FIM Superbike World Championship Brno, Czech Republic July 20, 2012 Qualifying Session One Results (all on Pirelli tires): 1. Davide GIUGLIANO, Italy (Ducati 1098R), 1:59.452 2. Marco MELANDRI, Italy (BMW S1000RR), 1:59.545 3. Eugene LAVERTY, Ireland (Aprilia RSV4 Factory), 1:59.693 4. Tom SYKES, UK (Kawasaki ZX-10R), 1:59.850 5. Carlos CHECA, Spain (Ducati 1098R), 2:00.180 6. Jakub SMRZ, Czech Republic (Ducati 1098R), 2:00.226 7. Ayrton BADOVINI, Italy (BMW S1000RR), 2:00.244 8. Michel FABRIZIO, Italy (BMW S1000RR), 2:00.322 9. Chaz DAVIES, UK (Aprilia RSV4 Factory), 2:00.391 10. Leon HASLAM, UK (BMW S1000RR), 2:00.422 11. Loris BAZ, France (Kawasaki ZX-10R), 2:00.441 12. John HOPKINS, USA (Suzuki GSX-R1000), 2:00.528 13. Leon CAMIER, UK (Suzuki GSX-R1000), 2:00.615 14. Max BIAGGI, Italy (Aprilia RSV4 Factory), 2:00.746 15. Jonathan REA, UK (Honda CBR1000RR), 2:00.911 16. Maxime BERGER, France (Ducati 1098R), 2:00.978 17. Hiroshi AOYAMA, Japan (Honda CBR1000RR), 2:01.073 18. David SALOM, Spain (Kawasaki ZX-10R), 2:01.575 19. Lorenzo ZANETTI, Italy (Ducati 1098R), 2:02.060 20. Alessandro POLITA, Italy (Ducati 1098R), 2:02.668 21. Leandro MERCADO, Argentina (Kawasaki ZX-10R), 2:03.342 22. Viktor KISPATAKI, Hungary (Honda CBR1000RR), 2:04.259 23. Norino BRIGNOLA, Italy (BMW S1000RR), 2:04.506 More, from a press release issued by Honda: Honda hopes for more on day two at Brno Honda World Superbike Team riders Jonathan Rea and Hiroshi Aoyama completed a frustrating first day at the ninth round World Superbike championship event at Brno in the Czech Republic today. The CBR1000RR-mounted pair finished 15th and 17th respectively, with Rea walking away from a high-speed crash in this morning’s free practice and light rain affecting this afternoon’s opening qualifying session. Provisional pole position was taken by Davide Giugliano from Italy with Marco Melandri, Eugene Laverty and Tom Sykes completing the provisional front row. With the threat of rain tomorrow morning, Rea and Aoyama will be working hard with their crews to ensure progression to tomorrow afternoon’s Superpole. Jonathan Rea P15, 2m00.911s It’s been a bit of a frustrating day all together, to be honest. I just haven’t found a great feeling with the bike yet; or the track. But after a long de-brief, the direction we need to go is quite clear. The bike is quite different to when I was here two years ago, when the pace was faster than I can achieve now. But we have that data so tomorrow we can run out with a different linkage which will make the bike work in a better way, I hope. Also, with the corners here being long and flowing, throttle control is really important but right now the ride-by-wire seems to be a bit much. My wrist needs to take over some of the work to get a better feeling. It stopped me having the confidence to really, really push today but I won’t panic because it’s quite logical what we need to do for tomorrow. Hiroshi Aoyama P17, 2’01.073s The results are not very good today. We could improve a little bit from this morning, when we finished inside the top 16, which is better for qualifying, but we don’t know the conditions tomorrow morning, so it might be difficult. I got a better feeling from this morning to the afternoon, but it still wasn’t exactly what we wanted. At least we found out the right way to go and we still want to make some adjustments tomorrow to get a little bit more of a front feeling. Pieter Breddels technical co-ordinator Unfortunately Jonathan had a small crash this morning and that meant we started a little bit behind our competitors this afternoon. Of course, we improved the lap time, but we struggled to find a good setting to find some grip, which seems to have been a problem for a lot of riders today. We certainly have some work to do there, as we do on the other side of the garage. Hiroshi was up to speed more quickly than usual this morning, which was quite positive. In the afternoon, we did improve and we are a little bit close than normal but we still need half a second to get comfortably in Superpole. So work to do there, too! More, from a press release issued by Aprilia: AFTER A STRONG FOURTH TIME IN THE FREE PRACTICE SESSION, MAX BIAGGI ENCOUNTERS SOME DIFFICULTIES IN THE QUALIFIERS WITH THE SHIFTING WEATHER. TWO GOOD FRIDAY SESSIONS FOR EUGENE LAVERTY AT BRNO, THIRD IN BOTH. Brno, 20 July 2012 The shifting weather conditions at the Brno track, especially during the afternoon qualifying session, did not help ranking leader Max