Zoom Colin Edwards

Tech 3 Yamaha rider Colin Edwards produced a brilliant late attack to claim pole position for tomorrow's 22-lap China MotoGP clash in Shanghai.

Edwards powered his Tech 3 YZR-M1 to a best lap of 1.58.139, which makes the American the fastest rider ever to lap the challenging 5.281km circuit. Edwards' best time comfortably secured him the third pole position of his MotoGP career with closest challenger Valentino Rossi 0.355s adrift in second.

Edwards' pole position was the first for the Tech 3 team since the 2002 German MotoGP race at the Sachsenring, and secured him a third front row start in four races during his first season with the French-based squad. Edwards' stunning performance also preserved Yamaha and Michelin's 100 per cent pole position record in 2008 as he took full advantage of a radical overnight set-up change by his team and senior Japanese engineers to help solve a grip issue that hindered his progress yesterday.

James Toseland will start from seventh on the grid after the British rider continued to make big progress in his quest to master the Shanghai circuit. His best lap of 1.59.254 put him as high as fifth place at one stage before he dropped back to the third row.

Tomorrow's race could be the first wet encounter of 2008, with weather forecasts predicting a strong chance of rain.

Colin Edwards 1st 1.58.139 – 21 laps
“I've got to say big thanks to my team, Yamaha and Michelin. I struggled yesterday but today it really came good. My guys and the Japanese got together last night and they came up with a set-up scenario to get the bike working which is completely foreign to what I've been riding. I haven't used this set-up in all my time at Yamaha, but based on the problems I was describing they suggested a plan and when I was thinking about it I was like ‘do what'? We were just looking for more traction because I struggled so badly in that area yesterday. We made a big change to the bike to get some weight on the rear and it worked. It was a great team effort and it definitely worked because when I went out this morning I was a second faster instantly. And it felt easy because I had no issues from the front like yesterday and my comfort level went up from 50 per cent to 95 per cent. My first two qualifiers weren't bad but it felt like I was playing a computer game when the shadow passes you and you are always trying to catch that shadow. It felt like that I could see where I wanted to be but I just wasn't hammering the throttle. So for the last tyre I went into turn one and knew I just had to get in deep enough and I really hammered it round the first two corners. I was 0.3s up just in that one section. From there I rode a good lap but I didn't have any real moments. It was weird because I didn't really have to take any risks like normal to do that time. |Everything was pretty calm and collected and the Michelin qualifier is awesome. It is going to be at tough race. I haven't done a 59 yet on a race tyre and Casey and Valentino look to be doing consistent 59. I just got to get a good start and hang in there.”