FIM Supersport World Championship

Assen TT Circuit, Netherlands

April 18, 2015

Qualifying Results (all on Pirelli tires):

1. Jules CLUZEL, France (MV Agusta F3 675), 1:38.015

2. Kenan SOFUOGLU, Turkey (Kawasaki ZX-6R), 1:38.152

3. PJ JACOBSEN, USA (Kawasaki ZX-6R), 1:38.244

4. Kyle SMITH, UK (Honda CBR600RR), 1:38.303

5. Lorenzo ZANETTI, Italy (MV Agusta F3 675), 1:38.685

6. Christian GAMARINO, Italy (Kawasaki ZX-6R), 1:38.936

7. Lucas MAHIAS, France (Kawasaki ZX-6R), 1:39.016

8. Roberto ROLFO, Italy (Honda CBR600RR), 1:39.021

9. Marco FACCANI, Italy (Kawasaki ZX-6R), 1:39.119

10. Gino REA, UK (Honda CBR600RR), 1:39.226

17. Martin CARDENAS, Colombia (Honda CBR600RR), 1:40.312, crash

More, from a press release issued by CIA Landlord Insurance Honda:

Gino aiming for top six

Sat, 18 Apr 2015

CIA LANDLORDS INSURANCE HONDA’S Gino Rea qualified 10th at the fourth round of the World Supersport Championship at Assen in Holland and is targeting a top six finish in tomorrow’s race.

Gino said: “I am not where I want or expect to be. I had a difficult session. I lost confidence in the bike and myself to begin with. I pulled things together towards the end and managed a few good laps. We are on the back foot a little bit, but working in the right direction. I hope to run that pace in the race and get away with the group fighting for the top six tomorrow.”

Riccardo Russo dramatically improved his lap times and qualified 16th, within touching distance of the top 10 runners. Martin Cardenas crashed early in qualification and dropped to 17th, as he could not get back out on track. Kieran Clarke continued to find more speed and qualified 19th.

The race starts at 1140 local time, tomorrow, April 19th. There is a warm up session earlier in the morning to give the riders one last opportunity for final set up changes.

CIA Landlords Insurance Honda Team Manage Simon Buckmaster said: “Gino’s been struggling this weekend. He needs to relax as he is trying too hard. You need to find the flow here and it wasn’t happening for him. 10th on the grid is not great so we need to get a good start.

“Ricky has been improving and the times are tight. He can fight for the top 10 tomorrow.

“Martin crashed at turn three early on in qualification. He is banged up and lost a lot of track time and hence qualified down the order.

“Kieran has improved all weekend and has achieved his best qualifying. He is in a good frame of mind and could fight for a point tomorrow.”

More, from a press release issued by Kawasaki:

Front Row Starts At Assen For Sofuoglu And Jacobsen

Kenan Sofuoglu (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) and his fellow Ninja ZX-6R rider PJ Jacobsen (Kawasaki Intermoto Ponyexpres) shared the front row at Assen, after a close qualifying session held in dry conditions this afternoon.

After his first win of the year at Motorland Aragon last weekend Sofuoglu is out for more success at one of his favourite venues, the 4.542km long Circuit van Drenthe in Assen. He is the all-time championship record holder in terms of race wins, with 28.

Sofuoglu feels he has strong race pace to go with his ability to secure a front row starting position and now he will be trying to extend his current championship lead over Jacobsen on Sunday.

American Jacobsen was only 0.229 seconds from pole, in third place in the pre-race rankings and he too feels confident in his race pace in preparation for Sunday’s 18-lap race.

Christian Gamarino (Team Go Eleven Kawasaki) scored sixth on the grid for a second row start, while Lucas Mahias (Kawasaki Intermoto Ponyexpres) went seventh fastest, almost exactly one second behind the leader.

Rookie rider Marco Faccani (San Carlo Puccetti Racing Kawasaki) continued his strong form at the start of the year with ninth place on the grid, starting from the third row.

Kenan Sofuoglu: “Assen is a good track for us and Kawasaki and I am now looking to win here for the first time with this bike. Our race pace is very strong but Cluzel is always one of the best in qualifying and knew P1 was maybe not possible today. I am not surprised he beat me to pole, but I am not hungry for P1 in qualification. The good thing is that we have prepared very well for the race. The Kawasaki is working well and our race simulation is strong. The bike is amazing and I just have to make a good race and go for 25 points.”

PJ Jacobsen: “I am doing one full fast lap as fast as I can but today I could not do it as fast as the two guys in front. I think our race pace and package is pretty good and we should have no problem with that. I think we have the package for tomorrow and I am looking forward to the race.”

More, from a press release issued by Dorna WSBK Press Office:

Cluzel re-ignites title ambition with Dutch WSS Pole Position

Jules Cluzel (MV Agusta Reparto Corse) will start tomorrow’s fourth round of the World Supersport Championship from Pole Position after a closely fought qualifying session at the 4.542km TT circuit in Assen saw him edge current championship leader Kenan Sofuoglu (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) by 0.137s. The pair will be joined on the front row of the grid by American PJ Jacobsen (Kawasaki Intermoto Ponyexpres) who will be aiming to make it three times onto the podium in 2015.

For Cluzel it was his third Pole Position of the year and the Frenchman is hoping that the bad luck he has suffered in the last two races is well and truly behind him.

Row two comprises Kyle Smith (Pata Honda World Supersport Team), the Englishman hoping to give the Dutch team something to smile about in their home race. Lorenzo Zanetti (MV Agusta Reparto Corse) will start fifth alongside a rejuvenated Christian Gamarino (Go Eleven Kawasaki) who achieved a career best qualifying position in sixth.

Kevin Wahr (SMS Racing Honda) claimed his best qualifying position of the year in twelfth, a fraction behind Thai winner Ratthapark Wilairot (CORE Motorsport Thailand Honda) who suffered another crash during the session, to leaving himself with work to do from eleventh on the grid.

More, from a press release issued by Pata Honda:

Smith picks up where he left off at Aragon

Kyle Smith will start from the second row of the grid in tomorrow’s fourth-round World Supersport race after setting the fourth fastest time in this afternoon’s qualifying session at Assen in The Netherlands.

Repeating his qualifying effort from seven days ago in Aragon, Spain, the Pata Honda CBR600RR rider recovered from two incidents in practice to be within just 0.288 seconds of pole-sitter Jules Cluzel.

Buoyed by his maiden WSS podium in Aragon, the British rider is setting his sights even higher in Sunday’s race at the 4.542km Dutch circuit affectionately known as, ‘The Cathedral.’

Kyle Smith – P4, 1m38.303s

This is one of the hardest circuits on the calendar for me, so we have worked really hard and my pace has come along nicely. We’ve made a lot of changes to the setup over the weekend and have improved from being a second off the pace yesterday, to less than a tenth of a second off the front row. After such a great result last week in Spain, I won’t be happy with anything other than a podium finish here.

Pieter Breddels – technical co-ordinator

We’re really pleased with Kyle’s performance in qualifying. He improved his best time by seven tenths of a second, which has put him right in touch with the top three. Everyone is looking forward to tomorrow because we know we can be in the mix for the podium.