Biaggi. After putting a promising fourth time on the boards during free practice, Max encountered some difficulties in the set-up of his RSV4. This is an unusual situation considering the normally good feeling the Corsair has with the Czech circuit. His fourteenth time in the qualifiers surprised even Max, who is confident in his Team’s work to realign the sights, specifically regarding the bike’s set-up. Tomorrow’s forecast for rain represents another unknown factor since the races on Sunday (barring any unforeseen events) should be on a dry track. “We have a few problems to solve admitted Max Biaggi it almost feels like I’m riding on a different track and that’s odd because the bike has actually not been changed radically since the last race. We’re struggling coming into turns. We are really losing a lot of time coming out of them. Maybe we missed something in the tune up. We’re analysing the data now and we’ll see about working to make up for lost ground”. The double third place times Eugene Laverty made in the two sessions confirmed the Northern Irish rider’s good feelings after the Aragon races and tests. Fast even in less than perfect track conditions, Eugene says that he is satisfied with the work done today and he acknowledges that there is still a certain margin for improvement. “This was a good day of testing for us, not only because of the third place times in both sessions. In fact, we know that we still need to improve on some things, so I’m confident about the rest of the weekend. Tomorrow we might be riding in the wet and then in the dry on Sunday, but honestly I’m not too worried about the weather conditions because we’ve got a good package either way”. More, from a press release issued by Infront Motor Sports: Giugliano the early leader at Brno Brno (Czech Republic), July 20th 2012 Davide Giugliano (Althea Racing Ducati) improved on his morning time to also head up the first qualifying session at Brno, setting a time of 1 minute 59.452 seconds before rains arrived at an inopportune moment, then falling heavier at the end of the session. Marco Melandri (BMW Motorrad Motorsport) went second quickest, Eugene Laverty (Aprilia Racing) was third, with Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team) into the top four and placing four different machines into the top four places in the process. Fifth place so far went to Carlos Checa (Althea Racing Ducati), with local favourite Jakub Smrz (Liberty Racing-Team Effenbert) scoring sixth on his vee-twin. Ayrton Badovini (BMW Motorrad Italia GoldBet) and his team-mate Michel Fabrizio posted similar times to take them into the top eight places. The constantly learning Chaz Davies (ParkinGO MTC Racing Aprilia) was ninth, Leon Haslam 10th on his BMW Motorrad Motorsport bike and Loris Baz (Kawasaki Racing Team) 11th. The top 11 riders were within a second of each other, and John Hopkins (FIXI Crescent Suzuki) was only 1.075 seconds from provisional pole and the first Suzuki in the rankings, 12th. Times: 1. Giugliano (Ducati) 1’59.452 average 162.834 kph; 2. Melandri (BMW) 1’59.545; 3. Laverty (Aprilia) 1’59.693; 4. Sykes (Kawasaki) 1’59.850; 5. Checa (Ducati) 2’00.180; 6. Smrz (Ducati) 2’00.226; 7. Badovini (BMW) 2’00.244; 8. Fabrizio (BMW) 2’00.322; 9. Davies (Aprilia) 2’00.391; 10. Haslam (BMW) 2’00.422; 11. Baz (Kawasaki) 2’00.441; 12. Hopkins (Suzuki) 2’00.528; 13. Camier (Suzuki) 2’00.615; 14. Biaggi (Aprilia) 2’00.746; 15. Rea (Honda) 2’00.911; 16. Berger (Ducati) 2’00.978; etc. World Supersport Broc Parkes (Ten Kate Racing Products Honda) headed up a three-rider Honda assault on the time sheets in the first qualifying session, with the Aussie setting a time of 2 minutes 03.440 seconds to lead Sam Lowes (Bogdanka PTR Honda) and Jules Cluzel (PTR Honda). The top three were separated by only 0.055 seconds. The next best rider was Kawasaki Intermoto Step competitor Fabien Foret, with South Africa’s Ronan Quarmby (PTR Honda) fifth. Championship points leader Kenan Sofuoglu (Kawasaki Lorenzini), who recently had a successful operation on his left knee, went sixth quickest, one place up on 207 125cc world champion Gabor Talmacsi (PRORACE Honda). Andrea Antonelli (Bike Service R.T.) was the top Yamaha runner in eighth place. Times: 1. Parkes (Honda) 2’03.440 average 157.573 kph; 2. Lowes (Honda) 2’03.481; 3. Cluzel (Honda) 2’03.495; 4. Foret (Kawasaki) 2’04.120; 5. Quarmby (Honda) 2’04.475; 6. Sofuoglu (Kawasaki) 2’04.661; 7. Talmacsi (Honda) 2’04.662; 8. Antonelli (Yamaha) 