AUSTRALIAN GRAND PRIX NEWS
Official Practice Phillip Island, 2nd of October, 1999
GIBERNAU SHINES AT PHILLIP ISLAND
Sete Gibernau had a very successful second qualifying session as he prepares for tomorrow's Australian Grand Prix. Gibernau shaved close to a full second off his Friday time and powered up to sixth place on the grid. The Repsol Honda rider showed his mettle by learning his way around the Phillip Island circuit in double quick time. Contrary to his rivals, Gibernau has no prior knowledge of negotiating the Australian track on board his current machine. Gibernau started the season riding the innovative Repsol Honda NSR 500 V twin. He only switched to his current machine, the four cylinder NSR 500, at the Italian Grand Prix.
Just behind Gibernau, Tadayuki Okada lies in seventh place. The Japanese rider is still encountering certain problems around Phillip Island but is determined to do his very best to claim his third win of the season.
Alex Crivillé put in an impressive effort today and managed to better his time. Crivillé broke a bone in his left wrist when he crashed yesterday afternoon. He has been receiving constant medical attention since then and despite the pain that his injury is causing him, Crivillé still found the courage to ride in both of today's qualifying session. Although he will start low down on the grid, Crivillé is on course to do as much damage control as he can in tomorrow's race.
SETE GIBERNAU 6th 1:33.333 "Today went so much better than yesterday. I'm obviously happy to have improved my time by a second but also because I was able to run consistent 1í33 laps. Consistency is the key to doing well in the race. Physically, I feel a lot better now and that is also a great help. I'm nearly back to 100% fitness. This is very important because when you're feeling better physically you can run the bike harder and be more confident on it. Our set-up is not perfect but we did manage to improve it a lot from yesterday. My only regret is that during my fastest lap I had to overtake four riders. You never know what can happen but I'm sure that I could have gone faster if I had been riding alone."
TADAYUKI OKADA 7th 1:33.417 "I concentrated on endurance testing for the race during that session. It's a very important factor if we want to do well. We're still having the same kind of problems as yesterday and part of the solution may lie with the tires. I tried some different ones today and I think I will run with the 16.5 inch rear tomorrow. It gives better turn-in on this track. I'm still lacking traction out of the turns but we'll try our best to improve and run a good race."
ALEX CRIVILLE 12th 1:33.757 "This morning, I just went out to find the most comfortable position on the bike, especially with regards to the handlebars. I was in so much pain that I didn't think I would be able to ride at all this afternoon. Doctor Costa has been treating me and helping a lot. Each lap I do is really painful but I still managed to improve on yesterday's time this afternoon. I'm very satisfied about that and about the fact that I'll be starting the race from the third row. My aim in this race is to score as many points as possible. I simply cannot let this chance at getting the title slip by. I must give 100%, whatever the situation, no matter how bad the pain is. I didn't sleep very well last night, because of the pain but also because I was so annoyed with myself for crashing. But there are four races left so the situation is not desperate."
Phillip Island Australian Grand Prix
500cc Qualifying Order
1. Kenny ROBERTS USA Suzuki Grand Prix Team SUZUKI 1:32.319
2. Tetsuya HARADA JAP Aprilia Grand Prix Racing APRILIA 1:33.080
3. Regis LACONI FRA Red Bull Yamaha WCM YAMAHA 1:33.177
4. Alex BARROS BRA MoviStar Honda Pons HONDA 1:33.229
5. Max BIAGGI ITA Marlboro Yamaha Team YAMAHA 1:33.274
6. Sete GIBERNAU SPA Repsol Honda Team HONDA 1:33.333
7. Tadayuki OKADA JAP Repsol Honda Team HONDA 1:33.417
8. Norick ABE JAP Antena 3 Yamaha-DíAntín YAMAHA 1:33.452
9. Juan BORJA SPA MoviStar Honda Pons HONDA 1:33.498
10. Carlos CHECA SPA Marlboro Yamaha Team YAMAHA 1:33.511
12. Alex CRIVILLE SPA Repsol Honda Team HONDA 1:33.757
