FIM Supersport World Championship Motorland Aragon, Spain June 29, 2012 Provisional Qualifying Session One Results (all on Pirelli tires): 1. Sam LOWES, UK (Honda CBR600RR), 2:03.067 2. Jules CLUZEL, France (Honda CBR600RR), 2:03.635 3. Fabien FORET, France (Kawasaki ZX-6R), 2:03.771 4. Broc PARKES, Australia (Honda CBR600RR), 2:03.955 5. Sheridan MORAIS, South Africa (Kawasaki ZX-6R), 2:04.385 6. Roberto TAMBURINI, Italy (Honda CBR600RR), 2:04.411 7. Jed METCHER, Australia (Yamaha YZF-R6), 2:04.516 8. Josh DAY, USA (Kawasaki ZX-6R), 2:04.838 9. Alex BALDOLINI, Italy (Triumph Daytona 675), 2:04.890 10. Gabor TALMACSI, Hungary (Honda CBR600RR), 2:04.983 More, from a press release issued by PTR Honda: Provisional second for Cluzel in Spain PTR HONDA’S Jules Cluzel is second on the provisional grid for Sunday’s seventh round of the World Supersport Championship at Aragon in Spain – just behind his Bogdanka PTR Honda stable mate Sam Lowes. Ronan Quarmby on his PTR Honda crashed unhurt and in 14th place is not showing his real potential. Riders PTR Honda’s Martin Jessopp recorded his fastest lap right at the end of the day and is 23rd on his first visit to the track. There is another practice and then qualifying session tomorrow before the race takes place on Sunday, July 1st at 1330 CET. Jules: “In the morning I had some problems getting a good pace and we tried different things. We needed to understand where we lose and improve our speed and we achieved that in the morning. That allowed us to make a big improvement with my PTR Honda for the afternoon. I think also I was riding better than in the morning. We worked a lot in the afternoon and did not focus on a qualifying lap; we have a lot of soft tyres for tomorrow. I am happy, I feel can go much faster. ” Ronan: “I crashed in qualifying which was a disappointment. Sam let me try to follow him for a bit but when I came just before the back straight, the tyre let go and drifted for a bit and then flung me in the air. Luckily I am fine with a swollen elbow and looking forward to working on the set up for tomorrow and climbing up the grid.” Martin: “Aragon is a hard track to learn, one of the hardest in my opinion. It has not gone as well as I wanted it to; I’d like to be in the 2min 5secs bracket but it didn’t go our way. I suffer from mild asthma and I’ve been struggling with my breathing a bit. We have a few things to try to close the gap tomorrow so we are OK. My collarbone is nothing like last round and there are only a couple of places I really feel it. It is warm – it is lying down on the beach weather!” Simon Buckmaster, PTR Honda Team Manager: “It’s been a good first day for Jules. He made a step up between sessions and there are more improvements from him and the bike to come. Ronan was going well and then had a crash and lost a lot of the session – he’ll be OK and we will sort the bike for him. Martin is learning the track and we expect him to improve – it is good he is going faster each session.” More, from a press release issued by Bogdanka PTR Honda: Lowes fastest in Aragon scorcher BOGDANKA PTR HONDA’s Sam Lowes started the seventh round of the World Supersport Championship by taking provisional pole position in Friday’s opening qualifying session in the scorching heat at the Motorland Aragon circuit in Spain. Mathew Scholtz on the other Bogdanka PTR Honda also had an impressive start to the weekend, eventually going 11th fastest in the first qualifying practice and targeting more progress on one of the few tracks he’s familiar with during his World Supersport rookie season. Bogdanka Honda PTR’s Pawel Szkopek made a welcome return to action following his early season leg injury. The Polish rider finished the opening day at Aragon in 25th with the second qualifying tomorrow and the race on Sunday at 13:30 CET. Sam Lowes: “It was a really good day for us. The team has made quite a few changes from this morning to the afternoon and with the track being a lot hotter in the qualifying, everyone’s laptimes were a bit down, but I managed to match my time from this morning. I think this shows that we’ve made big progress with the bike and I think we’ll be alright this weekend. I’ll be doing some longer runs tomorrow morning, checking our race pace and then I want to go a bit faster in the second qualifying to keep pole position. I’m enjoying the track and looking forward to going out there again.” Mathew Scholtz: “I’ve finished the opening day in eleventh position which I’m very happy with. Aragon is one of the tracks that I’ve been to before so I was pretty confident that we could come here and have a good race. So far things seem to be going well and hopefully tomorrow we can push to get inside the top ten in the second qualifying.” Pawel Szkopek: “I took it steady today making one step at a time and getting more comfortable on the bike with each lap. It’s been three months since my injury which was a longer period without riding than in the off-season, so I need some time to get back in the groove, but on the bike I feel fine. I’m losing some time in three corners and I need to improve my riding, which we’ll be working on tomorrow, but I’m confident we can sort that out and have a good race.” Simon Buckmaster, Bogdanka PTR Honda Team Manager: “Even though the track temperature was significantly higher than this morning, Sam had a good run of fast laps and his Bogdanka PTR Honda is working well. Sam is happy and looking to improve tomorrow. Mathew had a great first day and keeps getting better – 11th is an excellent position. I believe he can improve from there and has the potential to be higher in second qualifying tomorrow.”