eni FIM Superbike World Championship
Losail International Circuit, Qatar
October 31, 2014
Free Practice Three Results (all on Pirelli tires):
1. Davide GIUGLIANO, Italy (Ducati 1199 Panigale R), 1:57.876
2. Jonathan REA, UK (Honda CBR1000RR), 1:58.013
4. Sylvain GUINTOLI, France (Aprilia RSV4 Factory), 1:58.166
5. Loris BAZ, France (Kawasaki ZX-10R), 1:58.296
6. Alex LOWES, UK (Suzuki GSX-R1000), 1:58.539
7. Tom SYKES, UK (Kawasaki ZX-10R), 1:58.818
8. Leon HASLAM, UK (Honda CBR1000RR), 1:58.989
9. Toni ELIAS, Spain (Aprilia RSV4 Factory), 1:59.025
10. Marco MELANDRI, Italy (Aprilia RSV4 Factory), 1:59.162
11. Chaz DAVIES, UK (Ducati 1199 Panigale R), 1:59.208
12. Niccolo CANEPA, Italy (Ducati 1199 Panigale R), EVO, 1:59.284
13. Sylvain BARRIER, France (BMW S1000RR), EVO, 1:59.390
14. Sheridan MORAIS, South Africa (Kawasaki ZX-10R), EVO, 1:59.686
15. David SALOM, Spain (Kawasaki ZX-10R), EVO, 2:00.147
16. Alessandro ANDREOZZI, Italy (Kawasaki ZX-10R), EVO, 2:00.294
17. Jeremy GUARNONI, France (Kawasaki ZX-10R), EVO, 2:01.223
18. Bryan STARING, Australia (Kawasaki ZX-10R), EVO, 2:01.447
19. Geoff MAY, USA (EBR 1190 RX), 2:01.801
20. Aaron YATES, USA (EBR 1190 RX), 2:02.289
21. Alex CUDLIN, Australia (Kawasaki ZX-10R), EVO, 2:02.461
22. Gabor RIZMAYER, Hungary (BMW S1000RR), EVO, 2:03.168
23. Imre TOTH, Hungary (BMW S1000RR), 2:04.172
More, from a press release issued by Dorna SBK Press Office:
Giugliano shines on WSBK’s maiden nocturnal sessions
Doha (Qatar), Friday 31 October 2014 – After numerous changes, the final Tissot-Superpole participants of 2014 were decided in the final minutes of this evening’s FP3 under floodlights in the Qatari desert.
After missing the second session because of a technical problem Davide Giugliano (Ducati Superbike Team) wasted no time in improving, moving firstly to 8th, then 6th before unleashing the fastest time of the day to head into tomorrow’s Superpole as the quickest rider.
Behind the Italian, Jonthan Rea (Pata Honda World Superbike) finished 2nd, maintaining his strong opening day at the Losail International circuit with Sylvain Guintoli (Aprilia Racing Team) 3rd overall ahead of his compatriot Loris Baz (Kawasaki Racing Team), who elevated himself to 4th on combined times.
Eugene Laverty (Voltcom Crescent Suzuki) and team mate Alex Lowes, who crashed during the session were 5th and 6th respectively ahead of Chaz Davies (Ducati Superbike Team), an improving Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team), Leon Haslam (Pata Honda World Superbike Team), and Toni Elias (Red Devils Roma Aprilia) who complete the top ten seeded riders into Superpole 2.
Marco Melandri (Aprilia Racing Team) will have to run in Superpole 1 after only finishing 11th as will Niccolò Canepa (Althea Racing Ducati) who finished 12th to once again claim the honour of being the best classified EVO rider.
There was delight in the Team Hero EBR camp as Geoff May made it through into Superpole for the first time in 20th, a great reward for the team’s efforts during their first venture into World Superbike competition.
More, from a press release issued by Pata Honda:
Rea dazzles under the lights in Qatar
Pata Honda’s Jonathan Rea set the second fastest combined time in this evening’s three free practice sessions at Losail International Circuit in Qatar in preparation for Sunday’s title-deciding final round of the 2014 World Superbike championship.
Rea was just 0.1s behind this evening’s provisional pole sitter, Davide Giugliano, with Sylvain Guintoli, the only rider able to prevent Tom Sykes winning his second championship on Sunday, third. Sykes ended the day eighth fastest.
Today was the first time that the series has been run under floodlights and Rea, 27, got off to a blinding start to set the fastest time in Free Practice 1. His Pata Honda team-mate Leon Haslam was 10th in that session but fifth fastest in FP2, with Rea fourth.
