FIM Superbike World Championship Magny Cours, France October 6 Provisional Qualifying Results: 1. Noriyuki HAGA (Yam YZF-R1) 1:40.474 2. James TOSELAND (Hon CBR1000RR) 1:40.734 3. Lorenzo LANZI (Duc 999F06) 1:40.821 4. Andrew PITT (Yam YZF-R1) 1:40.872 5. Troy CORSER (Suz GSX-R1000) 1:40.936 6. Yukio KAGAYAMA (Suz GSX-R1000) 1:40.950 7. Fonsi NIETO (Kaw ZX-10R) 1:40.954 8. Troy BAYLISS (Duc 999F06) 1:41.006 9. Karl MUGGERIDGE (Hon CBR1000RR) 1:41.044 10. Alex BARROS (Hon CBR1000RR) 1:41.184 11. Chris WALKER (Kaw ZX-10R) 1:41.385 12. Michel FABRIZIO (Hon CBR1000RR) 1:41.547 13. Sebastien GIMBERT (Yam YZF-R1) 1:41.533 14. Shinichi NAKATOMI (Yam YZF-R1) 1:41.644 15. Max NEUKIRCHNER (Suz GSX-R1000) 1:41.648 16. Regis LACONI (Kaw ZX-10R) 1:41.744 17. Pierfrancesco CHILI (Hon CBR1000RR) 1:41.828 18. Norick ABE (Yam YZF-R1) 1:41.995 19. Roberto ROLFO (Duc 999F05) 1:42.155 20. Ivan CLEMENTI (Duc 999RS) 1:42.334 21. Steve MARTIN (Foggy Petronas FP1) 1:42.497 22. Josh BROOKES (Kaw ZX-10R) 1:42.777 23. Kurtis ROBERTS (Duc 999RS) 1:43.263 24. Vittorio IANNUZZO (Suz GSX-R1000) 1:43.750 25. Craig JONES (Foggy Petronas FP1) 1:44.020 26. Ivan GOI (Hon CBR1000RR) 1:44.567 27. Jiri DRAZDAK (Yam YZF-R1) 1:46.953 More, from a press release issued by FGSport: 2006 SBK CORONA EXTRA SUPERBIKE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP® MAGNY COURS 12th ROUND FIRST QUALIFYING PRACTICE Magny Cours, Friday 6th October 2006 HAGA AND TOSELAND BEGIN THEIR BATTLES EARLY HAGA FASTEST AS TRACK SURFACE PROVES TRICKY FOR SOME Fluids left on track from a crash in another earlier session delayed the opening untimed SBK session at Magny Cours and the lingering effects of a heavy fall of rain overnight made the track surface a different prospect from that experienced by some of the top riders in SBK a couple of weeks ago. Second qualifying was held in dry but overcast conditions, and with low 23°C track temperatures evident, it was a tricky session for most riders. Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha Motor Italia) was the fastest on show at Magny-Cours and, in an early indication of the main event to watch on raceday, the man who is fighting with him for overall second in the championship, James Toseland (Winston Ten Kate Honda) was next fastest, only some 0.260 seconds down. In a throwback to last year’s race weekend, Lorenzo Lanzi (Ducati Xerox) was fully in the mix, third fastest. The last place on the provisional first row was taken by the ever-impressive and improving Andrew Pitt (Yamaha Motor Italia), only 0.398 seconds from Haga. CORSER FASTEST IN THE MORNING AND BAYLISS ONE OF THE FALLERS Troy Corser (Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra) was fastest in the morning session, and subsequently fifth in the afternoon, but still very much in contention. No fewer than 11 riders were within a second of Haga, and sixth fastest was Corser’s team-mate Yukio Kagayama. Top Kawasaki rider was once more Fonsi Nieto (PSG-1 Kawasaki Corse), seventh quickest, despite suffering a big crash in the morning session and still feeling the lingering effects of his shoulder tweak at Imola last weekend. Newly-crowned 2006 champion Troy Bayliss (Ducati Xerox) fell without injury and went eighth fastest on day one. Weather conditions are set to improve for tomorrow, and times from all the top riders are expected to drop as the temperatures hopefully go up. MUGGERIDGE WELL-PLACED DESPITE EARLY MISFORTUNES Karl Muggeridge (Winston Ten Kate Honda) was still ninth fastest on day one, despite a problem with the gearbox on his number one machine. Riding with an experimental set-up the popular Aussie still managed to set good times on worn tyres. Imola race one winner Alex Barros (Klaffi Honda) was tenth on day one, with Chris Walker (PSG-1 Kawasaki Corse) 11th and talented youngster Michel Fabrizio (DFX Treme Honda) 12th. On home tarmac Sebastien Gimbert (Yamaha Motor France Ipone) was an impressive 13th, his team-mate Shinichi Nakatomi an even more laudable 14th. Alstare Suzuki’s private rider Max Neukirchner went 15th fastest, with Regis Laconi 16th and Pierfrancesco Chili (DFX Treme Honda) 17th from 27 qualifying riders. SUPERSPORT WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP Once more the 1-2 of Sebastien Charpentier (Winston Ten Kate Honda) and Kenan Sofuoglu (Winston Ten Kate Honda) headed a time sheet in World Supersport. Charpentier was almost a second faster than the championship leader Kevin Curtain (Yamaha Motor Germany) who