Edwards' provisional pole

The new chassis that Yamaha’s Colin Edwards and Valentino Rossi are using for the Le Mans GP seems to have sorted their problems with the two riders taking a first and second fastest laps at the end of the first days practice.

The pair dominated the morning session with Rossi setting the fastest lap, but Edwards pulled it out of the bag in the afternoon session to set the fastest time of the day and take provisional pole.

Shinya Nakano put in a surprise quick lap on the Kawasaki right at the last minute to take the third place on the provisional grid away from Suzuki rider John Hopkins.

The fastest Honda on the track was rookie Casey Stoner. The Aussie rider was trying for a last minute fast lap when he ran off the track so had to settle for fifth.

Free practice 2 positions:

Colin Edwards

Valentino Rossi

Shinya Nakano

John Hopkins

Casey Stoner

Makoto Tamada

Sete Gibernau

Loris Capirossi

Dani Pedrosa

Marco Melandri

Nicky Hayden

Randy de Puniet

Toni Elias

Carlos Checa

Kenny Roberts

Chris Vermeulen

Alex Hoffman

James Ellison

Jose Luis Cardoso

Brit wildcard rider Dan Lindfoot qualified in 24th in the 250GP with fellow Brit regular Chaz Davies in 13th. 125GP Brit Bradley Smith qualified in 22nd.