Kawasaki on pole ahead of SERT and Yamaha Austria in Albacete 2007 Albacete winner Team Kawasaki France will start from pole position this afternoon at the “6 Horas Nocturnas de Albacete”, second event of the Qtel FIM Endurance World Championship. Under a very cloudy sky, but on a dry although cold track, the official Kawasaki of Julian Mazuecos, Erwan Nigon and Victor Carrasco (average time of the three riders: 1’31”862) leads by a very small gap over the Suzuki Endurance Racing Team of Vincent Philippe, Guillaume Dietrich and Julien da Costa (1’31”982). Even if the starting grid order is determined by the average lap time of the three riders of each team, one needs to acknowledge Julian da Costa’s performance on the Suzuki this morning. With a lap on 1’30”894, he beat last year’s best qualifying time, achieved by his team mate Vincent Philippe in 1’31”268. Julien da Costa was the only rider to lap below the 1’31 mark this morning. Yamaha Austria Racing Team took the third place on the starting grid. The Austrian R1 and its team (Igor Jerman, Steve Plater and Steve Martin) feel particularly at ease on the Albacete racetrack. Yamaha Austria is even more motivated since they need to score points after they had to abandon at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, first event of the season. National teams are also present in the top of the grid. The Suzuki Catala of Josep Sarda, Kenny Noyes and Bernat Martinez took the fourth place on the grid, by a very small margin over YMES Folch Endurance Yamaha ridden by Daniel Ribalta, Pedro Valcaneras and David Tomas. With a very homogenous team (Sébastien Scarnato, Luca Scassa and Patrick Piot), Midi Pyrénées MV Agusta Racing Team took the sixth place on the starting grid. Still suffering from injuries, Patrick Piot will have, however, to hold tight to keep the rhythm at the beginning of the race. Seventh on the starting grid, Bolliger Switzerland seems to have found a better set-up than in the first qualifying session. Eight on the starting grid, Maco Moto Racing Team decided to run with only two of their star riders, Warwick Nowland and Jason Pridmore. Behind them, with an average time of 1’34, are Phase One Endurance, Endurance Moto 38, RT Racing Team Moto Virus and Diablo 666 Bolliger Kawasaki. Thirteenth and first Superstock machine on the starting grid, Endurance Moto 45 made a good impression with the performance of their number 1 rider, Nicolas Jaulneau, in 1’33”804. In the Superstock class, the next teams, LTG 57 and ABG Performance, will start respectively from sixteenth and seventeenth place. The “6 Horas Nocturnas de Albacete” will start this afternoon at 6 pm. Follow race live, log on www.circuitoalbacete.es/crono/live.html