Vermeulen Front Row Starter

An epic wet weather qualifying session has set the stage for a thrilling 2008 British Grand Prix at Donington tomorrow, with Aussies Chris Vermeulen and Casey Stoner separated by 7 times World Champion Valentino Rossi on the front row of the grid.

In cold and wet conditions the Australian pair put on a brilliant display, dominating most of the session. In fact for a 20 minute period Vermeulen and Stoner were locked together with exactly the same time (1:39.980), almost a second faster than any other rider.

While Stoner clinched pole, Vermeulen produced a brilliant late lap to put his Rizla Suzuki into third spot, securing his best qualifying performance of the year to date.

“I am happy to be on the front row. I’m starting beside Valentino and Casey and every chance of being in turn one first and whether it’s wet or dry I think we’ve got a good set up and hopefully we can push for the podium in any conditions.” Vermeulen said after the session.

The 26 year old Queenslander has been extremely competitive all weekend, despite a crash in this morning’s first practice session.

“This morning was very, very wet and it was cold and I had a bit of an off. We lost a lot of track time because I hurt my hands and couldn’t get back out on the bike. This afternoon the team did a great job because we were a bit in the dark with set up for the wet. The bike worked very well and we tried some new tyres for Bridgestone which worked well. I’m very happy to be back on the front row of the grid, the first time this year and hopefully we can make this common.

“We were only 9^{th on the time sheet yesterday but it’s very tight, everyone except Casey, who had a bit of a gap. We tested a lot of hard tyres for the race, in case it rained today, so we’ve got a good set up. I’m confident if it is dry we’ll be out there and be strong.”}

The front row of Vermeulen, Stoner and Rossi will make for a brilliant MotoGP race, one which Vermeulen hopes will carry him into the top 10 of the championship.

“We’re 11^{th at the moment in the championship. We had two no point races at the start of the year and that was a real disaster for the championship, but now we’re coming back. We are consistently finishing in the top 10 where we need to be and like I said we’ll be fighting for podiums soon enough.” The Australian said.}

The race will be held at Donington Park on Sunday at 3pm local time.