2’04.944; etc. Superstock 1000 Jeremy Guarnoni (MRS Kawasaki) topped the times in the first official qualifying session in the Czech Republic, from another top regular Sylvain Barrier (BMW Motorrad Italia GoldBet). Local rider Ondrej Jezek (SK Energy Racing Team Ducati) was third on his 1098R machine. Christoffer Bergman (BWG Racing Kawasaki) scored fourth place on the provisional grid, with Motorland Aragon race winner Bryan Staring (Team Pedercini Kawasaki) fifth after day on. One more qualifying session remains before the race on Sunday morning. Times: 1. Guarnoni (Kawasaki) 2’04.031 average 156.822 kph; 2. Barrier (BMW) 2’04.071; 3. Jezek (Ducati) 2’04.562; 4. Bergman (Kawasaki) 2’04.644; 5. Staring (Kawasaki) 2’04.851; 6. Reiterberger (BMW) 2’05.174; 7. Lussiana (Kawasaki) 2’05.199; 8. Savadori (Ducati) 2’05.211; etc. Superstock 600 Team Italia FMI Yamaha rider Riccardo Russo led the early running at Brno, heading off the MTM Racing Yamaha of Gauthier Duwelz and the EAB Ten Kate Junior Honda Team bike of Michael van der Mark with a time of 2 minutes 06.963 seconds. Alex Schacht (Schacht Racing SBK ONE Honda) slipped into fourth place, as Aussie rider Adrian Nestorovic (MTM Racing Yamaha) put in a fifth best time. Twenty-six riders set qualifying times first time out, as they aim for the best possible start position for Saturday’s 11-lap race. Times: 1. Russo (Yamaha) 2’06.963 average 153.201 kph; 2. Duwelz (Yamaha) 2’07.138; 3. Vd Mark (Honda) 2’07.162; 4. Schacht (Honda) 2’07.723; 5. Nestorovic (Yamaha) 2’08.043; 6. Cocco (Yamaha) 2’08.102; 7. Gamarino (Kawasaki) 2’08.410; 8. Ponsson (Kawasaki) 2’08.501; etc. KTM European Junior Cup Lukas Wimmer secured the fastest lap of the first free session in the KTM Junior Cup Championship, with his fellow Austrian Tom Busch second, 0.205 seconds behind. Giuseppe Scarcella took his KTM Duke to third fastest time, with Adrian Pasek fourth overall. Times: 1. Wimmer (KTM) 2’21.153 average 137.799 kph; 2. Busch (KTM) 2’21.358; 3. Scarcella (KTM) 2’21.784; 4. Pasek (KTM) 2’22.014; 5. Fazzina (KTM) 2’22.332; 6. Vidal (KTM) 2’22.427; 7. Orellana (KTM) 2’22.454; 8. Miñana (KTM) 2’22.619; etc. Coppa dei Due Paesi (Two-Nations Cup) Leandro Biliotti (Team Trasimeno Yamaha) posted the quickest first qualifying lap in the international Coppa dei Due Paesi contest at Brno, 0.4 seconds ahead of Denis Sacchetti (SD Rider Team Kawasaki). Patrik Vostarek (Motorpower Honda) put three different manufacturers into the top three. Local rider Tomas Vavrous (Montaze Bros Racing Team Yamaha) was the fourth out of a healthy total of 21 entrants. Times: 1. Biliotti (Yamaha) 2’07.585; 2. Sacchetti (Kawasaki) 2’07.985; 3. Vostarek (Honda) 2’08.897; 4. Vavrous (Yamaha) 2’09.551; 5. Averkin (Kawasaki) 2’10.297; 6. Vlasov (Yamaha) 2’10.687; 7. Spigariol (Kawasaki) 2’10.734; 8. Dusek (Yamaha) 2’10.973; etc. More, from a press release issued by Team Suzuki News Service: FIXI Crescent Suzuki racers John Hopkins and Leon Camier are safely within the provisional positions for tomorrow’s Superpole despite difficult conditions on the first day of the ninth round of the eni FIM Superbike World Championship from Brno in the Czech Republic. Hopkins recorded a best time of 2’00.528 during his 11-laps around the 5,403m Brno circuit in this afternoon’s first qualifying session, giving him 12th place overall on the leader-board. He worked on tyre and chassis settings during this morning’s practice session and found a clear direction for the weekend ahead. Unfortunately the weather this afternoon prevented him from making further progress and he will now be looking to improve tomorrow. Camier was just 0.087 seconds behind his team-mate, as he posted the 13th fastest time of the afternoon from his 12 circulations of the Czech track. Like all riders today he struggled with the conditions, but was able to post a time that secured a provisional place in tomorrow afternoon’s Superpole. Camier will be striving to cement that place in the final qualifying session on Saturday morning, to give him the opportunity of getting a good starting position for Sunday’s races on his Yoshimura-powered Suzuki GSX-R. The morning untimed session was overcast and dry, but the afternoon qualifying session was beset by occasional bouts of rain which prevented the riders from pushing too hard. Davide Giugliano on a Ducati posted the fastest time in this afternoon, with Marco Melandri of BMW second and Aprilia’s Eugene Laverty third. Hopkins and Camier will have