Capirossi on provisional pole

Loris Capirossi has continued his quest for speed by not only taking provisional pole for the fifth round of the MotoGP world championship, in Mugello, Italy, but also breaking the GP top speed record for the second time this year.

The Ducati rider first took the brand new Desmosedici to 203.9mph at the IRTA test in Catalunya before the season started. But he has now topped that by making 204.2mph at Mugello, almost 2mph faster than team-mate, and nearest rival, Troy Bayliss.

Capirossi’s best time saw him lap the Italian circuit in 1:51.954, just 0.014 seconds ahead of second placed Valentino Rossi, but not as fast as Rossi’s best practice time of 1:51.848.

Max Biaggi finished with a best time of 1:52.021, beating last round’s winner, Sete Gibernau, to third place by just 0.249 seconds.

Four Yamahas filled the provisional second row with Fortuna Yamaha rider Carlos Checa taking fifth followed by Alex Barros, Shinya Nakano, and Checa’s team-mate Marco Melandri.

Despite taking his Ducati to the second highest top speed Capriossi’s team-mate Troy Bayliss could only manage to hold on to a provisional 18th place on the grid.

The second qualifying session starts at 1pm, UK time, Saturday with warm up for the MotoGP race at 9am on Sunday. Check back regularly for updates on the racing plus live reports from MCN’s Summer Sports Bike show throughout the weekend.

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