only set six laps after a crash. Curtain’s machine was comprehensively destroyed in the crash, but according to his team he has suffered no injury. A mid-season injury has marred the overall championship campaign of Katsuaki Fujiwara (Megabike Honda) but he has lost none of his previous speed, and went fourth on day one at Magny-Cours. Gianluca Nannelli’s love affair with his SC Caracchi 749R continued, as he scored fifth best time, ahead of the still-sore Broc Parkes (Yamaha Motor Germany) and David Checa (Yamaha GMT 94). SUPERSTOCK 1000 FIM CUP Claudio Corti (Yamaha Team Italia) topped the early time sheets at Magny-Cours, with a regiment of MV Agusta riders ranged out behind. Luca Scassa (EVR Corse Ormeni Racing) was second fastest, Ayrton Badovini (Biassono Unionbike MV Agusta) third fastest, with Ilario Dionisi (Biassono Unionbike MV Agusta) fourth. Riccardo Chiarello (Berry Racing Team Kawasaki) added to the cosmopolitan nature of the grid by going fifth. SUPERSTOCK 600 EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIP Xavier Simeon (Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra) celebrated his championship win with provisional pole at Magny-Cours, ahead of Alessandro Antonelli (Junior Team Italia Honda), Davide Giugliano (Lightspeed Kawasaki) and Domenico Colucci (Ducati Xerox Junior Team). A running flush of different manufacturers in the top five was completed by a Yamaha, thanks to the efforts of local rider Sylvian Barrier (Moto1 Yamaha). More, from a press release issued by Team Alstare Suzuki: TROY AND YUKIO WORKING ON SET-UP Friday qualifying, 6th October Circuit: 4.411 kms. Weather: Dry, mostly cloudy 16-19 C. Team Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra riders Troy Corser and Yukio Kagayama used the first day of qualifying at Magny-Cours working on finding a good set-up for their GSX-R1000 K6 Suzukis. Both riders tested at Magny-Cours recently and they started today with the set-ups that had worked well then. But those set-ups did not work as expected today and both riders had to try some new settings to post good lap times. In the end, Troy finished fifth fastest and Yukio sixth. Quickest today is Japanese rider Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha), with James Toseland (Honda) second and Lorenzo Lanzi (Ducati) third. TROY 5th, 1:40.936 I had a little crash this afternoon when I lost the front at the right-hander at the top of the hill, but it was very slow and I didn’t hurt myself at all. We started with the set-up from our recent tests here but, for whatever reason, the bike didn’t work the same way. Also, we found a tyre we liked and then tried some different tyres, but none of those worked as well. So we’ll go back to what we know works well and try and improve it. I’m pretty happy with what I’ve got really and am confident about raceday. YUKIO 6th, 1:40.950 I started with the settings from our recent tests, but the feeling on the bike was not as good. Today the track felt dirty and a bit slippery to me and I didn’t want to push too hard too soon. In the morning, with the old settings my lap times were not so good. So we made some changes to the settings in the afternoon and the feeling was better. Tomorrow we will carry on with this direction and see how much we can improve the bike. FRIDAY QUALIFYING 1 Haga (J-Yamaha) 1:40.474, 2 Toseland (GB-Honda) 1:40.734, 3 Lanzi (I-Ducati) 1:40.821, 4 Pitt (Aus-Yamaha) 1:40.872, 5 TROY CORSER (Aus-Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra) 1:40.936, 6 YUKIO KAGAYAMA (J-Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra) 1:40.950, More, from a press release issued by Team Klaffi Honda: BARROS IN TENTH AFTER FIRST QUALIFYING Team Klaffi Honda rider Alex Barros rode to tenth spot in the first qualifying session on Friday in Magny-Cours. Barros completed several longer distances in terms for race preparations. The track in the middle of France on Friday only offered track temperatures about 20 degrees. Alex Barros: “I thought I will be able to remember at least some parts of the track since I was here last time in 1992. But it turned out that I have to learn the track again. We changed some adjustments to the front, which solved the problems. Still we have to work on the electronics going trough longer corners. I should improve my lap times for long runs by half a second, than we have a good chance in the races.” Ramon Forcada: “We made some improvements to the front this morning and solved the problem. Now