a final qualifying session tomorrow morning to confirm their positions in the afternoon’s Superpole session, where the top-16 riders will be battling for the best grid positions in Sunday’s two races, the first of which gets underway at 12.00hrs local time (11.00hrs BST). John Hopkins: “We had a couple of small issues this morning, but the boys fixed the problems and I began putting in the laps. I spent most of the morning session trying out different tyres and once we found a pretty decent one, we then started to work on the chassis settings. Unfortunately it rained off-and-on during this afternoon’s qualifying session and it was hard to know how much of the track was dry and how much was wet, so I didn’t push it too hard. The FIXI Crescent Suzuki feels pretty good and the feeling between me and the bike is the best it has been for some time and that is making my confidence grow. I’m looking forward to tomorrow and Sunday and feel positive I can get my best results of the season this weekend.” Leon Camier: “The conditions in qualifying this afternoon were a bit tricky. It’s like that when it rains a bit, then stops, then starts again. It’s hard to know which parts of the track are OK and which are a bit slippery. It’s a bit risky pushing too hard, but you’ve got to push to make sure of getting into Superpole and that’s what I did. I feel my FIXI Crescent Suzuki has improved a since Aragon and I think there’s more to come, which is good news. This afternoon, in qualifying, I tried a different compound tyre but it just didn’t work – so I came back to the pits for another. During this time we were also trying to find a gap in the weather and fortunately we found one and did enough to get into the Superpole places.” Jack Valentine – Team Manager: “Our first objective today was to get both riders into Superpole places and we managed that, so I’m pretty happy with how the day went. When the first spots of rain fell this afternoon, we were in the danger zone, but both riders responded well to the challenge and we even finished ahead of the likes of Biaggi and Rea. “I am also satisfied because both sessions were virtually trouble free and that’s a good start to the weekend. John and Leon improved their chassis set-ups in the second session and this should go towards helping them in qualifying and Superpole tomorrow. Although a second off the pole, they ended qualifying only 0.3-of-a-second off the sixth fastest rider today, so once again, things are pretty close. Hopefully, they will confirm their places in Superpole and get good grid positions for Sunday’s races.” Brno – eni FIM Superbike World Championship – Qualifying 1: 1. Davide Giugliano (Ducati) 1’59.452: 2. Marco Melandri (BMW) 1’59.545: 3. Eugene Laverty (Aprilia) 1’59.693: 4. Tom Sykes (Kawasaki) 1’59.850: 5. Carlos Checa (Ducati) 2’00.180. 12. John Hopkins (FIXI Crescent Suzuki) 2’00.528. 13. Leon Camier (FIXI Crescent Suzuki) 2’00.615. More, from a press release issued by Althea Racing: GIUGLIANO (ALTHEA RACING) TOPS THE TIMESHEETS IN FIRST SBK QUALIFYING AT BRNO; CHECA IN FIFTH PLACE Brno (Czech Republic), Friday 20th July 2012: Davide Giugliano and Carlos Checa (Althea Racing) were both very happy with their performances today during the opening SBK sessions at the Czech circuit of Brno. Davide in particular made the most of the (mainly) dry sessions and registered the fastest overall time in both the morning’s practice and afternoon’s qualifying session. Carlos and Davide took to the Czech track for first practice in dry conditions this morning, with a track temperature of 30ËšC. Davide got his weekend off to the best possible start, making a series of fast laps and closing first practice a the top of the timesheets having recorded the fastest time of the session 2m00.3 in the final stages. His team-mate Carlos recorded the seventh fastest time, closing the session with a best lap of 2m00.7 which he recorded soon into the practice. There were mixed conditions for the afternoon’s qualifying session, with intermittent rain showers. The rain did nothing to stop Giugliano from consolidating his earlier performance however; he concluded this 45-minute session at the front of the pack with a best time of 1m59.4. He was the first of only four riders to duck under 2m00 this afternoon. Checa recorded a best lap of 2m00.1 which positioned him fifth at the end of this first qualifying session. The Spanish rider did not have time to test the new wider tyre, due to the weather, but is