FIM Supersport World Championship

TT Circuit Assen, Netherlands

April 16, 2016

Qualifying Results (all on Pirelli tires):

From Superpole Session Two:

1. Randy Krummenacher, Switzerland (Kaw ZX-6R), 1:39.300

2. Luke Stapleford, UK (Tri Daytona 675R), 1:39.475

3. Kenan Sofuoglu, Turkey (Kaw ZX-6R), 1:39.580

4. PJ Jacobsen, USA (Hon CBR600RR), 1:40.165

5. Alex Baldolini, Italy (MV F3 675), 1:40.248

6. Kyle Smith, UK (Hon CBR600RR), 1:40.345

7. Ondrej Jezek, Czech Republic (Kaw ZX-6R), 1:41.270

8. Gino Rea, UK (MV F3 675), 1:41.512

9. Lorenzo Zanetti, Italy (MV F3 675), 1:42.055

10. Kevin Wahr, Germany (Hon CBR600RR), 1:42.084

11. Illia Mikhalchik, Ukraine (Kaw ZX-6R), 1:42.809

12. Anthony West, Australia (Yam YZF-R6), no time recorded

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

WorldSSP: Krummenacher on pole, Stapleford triumphs

Rainy Friday rolls the dice in Supersport Tissot-Superpole 2

Championship leader Randy Krummenacher topped WorldSSP Tissot-Superpole at Assen to go fastest, ahead of new team Profile Racing’s Luke Stapleford on his Triumph Daytona 675 and fellow Kawasaki Puccetti Racing rider Kenan Sofuoglu. Anthony West, one of the fastest on Friday, was sadly declared unfit to race after a late crash in FP2.

After Friday track time was affected by the weather, key Championship players Randy Krummenacher, the current leader, and Jules Cluzel, a consistent title challenger, both found themselves outside Superpole 2 as WorldSSP had its first wet sessions of the year. Both riders also suffered crashes in the difficult conditions. As Saturday dawned with a drying track, Superpole 1 got underway with Krummenacher and Cluzel set to graduate to the second session, until the Frenchman suffered another highside on his MV Agusta and missed out marginally, with a new competitor taking the top spot, ahead even of Krummenacher.

The second session saw the timesheets topped for the majority of the session by the new Triumph, the bike taken by rider Luke Stapleford to the British crown last year, until on his final fast lap, Kawasaki rider Krummenacher pulled out just under two tenths to take pole position and ensure his venture through Superpole 1 did nothing to affect his title challenge. The two fastest riders on the grid both graduated from the Superpole 1 session.

Reigning Champion Sofuoglu gets another front row start to keep clawing back the points gap to his teammate, and Honda’s PJ Jacobsen starts from just behind the incumbent title holder at the front of the second row, a good position from which to put the disappointments of MotorLand behind him.

With Cluzel in P13, the Frenchman will be hoping to get a good start and catch his fellow title contenders as quickly as possible as the lights go out on Sunday at 11:20 local time (GMT +2) for another Supersport showdown. Make sure to follow all the action from the WorldSSP race on WorldSBK.com, and keep up to date by connecting with WorldSBK on social media at the links below.

More, from a press release issued by MV Agusta:

ZANETTI WILL START FROM 3° ROW THE WORLDSSP RACE AT ASSEN 

16 APRIL 2016

Team MV Agusta Reparto Corse had to deal with a difficult qualifying day at Assen, mostly due to the mixed weather condition that made even more complicated the work with the setting of the bikes.

Thanks to his great tenacity, Lorenzo Zanetti confirmed his FP1 and FP2 top 10 placement and, along the the hard work of the MV Agusta technical crew, the 28 years old rider from Lumezzane (IT) closed 9th (1’42.055) in WorldSSP starting grid.

After the series of crash that slowed down Cluzel in the first practices on Friday, even today but bad luck seems to have been aroused against the fast French rider; Cluzel, after dominating most of the Superpole 1, was forced to retire a few minutes from the end of the session because of another high-side, fortunately without physical consequences for the rider. Tomorrow the French rider will start from the 12th position on grid and he will try to defend the third place in Championship standings.