we still have to work on the exiting of corners. There are some small ites to try. It is difficult to be on track where I worked last time 1992, that time it was in the 125cc class. Anyway we will be ready for the race.” More, from a press release issued by Ducati Corse: LANZI GOES THIRD QUICKEST FOR DUCATI XEROX IN FRANCE, NEW CHAMPION BAYLISS EIGHTH Magny-Cours (France), Friday 6th October: The Ducati Xerox Team riders placed third and eighth in Friday first qualifying for the final round of the 2006 World Superbike Championship at Magny-Cours in France. Lorenzo Lanzi was third quickest in the one-hour session, recording a time of 1 minute 40.821 seconds, to line up on the provisional front row behind Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha) and James Toseland (Honda), while newly-crowned champion Troy Bayliss was eighth fastest with a time of 1m41.006s. Troy and Lorenzo had a crash during the opening qualifying session but were both unhurt. “This is my first time here in Magny-Cours and it’s taken me a bit of getting used to” declared Troy. “This morning we did a really good first session to finish fourth, while this afternoon we went a bit faster but I had a crash at the front, up at the top in the penultimate corner. We’re struggling to find exactly what I’m looking for at the moment and I may have missed out on putting in a good tyre towards the end. This weekend we’re taking it how it goes, a bit like a test session really; you never know, we might learn something for next year! Saying all that I’m not far off anyway, Nori did one good lap, but I’m only two or three tenths off second place so I’m feeling OK”. “On my exit lap from the pits I was pushing quite hard because I was following some other riders and I crashed more or less in the same corner as Troy” commented Lorenzo. “I got onto the other bike and immediately set my best time which means that everything is OK. Now to remain in the top 3 this time will surely not be enough tomorrow because we’re all close together. However I’ve seen that on race pace Toseland, Haga and myself are the fastest three so that’s good. Let’s see if we can improve a bit more tomorrow, and that will allow me to start from the front row of the grid”. More, from a press release issued by Team Alstare Engineering Corona Extra: Friday qualifying, 6th October Circuit: 4.411 kms. Weather: Dry, mostly cloudy 16-19 C. MAX WORKING HARD ON SET-UP. Team Alstare Engineering Corona Extra rider Max Neukirchner experienced a few problems today and was unable to push hard for a quick lap time. Instead, the young German spent most of the time working on the chassis of his GSX-R1000 K6 and trying to find a good set-up for Superpole tomorrow and the race on Sunday. Quickest rider in first qualifying today is Japanese rider Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha), with James Toseland (Honda) second and Lorenzo Lanzi (Ducati) third. MAX – 15th, 1:41.648 I am not so happy today because we had a few problems, The first split was good but my bike didn’t feel so good in the chicanes or when I was changing direction because I couldn’t get a lot of grip. We started with the set-up from when we tested here recently but it didn’t work as well today so we had to make some changes. We tried a softer tyre towards the end of the qualifying session but even that didn’t really give me any better grip. Tomorrow we’ll concentrate on chassis work and finding a good set-up. I think we can improve quite a bit and my first goal is to qualify for Superpole. More, from a press release issued by Winston Ten Kate Honda: TOSELAND SECOND FASTEST IN PECULIAR MAGNY-COURS CONDITIONS James Toseland (Winston Ten Kate Honda) made a very positive start to the final round of the championship, running out second fastest at the same circuit he won the 2004 title on, despite concentrating more on machine set-up for race conditions than going for a single blitzing lap. The track was wet in the first session and delivered less grip than during a recent test in the timed session in the afternoon. Toseland is out to score an overall second in the championship in 2006, and a grandstand battle is promised, as his rival for that placing was the quickest rider on day one, Noriyuki Haga. Karl Muggeridge (Winston Ten Kate Honda) set ninth quickest time on his second machine, another strong result as it was running an experimental set-up, and yet the Aussie rider was still firmly in the top ten. Ronald Ten Kate Team Manager “Quite