Sun City Macau Motorcycle Grand Prix – 50th Edition
Guia Street Circuit
Macau, China
November 18, 2016
Combined Qualifying Results (as provided by the Macau Grand Prix Committee):
1. Martin Jessopp, UK (BMW S1000RR), 2:24.654
2. Michael Rutter, UK (BMW S1000RR), 2:24.793
3. Glenn Irwin, UK (Duc Panigale R), 2:25.065
4. Gary Johnson, UK (BMW S1000RR), 2:25.843
5. Stuart Easton, UK (BMW S1000RR), 2:26.044
6. Horst Saiger, Austria (Kaw ZX-10R), 2:26.160
7. Peter Hickman, UK (Kaw ZX-10R), 2:26.183
8. John McGuinness, UK (Hon CBR1000RR), 2:26.358
9. Conor Cummins, UK (Hon CBR1000RR), 2:26.582
10. Ian Hutchinson, UK (BMW S1000RR), 2:26.699
11. Dan Kneen, UK (Yam YZF-R1), 2:27.606
12. Didier Grams, Germany (BMW S1000RR), 2:28.015
13. Derek Sheils, Ireland (Suz GSX-R1000), 2:28.070
14. Dan Cooper, UK (BMW S1000RR), 2:28.485
15. Steve Mercer, UK (BMW S1000RR), 2:28.504
16. Steve Heneghan, Ireland (Yam YZF-R1), 2:30.115
17. Brian McCormack, Ireland (Hon CBR1000RR), 2:30.227
18. Danny Webb, UK (BMW S1000RR), 2:30.795
19. Ivan Lintin, UK (Kaw ZX-10R), 2:31.033
20. Allan-Jon Venter, South Africa (Yam YZF-R1), 2:32.103
21. Mark Miller, USA (EBR 1190RS), 2:32.132
22. Daniel Hegarty, UK (Kaw ZX-10R), 2:32.569
23. Sam West, UK (BMW S1000RR), 2:32.616
24. Marek Cerveny, Czech Republic (BMW S1000RR), 2:32.749
25. Michael Sweeney, Ireland (BMW S1000RR), 2:33.521
26. Andre Pires, Portugal (Bim BB3), 2:35.277
27. Ben Wylie, UK (Bim BB3), 2:35.448
28. Davy Morgan, UK (Hon CBR1000RR), 2:35.803
More, from a press release issued by Penz13.com BMW:
Macau, China. Team Penz13.com BMW by MGM China & Special Olympics Macau’s Gary Johnson qualified in 4th place today to head the second row of the grid in tomorrow’s 50th edition of the Macau Motorcycle Grand Prix. Team mate – and Newcomer to the Guia Circuit – Danny Webb earned himself 18th in the second qualifying, improving his pace further.
It was a highly explosive second Qualifying session this Friday morning in the Chinese gambling paradise. Almost everyone in the field was able to up the pace this morning and so were the two Penz13.com BMW riders.
Johnson was able to lap the Guia Circuit in 2:25,853 minutes, meaning an improvement of yesterday’s pace by 1.662 seconds. He lost out on Pole Position by only 1.189 seconds to cement his willingness for a podium result in the 12 lap race, scheduled for tomorrow, Saturday, afternoon at 15:30 local time.
Team mate Webb got further 13 laps of the Guia Circuit under his belt, making further improvements at his Guia Circuit debut. The Englishman ended up at a 2:30.795 time, meaning he could up his speed by 3.87 seconds compared to yesterday. He shortened the gap to the leader to 6.141 seconds and ended up in 18th place on the sixth row of the grid.
The big question mark for the 50th anniversary of the Macau Motorcycle Grand Prix now remains the weather, with rain being forecasted for tonight and the whole Saturday. With being a high risk racing under dry conditions at Macau already, the race would be suspended to Sunday as happened in recent years. However the forecast is not looking better for Sunday too, so teams and riders are now hoping the predictions to get proved wrong and they can go racing.
Gary Johnson – Rider:
“First of all I want to thank my team mate Danny Webb as he relinquished his Qualifying tyre so I could have another push. P4 on the grid is good for me, especially considering how the times dropped today and that everybody upped the game quite hard. I felt comfortable on my BMW S 1000 RR and was doing my times very easily, so to see that I am only a bit over a second back on the pole sitters makes me feel confident for tomorrows race.”
Danny Webb – Rider:
“I am really happy how everything went and what progress I was able to do here at Macau. I am also really happy and proud to have made it into the 2.30s now and 3.87 seconds of a improvement is quite a lot. I am looking forward to the race now and I still want to learn more to maybe get even quicker tomorrow. “
Rico Penzkofer – Team Principal:
“Good day! Gary did an amazing job in the second qualifying to put his BMW S 1000 RR in 4th place on the front of the second row. But it’s not only, he is only 1.6 seconds off the pace of the leaders Jessopp and Rutter which puts him in a strong position for the race. Danny was extremely strong to get into the 2:30s already and 18th on the grid of this strong field is definitely a strong start to his Macau history. Given how fast he learns and strong he is, I think there is even more to come. We are now all praying to get dry weather so the racing can start tomorrow, as this is what we are here for. “