FIM Supersport World Championship Imola, Italy September 23 Free Practice One Results (all on Pirelli tires): 1. Luca SCASSA, Italy (Yamaha YZF-R6), 1:52.375 2. Broc PARKES, Australia (Kawasaki ZX-6R), 1:52.553 3. Chaz DAVIES, Great Britain (Yamaha YZF-R6), 1:52.736 4. Fabien FORET, France (Honda CBR600RR), 1:53.056 5. Alexander LUNDH, Sweden (Honda CBR600RR), 1:53.301 6. Florian MARINO, France (Honda CBR600RR), 1:53.329 7. Roberto TAMBURINI, Italy (Yamaha YZF-R6), 1:53.432 8. David SALOM, spain (Kawasaki ZX-6R), 1:53.471 9. Robbin HARMS, Denmark (Honda CBR600RR), 1:53.703 10. Sam LOWES, Great Britain (Honda CBR600RR), 1:53.717 More, from a press release issued by Bogdanka PTR Honda: BOGDANKA PTR HONDA’s James Ellison finished 14th in the opening qualifying for round ten of the World Supersport Championship with clear ideas to make further improvements tomorrow after his superb podium finish in the last race in Germany. After making a strong start to the weekend in the opening practice, Pawel Szkopek finished the first qualifying session in 19th on the second Bogdanka PTR Honda and aims to improve during tomorrow’s second session ahead of Sunday’s race. James Ellison: “In the first session I wasn’t too worried about being a bit down as it’s been seven years since I’ve been here and I was re-acquainting myself with the track. In the second session we found a big chunk of time and I was in the top four initially but then we just stuck on the times and I couldn’t go any quicker. In the end we know what to do for tomorrow and we’re confident to improve for sure. If I’d knew where I was going in the first session maybe we’d found that earlier but it’s only day one.” Pawel Szkopek: “I’m happy and confident after the first day. I got up to a good pace very quickly and enjoyed myself on the track. I didn’t get to do a fast lap on a fresh set of tyres but I’m really happy after this morning and confident we can improve the starting position tomorrow.” Simon Buckmaster: “James is looking for more feel from the front end and we will work with him on that. Pawel crashed this morning but apart from that it has been a positive start. We are looking to build on this tomorrow so he can challenge for points in the race.” More, from a press release issued by Yamaha ParkinGO Racing Team: Luca Scassa and Chaz Davies have opened the first qualifying at Imola round of the World Supersport Championship, in first and third place. This is the weekend where Chaz Davies will fight for as many points as he needs to win the World Title, meanwhile Luca Scassa will take his best chances to come back to the top of the rostrum, that would allow him to battle for the second position of the Championship giving to Yamaha ParklinGO Team a memorable double-score. To upset the plans there will be three adversaries: Broc Parkes and David Salom on Kawasaki and Fabien Foret on Honda, as the other riders are too far to fight for the target. Luca Scassa Yamaha YZF R6 #9 – “I am very happy to have done the provisional pole in front of my fans. These weeks, I have trained a lot, and I have tried to concentrate and get focused for this race weekend. Tomorrow I’ll try some small changes on the bike for Sunday’s set up, where I would like to be on the top of the podium in front of my people on the last 2011 Italian round.” Chaz Davies Yamaha YZF R6 #7 – “My goal for today and tomorrow is to center on the set up of the bike and avoid thinking about what I need to win the title. The most difficult day will be Sunday where I’ll be searching an important result for my career for the first time. For sure I’ll be giving a thought to the classification but that doesn’t mean I won’t fight for victory.” More, from a press release issued by Harms BenJan Racing Team: The tenth race of the season, brings the Harms BenJan racing team back to Italy. The third race on Italian soil is held at the “Enzo e Dino Ferrari circuit”. An almost 5km long circuit around the hills of Imola. As the circuit got resurfaced in August, the team decides to use a base setup for the bike to start with. When the green flagged waved for the second time, an early red flag stopped the session for 20 minutes, Robbin completes some laps to feel the suspension settings. The feeling was good, but the gearing from the bike was too short. The team fitted a new gearing and Robbin felt a big improvement, finishing in a 7th position. For the first timed session, track and air temperatures peaked high so conditions where very good. Robbins feeling with the bike and circuit where very positive and he made consistent fast laps which placed him in fourth place. 15 minutes before the end of the session, Robbin got on track again with a new set of tyres attacking a better laptime. Unfortunate, Robbin crashed lightly but was unable to continue the session. Robbin finished in a 9th place. Robbin Harms, 9th 1m53.703 Today was a good day, from the start we had a setup that was working well. I struggled with my gearing at first, but this was easy changed. With the free session ending, we knew what direction we had to go with the suspension. In the timed session I had good laps and was able to improve every lap. I am very happy for today’s result, just disappointed with the small crash towards the end. Jan Breedveld: We started very good today, the first session went according plan. We changed the suspension for the qualifying and this was the direction to go. Robbin pulled out good laps and showed good progression. Too bad from the small the crash, but that is