a good first day for us, because we did quite a lot of work with the electronics on James’s machine, and with the set-up side of the bike we have not pushed too much to make a single fast lap; we are concentrating on the race set-up more. We are immediately at the top of the sheets anyway, so we didn’t have to worry about the lap times too much. We know the direction now, and the track conditions were quite particular today, different to the test we had here three weeks ago. The surface looks in really strange shape, but it might improve for tomorrow, so we will have to see what happens. At the moment, race set-up is the main issue to work on.” James Toseland Winston Ten Kate Honda Rider (2nd Position Fastest Lap 1’40.734 – 25 laps) “It was a strange day on track, first of all with the grip level and then the wind picking up at the end there. In testing we did 1’40, 1’40, 1’40, so it was quite frustrating for me today. But we still ended up second. Because of the track conditions, the bike felt quite a lot different to ride, and not as easy to be consistent. I was running wide and I wondered why it was difficult to stop. Plus, the rear grip goes down quite a lot as the tyre goes down, and that made it very difficult to stop the bike into the corner. More so than any other track. I put new tyres in, so I know why we have these problems now. For Sunday and the race, we need to make a change, because now we understand why things are the way they were.” Karl Muggeridge Winston Ten Kate Honda Rider (9th Position Fastest Lap 1’41.044 – 24 laps) “My first bike had something interesting happening with the gearbox, so we had to move to the second bike. That had a completely different chassis setting, an experimental one, so we put some tyres in and we went out, with only 20-minutes left. The first lap was OK, in the low 1’41s. I could see the time ticking away but it was more important for us now to get the bike right if that is the bike we end up using. So just continued with the tyre I had, and did quite a few laps, and I feel confident with it. As far as the time is concerned, I am sure we can go faster. Sometimes things happen for a reason.” More, from a press release issued by Scuderia SC Caracchi: WORLD SBK CHAMPIONSHIP: FIRST DAY AT MAGNY COURS The Ducati SC Caracchi squad travels to this weekend’s final round of the 2006 Superbike World Championship, looking to take a result of prestige following the triumph recorded by Lorenzo Lanzi in the past season. Roberto Rolfo in Superbike rode once more a rather fast 999F05 Ducati, but at the end of this first qualifying day, also better looking at the difficult Imola’s practices, is not jet at the level of the rider’s talent. “Magny Cours is a new track for me, but that’s not the main problem.” said Roberto Rolfo at the end of qualifying. “The engine runs very well and pushes hard, but I have difficulties to manage the corners as I’m used to and in the slow corners I lost a lot of time, and in the final sector I feel penalized. We tried several different setting, but the problem remains, as well looking at the morning’s free practices I improved my performance.” More, from a press release issued by Foggy Petronas Racing: Tough opening day for Foggy PETRONAS Racing in France The first day of qualifying of Foggy PETRONAS Racing’s final outing in the Superbike World Championship at Magny-Cours in France provided a tough test for riders Steve Martin and Craig Jones. Technical problems hindered afternoon progress after a promising morning, with Steve finishing in 21st following a minor crash and Craig in 25th as Noriyuki Haga set the early pace of 1:40.474. Steve said: “Everything was going okay in the morning but the afternoon did not exactly go to plan. I lost the front end on my second lap, which was just one of those things. But it meant that I had to go out on my second bike, which is a different spec and did not feel as good, so we decided to fix my number one bike. I tried the tyre that was supposed to produce the better times but I think one of the other tyres that I had tried earlier will be better for doing times. We will have everything under control tomorrow and then I can set about getting the bike into Superpole if the weather stays fine.” Craig said: “I really like the track. It’s nothing like Imola, where you have to just bite the screen and hold on. The surface is good and there are a lot of hairpins, which suits my style because I bring the bike to a halt well. So, considering