Former World Supersport Champion Fabrizio Pirovano dusted down his leathers for the second time this year and once again took advantage of his ‘Wild Card’ status to lead the way in first qualifying for the Suzuki GSX-R European Cup at Misano today. Pirovano has undoubtedly put in more laps of Misano circuit than any of the regulars in the series and he used his circuit-knowledge to top the standings at the end of the qualifying session. But his lap time of 1:41.032, was only just over a tenth-of-a-second ahead of his nearest rival Xavier Simeon. Fabrizio Pirovano – 1st, 1:41.032: “What can I say? The bike is perfect, I love the track and everything about this series is great and I am enjoying myself. In the high temperature this afternoon, the rear tyres were sliding a bit, but it was easy for me to control – so no problem. I’m going to have more fun tomorrow and go all-out to win the race on Sunday. I know that as a wild card I will not score any points, but I still want to win.” Xavier Simeon – 2nd, 1:42.135: “Being second to Piro is no disgrace and when I followed him for a couple of laps, I learnt much more about how to ride this circuit. I had a little problem with my front brake disc – there was some vibration – but once we changed it, all was ok again. Now I’m looking forward to a good day tomorrow and an even better one on Sunday. I’m not sure if I can beat Piro, but I’m going to really give it my best shot.” GSX-R Cup Qualifying: 1 F Pirovano, Italy 1:41.032, 2 X Simeon, Belgium 1:41.135, 3 S Castellani, Italy 1:41.656, 4 L Segoni, Italy 1:41.924, 5 P Hafeneger, Germany 1:42.288, 6 A Polita, Italy 1:42.736.