Saturday Mar 25 2006
Qualifying - Jerez

Ducati Marlboro Team riders Loris Capirossi and Sete Gibernau stormed to a brilliant one-two qualifying performance at Jerez this afternoon, putting them in the best possible position for tomorrow's season-opening Spanish GP. The pair dominated the session, using the speed of their Desmosedici GP6s and the grip of their Bridgestone tyres to ride the fastest two laps ever recorded at Jerez.

Capirossi upped his pace time and again during the outing to end the session on pole just ahead of Gibernau, whose last and fastest lap brought him to within 0.221 seconds of his team-mate. Today's result is a carbon copy of the Ducati Marlboro Team's first Spanish GP in 2003 when Capirossi was on pole and team-mate Troy Bayliss second.


Federico Minoli (Ducati Motor Holding CEO and president)
"An amazing performance, just like 2003, you couldn't ask for a better start to the season. The bike really showed its power in T3 and T4. Loris showed his class all around the circuit and Sete was also great. Considering this is only his first GP on the Desmosedici, it gives us great hope for the future."

Loris Capirossi (pole position, 1:39.064)
"What a fun day, I could ride the way I like to ride. The bike was sideways as usual, but everything was under control! I was going for a 1.38 on my last lap but I just missed it. So far this has been a very positive weekend, following on from the great tests we did here two weeks ago. During those tests we weren't looking for sensational lap times, we were working so we could come here for the race with a bike that works consistently for a lot of laps, and we have found a good balance. Bridgestone have improved a lot, I was a lot faster today with soft tyres than last time here and we are really good with race tyres too. We haven't seen Ducati first and second in qualifying since 2003 and I think we should also be able to make a great race too. I don't think I'll try and leave everyone behind from the first lap because this track is very demanding on tyres and it would be better to save them for later. As always, my thanks to Ducati and Bridgestone."

Sete Gibernau (second fastest, 1:39.285)
"I'm keeping my feet on the ground. Like I keep saying, I'm in the middle of a learning process with the bike, the team, the tyres, everything. My goal today was to be on the first or the second row, but everyone's done such a great job, the team, the factory, Bridgestone, my crew chief Juan (Martinez), so I have to say thank you to everyone involved in this project. They have given me back the feeling I need to go racing. Tomorrow will be a learning race for me, my aim is to get away with the leading group and try to be with them all the way to the end of the race. I hope I can do it."

Temperatures: Ambient: 20 degrees. Track: 27 degrees