Haslam ended the evening in ninth place overall but the 31-year-old is confident of further improvements in tomorrow’s FP4, which will not be timed for the afternoon Superpole sessions that will determine Sunday’s grid positions.
With the third Free Practice session ending at midnight local time, both Pata Honda riders and their crew held a relatively short debriefing session and will return in good time to work on their CBR1000RR Fireblade SPs before FP4, which kicks off at 18.00 tomorrow.
Jonathan Rea – P2, 1m58.013s
We’ve worked really well today. Before coming here, I haven’t been a fan of three sessions in one day and it’s been a tough day. To have three sessions and finish this late at night is quite difficult but we’ve worked really hard on weight distribution and spring balance. We’re still trying to find the optimum session because I’m still struggling to finish off the corner in some areas. But overall the package seems really good here and I’m really enjoying riding. Hence the reason I put so many laps in! I’m learning every time I go out because it’s quite a different experience riding under the lights. But I’m just so happy to be out there because I feel like a Supercross rider! I wish I could ride under lights every race!
Leon Haslam – P9, 1m58.989s
Yeah, it’s not been too bad for the first night here in Qatar. It’s been pretty good actually, although we were a little bit behind after the first session. But we made some good steps for session two and I’ve had the opportunity to try all three tyre options. Unfortunately, the better tyre is always the one that you don’t get so many of, so I didn’t use the softer option later on this evening. But I still managed to go quicker on the harder tyre so I was pretty happy with that. Everyone seems to be making good steps on the tyres so hopefully tomorrow we can do a bit of a longer run on the softer option.
Pieter Breddels – technical co-ordinator
Jonathan was fast from the beginning this evening and we had very few problems during the evening. The bike setting didn’t give us too many problems which was good because we were able to do longer runs and start to work on a race rhythm. We’re looking forward to continuing this way tomorrow. Leon’s first session was not easy but in the end he was ninth and it’s all quite close – he’s only a tenth off Tom Sykes which is not so bad, even though there’s some more work to do. But it looks promising and hopefully he can gain those few tenths tomorrow to close the gap further.
More, from a press release issued by Ducati Corse:
Giugliano and the Ducati Superbike Team lead the way at the end of timed practice at Losail!
Losail (Qatar), Friday 31 October 2014 – With Davide Giugliano concluding in first position and Chaz Davies seventh, the Ducati Superbike Team is pleased with the positive results obtained in today’s opening sessions of the final round of the 2014 World Superbike Championship, which took place this evening at the Losail International Circuit.
In a change to the usual Friday schedule, all three of the timed practice sessions took place this evening on the floodlit track, a first for the World Superbikes in Qatar. In the opening session, which took place shortly after the sun went down (air temp 29°C, track temp 35°C), riders Chaz Davies and Davide Giugliano took time to refamiliarise themselves with a track at which neither of them has ridden for a number of years. The two Ducati factory riders positioned eleventh (Davide) and twelfth (Chaz) at the end of the first session.
Later in the evening, riders returned to the track for the second timed practice, but unfortunately a technical problem for Davide early on in the session relegated him to the garage and caused him to sit out the remainder of the session. Chaz made substantial progress throughout second practice, before taking a significant step in the final minutes. On his last exit and using a fresh tyre, he was able to stop the clock at 1’58.583, almost three seconds faster than his best time of session one, to set the second fastest time of this session.
The third and final timed practice session, which concluded at midnight (local time), saw Giugliano determined to do well, with his team having resolved the problem of the previous session. Pushing hard, and lapping with continuously fast times, the Italian rider closed with a best of 1’57.876, an impressive time which remained the fastest of the day, and only six tenths from the current ‘best lap’, set by Spies back in 2009. Giugliano thus obtained provisional pole, qualifying first for tomorrow evening’s Superpole 2. Davies was unable to further improve on his best time but thanks to his fastest lap of the second session, he closed day one in seventh position overall, also gaining entry to Superpole 2.
