Kenny hopes for rain.

World championship leader Kenny Roberts Jr. is hoping that rain will help him wrap up the 500cc title in Rio this weekend.

Roberts qualified fourth to place him on the front row in Thursday's first qualifying session and needs only sixth position on race day to claim the title. He said "I sure hope it will rain, because the wet suits our bike and will make it easier. I don't remember anything negative about the track when it's wet".

Nobuatsu Aoki, Roberts' Telefonica MoviStar Suzuki teammate, who had a troubled first qualifying session finishing fifteenth said, "I'm having a big problem with rear suspension setting up over the bumps. We made it softer, which brought me more feeling and allowed me to open the throttle earlier in the corner ...... but I'm having trouble with the rear wheel locking up going into the corners".

With rain forecast for the second qualifying session it appears that Aoki will not have the opportunity to improve his position, although similar weather conditions in the race will be welcomed by Team Manager Garry Taylor, "Rain is forecast for the race, and it will suit us - especially if there isn't much time to practice in the rain. The fewer laps of practice the better we go compared with the others. We seem to be able to optimise more quickly than them" he said.