Rossi on pole near-impossible

Valentino Rossi rescued a near-impossible situation with the fastest ever bike lap of the Brno circuit in the Czech Republic to take pole position for Sunday's Gauloises Grand Prix.

The Doctor already clocked the best practice time 1'57"871 on his unpredictable Yamaha on Friday to show that he has no intention of surrendering his title without a fight.

Rossi's fast lap came after time had expired and on a lap that didn't begin well. The world champion was behind the fast time of Loris Capirossi at the first two intervals. But in the second half of the lap Rossi stormed ahead, ending with a new record lap of 1:56.191.

"I think this practice is a great emotion for everybody, especially for us," Rossi said. "I'm happy because we work very well on the bike. Also with the qualification tires that we suffer too much during this year. And we did a great job together with my team and together with Michelin."

"When I see the lap of Loris (Capirossi) I say, is very fast; I don't know if I'm able. But I try, I try very strong with the three qualification tires. And at the end it was a very good lap, very fast; 56.1 is unbelievable."

Rossi knocked Capirossi from the top spot, but he held on to second. "I'm really happy in that moment because when we got back and we think about Friday morning my bike is terrible," he said. "We try to do everyhting and we try to have really good setting. setting. Now I have good confidence with tires and bike and my rhythm with race tires is really good. now I hope to go back, go back with the front guy."