confident that he will be able to lower his times tomorrow, also considering how well that tyre worked for his team-mate Davide. Carlos Checa: “Today we have worked with the softer front tyre and we’re pretty happy with the results. Unfortunately it began to rain during the afternoon’s session and so we weren’t able to try the wider tyre solution. We’ll get that done tomorrow, weather permitting of course, and there are also some other small changes to make but we are moving in the right direction. We have last year as a reference and that provides us with a good base; we’ll continue with the work tomorrow and hope to be able to improve.” Davide Giugliano: “Everything’s going well. We must stay focused, it’s only Friday of course and the races are not until Sunday. In this championship it’s not at all easy to stay there, up front, all weekend. These are the kind of results I was looking for, to show my team that I am really learning that it’s possible to be fast at each and every track. Everything’s working well, which means that I am growing and, bit by bit, becoming more of a professional. The results are also thanks to the team’s hard work of course. To have their support is a huge morale boost and that counts for a lot. We’ll see what conditions are like tomorrow; I just hope we don’t have sessions that are half wet, half dry.” More, from a press release issued by BMW Motorrad Motorsports: Weather conditions: Cloudy with some rain in the afternoon. Temperature: Air: 22 23 °C, Track: 30 31 °C Number of riders participating: 23 from 14 teams Fastest lap Free Practice: Davide Giugliano (Althea Racing) 2:00.359 min Fastest lap Qualifying Practice 1: Davide Giugliano (Althea Racing) 1:59.452 min At the ninth round of the 2012 FIM Superbike World Championship, Team BMW Motorrad Motorsport qualified for the provisional front row. Factory rider Marco Melandri (ITA) finished today’s first qualifying practice at Brno (CZE) in second after being quickest for some time. His team-mate Leon Haslam (GBR) had bad luck with the unstable weather and qualified provisional tenth on his BMW S 1000 RR. 15 minutes into the session, light rain started to fall which initially had little impact on lap times but when Leon was on a quick lap with six minutes to go, the rain got heavier and it was no longer possible to put in the fast lap times. BMW Motorrad Italia GoldBet SBK Team’s Ayrton Badovini and Michel Fabrizio (both ITA) finished the session in seventh and eighth respectively. Marco Melandri: Fastest lap Free Practice: 2:00.643 min (P6)/Fastest lap Qualifying Practice 1: 1:59.545 min (P2) “We worked on the set-up of the bike and found some good solutions. In general, the bike is working well but we are struggling again with chattering. It is not easy, because we don’t know exactly what is causing the issue but we are going to work on it tomorrow. We will try to improve it and also work with the tyres and then we will see.” Leon Haslam: Fastest lap Free Practice: 2:01.438 min (P13)/Fastest lap Qualifying Practice 1: 2:00.422 min (P10) “It was a bit of a rush this morning as we had a lot of tyres to test and we knew that it could rain today and tomorrow but we tested all the tyres and did what we had on our list. In the first qualifying practice both times that I was on a good lap the rain came. That wasn’t ideal for me but we are not so far away. We’ll certainly need to keep working, but anything can happen on Sunday. Today’s times were strange anyway because some riders who are always fast here were only in the middle of the times. But I think everyone was working on race tyres and race set-up. We’ll see what the weather does tomorrow.” Andrea Dosoli (Head of Race Operations): “The weather forecast for tomorrow is not good, so our day was very busy. We had to squeeze a lot of items’ tests into the first free practice session. We evaluated the different tyre compounds and dimensions, and both riders worked on the chassis geometry. Compared to the morning session, Leon made a step forward with the chassis set-up in the afternoon. Now his crew and him need to improve on the electronics setting for better rideability. Marco’s side as well worked on the geometry of the bike and the weight distribution. Marco already has a clear idea for the race tyre, and he proved to be consistently fast. Still, Marco struggles a lot going into the corner due to the vibrations he is complaining about. We hope for good weather that we can continue with the work to be done.”