it’s my first time here and the fact that we had a few problems throughout the day, I’m not too far away. I did not make that much time up in the afternoon but I was more than a second up on one lap before I made a mistake in the final sector. After that we struggled to get the bike running properly and people were crashing in front of me so I wasn’t able to improve. But I think I can easily get into the 42s in the morning and maybe even challenge for Superpole.” More, from a press release issued by Yamaha Racing: Haga tops Magny Cours practice with Pitt in close attendance Yamaha Motor Italia’s Noriyuki Haga topped the timesheets in today’s opening practice session at Magny Cours, while team-mate Andrew Pitt also impressed with the fourth fastest time of the day. In a close qualifying session that saw the top ten riders covered by less than one second, the Japanese rider topped the timesheets for virtually the whole session. Haga set a best time of 1:40.474 just six minutes into the session and was never to be topped. The Yamaha man went on to work at finding the best possible settings for Sunday’s two 23-lap races and declared himself generally happy with his day’s work, despite an off-track excursion midway through the session. Pitt ended the day four-tenths of a second behind his team-mate, fourth in the overnight standings. The Australian also worked on race set-up, although he lost a little track time when one of his machines developed a minor technical problem in the morning free practice session. Confirming the R1’s potency at the French circuit, Pitt and Haga sit jointly at the top of the speed charts, gunning their Yamahas through the speed trap at 285kph. Both riders go into Sunday’s races with similar objectives: Haga is looking to overhaul James Toseland (Honda) for second place in the championship while Pitt looks to consolidate his best ever season by retaining his fourth place in the points’ standings. Home rider Sebastien Gimbert was the quickest of the Yamaha Motor France riders, ending the day 13th on a circuit he knows like the back of his hand. Shinichi Nakatomi was less than one tenth of a second behind his team-mate in his first competitive outing at the circuit. Norick Abe tried various machine set-ups throughout the day and ended the day 18th fastest. Final qualifying positions will be decided by tomorrow’s superpole session for the top 16 riders. Making up the provisional top four is second placed Toseland and Lorenzo Lanzi (Ducati), in third. Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha Motor Italia) “As always we are working to make a good setting for the race, but it is still nice to be at the top of the timesheets, even if it is only on the Friday. I like this circuit and the feeling with the bike is already very good, although we will continue working hard and trying to make the bike a little better at a few points on the track.” Andrew Pitt (Yamaha Motor Italia) “I found a good rhythm this afternoon and we were able to get through lot of work. Overall it’s not been a bad day. The main thing we need to improve are the gearbox settings but I know that the team will look at all the data tonight and try and find a solution for tomorrow.” Sebastien Gimbert (Yamaha Motor France) “I lost some time in the morning session as we had problems with both bikes, but in the afternoon I was able to make some good laps. My fastest lap was not perfect, as I made mistakes in the first two sectors, and I know that I can go faster tomorrow.” Shinichi Nakatomi (Yamaha Motor France) “We made a test here a few weeks ago so this circuit is not new to me I’m happy to be so close to the top riders and I hope to remain in the superpole tomorrow. It would be good to get some strong results at my team’s home race and end my first season in Europe on a high.” Norick Abe (Yamaha Motor France) “We changed the bike settings from the morning to the afternoon but it turned out that what we had in the morning was better, as we had less grip and stability in the afternoon. For tomorrow we will try to go in another direction again and hopefully this will help us make a better lap time.” Massimo Meregalli (Team Coordinator – Yamaha Motor Italia) “It’s been a good day, certainly better than at Imola last weekend. Both riders were able to do a run a lot of laps and we’re pleased that both are at the top end of the timesheets. Andrew needs to find a better gearbox (setting) but otherwise I think we are in good shape for the races.”