racing. More, from a press release issued by Parkalgar Honda: PARKALGAR HONDA’S Miguel Praia is a strong 12th after first qualifying for this weekend’s 10th round of the World Supersport Championship at Imola in Italy and is looking forward to improving tomorrow. Sam Lowes crashed his Parkalgar Honda early in qualifying and was unable to get back out so ended the day 10th. He was fastest in morning practice and is confident he can secure a good starting position in final qualifying. The race takes place at 1330CET on Sunday, September 25th. Miguel: “Things are pretty good, I am already faster than last year and my Parkalgar Honda is getting better with every change we make. We have had some issues but my crew are working on them and I think I can go faster for sure. I am pleased as I have done a lot of fast consistent laps, I am enjoying myself.” Sam: “It is a real shame I crashed; I felt good, probably felt the best I have all year. I couldn’t get the bike back to the pits to get it fixed so that was the end of the session. The good news is we definitely have got the speed and I made a mistake and will not repeat it again – I’ve learnt from it. I am looking forward to tomorrow, the weather is to be dry, so I think everything will be OK in second qualifying.” Simon Buckmaster, Parkalgar Honda Team Manager: “Sam made a mistake early on, crashed and couldn’t get the bike back. He’s annoyed with himself at the crash but he’s not hurt and we will be focused tomorrow. “Miguel is doing a good job and I am positive he can improve and challenge for the top 10 in qualifying.” More, from a press release issued by Yamaha: Impressive First Qualifying for Yamaha ParkinGO Team at Imola The Yamaha ParkinGO Team riders Luca Scassa and Chaz Davies didn’t waste any time today in Imola, the pair got straight down to business in the Italian sunshine to complete the first qualifying session in first and third places respectively. Luca Scassa made an impressive start to the weekend at his home track. The Italian was immediately on the pace and making constant progress throughout the day. Having worked through some minor set up changes on his R6, Scassa proceeded to snatch the top of the time sheets from Fabien Foret in the dying minutes and completed the first qualifying session with a provisional pole. Teammate and title favourite Chaz Davies put on an equally remarkable performance in the first qualifying session of a critical race weekend. Davies will be fighting for the Championship title this weekend and having completed in third place overall, the Welshman wrapped up day one in confidence. Davies intends making some further adjustments to his machine in tomorrow’s session ahead of Sunday’s significant race. Luca Scassa Yamaha ParkinGO Team – 1st, 1’52.375 “I’m really pleased with today’s result, it was a good start to an important weekend for me at my home track. I’ve trained a lot recently and I’m really focused on this race and the rest of the season, and will work very hard to climb up the standings. There is still some fine tuning to be done on the bike tomorrow ahead of the second qualifying session. I am confident that with the support of my numerous fans here at my home track, I can gain a podium finish on Sunday and maybe even a race win. That’s my goal and I’ll do my best to get there.” Chaz Davies Yamaha ParkinGO Team – 3rd, 1’52.736 “My goal today and tomorrow is to concentrate on improving the set-up of the bike without thinking about my chances of winning the title on Sunday. It’s an important weekend for me and I want to be in top form and fully confident with my machine before the race, where I’ll be battling to take the first title of my career. I don’t necessarily need to win on Sunday, but I’ll be pushing for a victory no matter what. ” More, from a press release issued by Hannspree Ten Kate Honda: Provisional front row for Foret Fabien Foret set the fourth fastest time in today’s opening qualifying session for round 10 of the World Supersport championship at Imola in Italy, securing a provisional front row start for Sunday’s race. Local rider Luca Scassa was fastest today, as Foret’s Hannspree Ten Kate Honda team-mate, Florian Marino, set the sixth fastest time. Second qualifying takes places at the recently resurfaced 4.936km Imola circuit tomorrow afternoon to determine final grid positions for Sunday’s 19-lap race. Fabien Foret P4 1m53.056s This morning was very comfortable, actually, and I was very happy with the bike. But the temperature was a bit higher this afternoon. It meant that the bike was not quite so easy to ride as this morning so we might have to do a little bit of fine-tuning to get the setting better for the warmer conditions. Florian Marino – P 6 1m53.329s Today wasn’t too bad and I was able to make some quite consistent laps. I need to improve a bit in the final two sectors where I am losing maybe 0.4s but the bike is definitely feeling better compared to Nurburgring. We need to keep improving the bike and my riding, but overall I am quite happy to be nearer the front. Tomorrow we’ll see how tyre life is on some used tyres and see how ready we are for the race. Ronald ten Kate team manager We’re quite satisfied with the first day of work at Imola. The riders have already found a very good rhythm and we just need to look at some details to find the last bit of speed. We are already close to a good race setup though and we did more than race distance this morning with Fabien which shows that already the machine is gelling very well with Imola.