Quotes after the day’s sessions:
Davide Giugliano – (Ducati Superbike Team #34) – 1st (1’57.876)
“Today has been a difficult day but when you’re able to lap fast, as I did in the final session, then you can only be pleased. It’s really exciting to ride here at night and I’ve had fun, especially in the third session, having resolved the earlier problems. To be honest, I didn’t have too much trouble getting to grips with the ‘unusual’ conditions and although I expected the track conditions to worsen later on they remained pretty good throughout all three sessions. So I’m pleased with today’s result but now we have to see what we can do tomorrow – we’d like to make the bike a little more fluid and we also need to work on race pace…”
Chaz Davies (Ducati Superbike Team #7) – 7th (1’58.583)
“It’s been something of a mixed day. We took our time a little in session one, before taking a step forward in the second session and then making some changes in the last session, in which we didn’t improve further. But anyway, I’m generally happy and don’t think we’re too far away from where we need to be. We’re trying to improve rear stability and tyre life, but are not having any particular problems. I’m enjoying the experience of riding at night, it definitely took me some time to adjust in the first practice but I got used to it and was able to do more in the second session. Track conditions aren’t as bad as I thought they might be either which is good. Now we’ll see how we can improve further tomorrow.”
More, from a press release issued by Team Hero EBR:
Desert Delight For Team Hero EBR In Qatar
Under the floodlights of the Losail International Circuit in Qatar, Team Hero EBR ended the opening day of their desert debut in 20th and 22nd positions with Geoff May and Aaron Yates completing a total of 76 laps between them over the 3 Free Practice Sessions.
Geoff’s result gave the team a real cause for celebration as after a season of hard work and determination they made it into Tissot-Superpole for the very first time!
Both riders were once again required to learn the Qatari circuit but with more than half of the field also new to the track things were a little more levelled than usual.
The EBR 1190RX machines worked well throughout, and despite the 1km main straight both Geoff and Aaron were able to make progress in every session, the Americans visibly happier with the way in which the opening day went.
Geoff and Aaron will take part in FP4 tomorrow evening before Geoff becomes the first rider in EBR’s short World Superbike career to venture onto the circuit aboard his 1190RX in Superpole.
Geoff May – “This is a great result for Team Hero EBR and shows what hard work, determination and belief can do. Coming here to Qatar for the final round I had 2 objectives, the first was to make it into Superpole after missing out by thousandths at Laguna and the second was to score World Championship points. We have accomplished the first and we will see on Sunday if we can achieve the second. I gave it everything and was either going to make it into the top 20 or bury the bike in the sand trying (laughs). The team are doing a great job and it’s good to have my ex crew chief from when I rode with EBR in the states with me. Let’s see what we can do tomorrow.”
Aaron Yates – “Today was really positive and had things worked out we could have maybe had both bikes in the top 20. I was able to go faster each session and the bike is working really well here in Qatar. The fast flowing nature of the track and the long series of corners is helping us and we can show how agile the EBR is. We will continue to work hard in FP4 and push hard to improve some more. Congrats to Geoff on making it into Superpole, I hope to fight with him inside the points in both races on Sunday.”
More, from a press release issued by Aprilia:
GUINTOLI IS FAST AND CONSISTENT STRAIGHT AWAY AT LOSAIL, READY TO MAKE HIS PLAY FOR THE CHAMPIONSHIP
APRILIA DEFENDS A 23 POINT LEAD IN THE MANUFACTURER WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
Losail (Qatar), 31 October 2014 – The longest night is approaching, Sunday night, when Sylvain Guintoli and Aprilia will make the final play for the Rider World Championship and the Manufacturer World Championship in the Qatar night races.
Guintoli will need to keep up his resounding comeback which, on the eve of the last two races, has taken him to just 12 points behind the lead in the Rider Championship, while Aprilia must defend a 23 point advantage over Kawasaki to be crowned Manufacturer World Champion.
On the Losail circuit, lit up like broad daylight, the first day of practice showed Guintoli in excellent form. The Frenchman appeared to be highly motivated and consistently focused during the three Friday practice sessions. From a technical point of view as well, the first day was encouraging and his feeling with the RSV4 seemed to be excellent from the start. As usual Sylvain worked quite a bit on race strategy without using tyres to try for a fast time, but in any case staying at the top or among the top positions in each session. Guintoli finished consistently ahead of Sykes, the provisional championship leader and his adversary in the battle for the title. Of course, this is nothing new. In the last 4 races Aprilia’s Frenchman has finished ahead of the English rider, making up a solid 32 points in the standings.
Sylvain Guintoli: “This was a very good day for us, but also rather tiring given the weather and the three sessions. We always do it, but this time in particular we focused a lot on race pace and tyre life which is a critical factor on this track. The results have been very positive but obviously we still have a few aces up our sleeve that we want to test tomorrow. We will need to manage the RSV4’s power well, unleashing it where it is needed and reining it in where we risk abusing the tyres too much. Skids and drifting are great for the show and for thrills, but not for race pace!”
