."

"The next two races, Turkey and China, are ones that I don't like so much and I have never won at Istanbul, but it's a great circuit with some very fast corners," says Rossi. "If the bike works well then it will be great fun I think. Last year I made an error early in the race and it cost me the chance for a podium, but I won't be making the same mistake this year! We are leading the championship but it's a long season and we have to aim to get on the podium at every race."

"The difficult thing over the next two races is going to be horsepower, because both Istanbul and Shanghai have very long straights. We tried some new things at the Jerez test to improve this and I know that Yamaha have been working very hard in Japan so hopefully we will have a little bit of improvement in this area when we get to Turkey. The other question is for the tyres, because it's the first time this season that we're going to be racing at a track that we haven't tested at. With the new restrictions it's going to be very important to make the right choices and also we don't know what the weather will do."

2007 Laureus Awards