Marco Melandri, on the other hand, dominator throughout the final phase of the season (4 wins out of 6 races), had to deal with grip issues from the very first lap. In any case, the rider from Ravenna has expressed optimism for tomorrow since he and his mechanics have identified the cause of his difficulties which he will attempt to remedy tomorrow. Marco finished with the eleventh best time which will force him to compete in the first Superpole session as well.
Marco Melandri: “Definitely an off day. I struggled with grip the whole day without being able to completely solve my problems. In any case I’m quite optimistic about tomorrow because in the last session we identified a few solutions that may help us to recover. Tomorrow we’ll see we are able to close back in on the front runners and participating in Superpole 1 may even help me, since I always seem to have a hard time taking full advantage of the qualifying tyre.”
More, from a press release issued by Team Suzuki Press Office:
STRONG START FOR VOLTCOM CRESCENT SUZUKI IN QATAR
Voltcom Crescent Suzuki’s Eugene Laverty concluded the opening eni FIM Superbike World Championship action at the Losail International Circuit in fifth place today, completing all three free practices under floodlit conditions.
Despite having not raced here for five years, Laverty looked comfortable aboard his Yoshimura-powered GSX-R, claiming fifth in the day’s opening session. As the evening continued – and the track cooled – Laverty took charge, finishing the second free practice fastest and more than half-a-second quicker than the lap-record with a 1’58.449. A difficult final session left the Suzuki rider unable to set a lap but his pace in the earlier practice was enough to qualify fifth overall.
Getting up-to-speed quickly for his inaugural session at the Qatar track, Alex Lowes was the first racer of the day to break the two-minute barrier, setting two consecutively-quick laps to head the times with a 1’59.974 and with just five minutes remaining. He ultimately ended the opening practice in third with two further qualifying sessions left to run and continued the hard work into the night. A mistake in the final session left him little margin to set a time. However, with less than three minutes to go, the British racer took his Suzuki GSX-R1000 to sixth position and safely through to tomorrow’s Superpole.
The action beginning as the sun went down, Davide Giugliano topped the times with a 1’57.876 on his Ducati as the Losail International Circuit entertained a sultry 29°C. Althea’s Niccolo Canepa led the EVO class as the track cooled and the clock struck midnight.
With all three timed-for qualifying free practice sessions completed this evening, Voltcom Crescent Suzuki returns to the track at 18:00hrs local time (15:00GMT) tomorrow for the last non-timed free practice session ahead of Superpole at 21:00hrs local time (18:00GMT).
Eugene Laverty:
“The Suzuki works really well around this circuit as we expected: It flows and with only really one tight-corner it’s built for the GSX-R. In the second practice, lap-times were coming really easily, we went fastest and then unfortunately in the final practice we had an electronics problem, didn’t get a single lap-in and we dropped down to fifth. Going by the second practice we are looking really strong so it would be nice to finish the year with a good Superpole for a change and try and get on that podium come Sunday.”
Alex Lowes:
“I’m a bit upset to make a mistake and miss most of that last session. In the middle session we worked on the less-favourable tyre, did a lot of work and I felt really strong, even though I was only seventh. The first session was obviously great and in the last session we only got one lap in on what will be the race tyre and, although I obviously got a good lap in at the end, I think that could have been a really strong session, so I’m a little bit frustrated. On the other side, I’ve never been here before and it’s been a fantastic experience to race under the lights; I’m really happy and I’m enjoying it a lot. I said at Magny-Cours, obviously apart from the race day when it didn’t quite go right because of the weather, I’m enjoying riding my bike again and I’m really happy. I just want to say a special thanks to the lads; they worked really hard in that session to get me out with two-and-a-half minutes to go, so thanks to them and we’ll see what tomorrow brings!”
Paul Denning – Team Manager:
“It’s great to have the World Superbike Championship here in Qatar, the bikes look spectacular under the lights and for our team, the Suzuki GSX-R1000 and both riders seem to be enjoying the track so it’s all positive. FP1 and FP2 both went ultra-smoothly but the wheels fell off our evening somewhat in FP3 with Eugene not completing a lap due to an electronics issue and Alex – after he’d put a new set of tyres in the bike – unfortunately crashing on his first timed lap. For Eugene to finish fifth overall having missed all of FP3, and for Alex to have recovered to sixth with just one timed-lap on his repaired bike at the end of the session, would indicate that we’ve got very good potential here this weekend.
“Both crews did a really good job this evening and Alex’s guys worked miracles to get his bike fixed in the time they had available. The crew deserve a good result this weekend so we’ll keep working hard tomorrow and see what we can achieve.”