Both Team MV Agusta riders will be back on track tomorrow morning at 12.20 local time, ready to fight the Dutch Round of the World WorldSSP Championship.

Jules Cluzel #16 – Today was certainly more dry then yesterday and I had a better feeling on the track, but the real problem are the constantly changing weather conditions. In Superpole we decided not to stop to change tires but it might be better to do it, because I needed more grip. Now we have to understand why the bike is sliding so much and what we can do to better control the lack of grip. It would be enough to solve this problem in order to have a good race tomorrow.

Lorenzo Zanetti #87 – Finally we ran the first dry sessions of this round but with these track conditions you are always forced to choose a base setting; definitely it was not the best choice to improve my grid position and starting from the next hours we will be working to find out a better setup for the race.

More, from a press release issued by Kawasaki:

First Superpole Success For Krummenacher With Sofuoglu Third On The Grid

2016 FIM Supersport World Championship leader Randy Krummenacher (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) had to get through Superpole 1 to even start Superpole 2 but he used his experience of a dry track surface to help him win his first Superpole contest since joining WorldSSP at the start of the year. Four-time world champion Kenan Sofuoglu was third quickest on his officially entered Ninja ZX-6R.

With both Friday sessions proving to be wet for the massed ranks of the WorldSSP riders, Sofuoglu was in second place but Krummenacher was 16th after day one. Randy recovered pace in morning warm-up today even as the track was not in perfect condition.

Having to complete Superpole 1, which saw him fast enough to join Superpole 2, Krummenacher used his dry track experience to set the fastest lap of all and win his maiden Superpole.

Kenan, who had qualified straight into Superpole 2, had no experience of a fully dry track surface to evaluate his final set-up. Because of this he found a less than perfect suspension set-up at the beginning of his final push to earn a good starting position. He still took the last place on the front row in some style and like his team-mate Krummenacher will now start the race from a strong position.

The WorldSSP race will take place at 11.20 on Sunday 17th April, over 18 laps.

Randy Krummenacher stated: “It was awesome today. I had the 15 minutes more in Superpole 1 so I could already make some adjustments on the bike. The final adjustment was really good because we had a better corner exit. I really used it after the first sector. I knew that final lap was going to be my lap. I am very happy to finally have my Superpole winner’s watch.”

Kenan Sofuoglu stated: “The two guys in first and second came to Superpole 2 from Superpole 1 so they made some extra laps and they could set their bikes set up a little bit. When I went to the track with new suspension settings for the dry I had a bit of a surprise but we still managed to make it onto the first row, which is always important. The team is working well but in the dry we will have to improve our set-up. If it is wet for the race we should be one of the fastest. I am just waiting for tomorrow, hoping for good weather so we can fight to win the race.”

Ondrej Jezek (Team GOELEVEN Kawasaki) was sixth in Superpole 2, for a second row start. ESS rider Ilya Mikhalchik (DS Junior Team Kawasaki) placed 11th. Alessandro Zaccone (San Carlo Team Italia Kawasaki), another ESS part-time championship competitor, was 16th with series regular Christian Gamarino (Team GOELEVEN Kawasaki) 18th.

More, from a press release issued by Honda:

Fourth place on the grid for Jacobsen after Dutch WorldSSP Superpole

Round 4 – The Netherlands

TT Circuit Assen, Netherlands

Patrick ‘PJ’ Jacobsen will start the fourth-round World Supersport race at Assen’s TT Circuit from the second row on the grid, as the Honda WorldSSP rider finished today’s Superpole in fourth position. This is the third consecutive time that the 22-year-old has claimed the front slot of row 2, as he did the same both in Thailand and Spain.

Like all the other riders who were automatically seeded to Superpole 2 after yesterday’s two free practice sessions, Jacobsen had to quickly adapt to the dry conditions of the 4.542km track, which he had not encountered before during this weekend. Lap after lap, the American built up great speed aboard his Honda CBR600RR and, in his final attempt before the chequered flag, he logged a 1’40.165 that allowed him to retake that fourth place he had lost moments before. Pole position and second were in fact taken by the two riders who had to make their way through the first Superpole session.

The fourth race of the 2016 FIM Supersport World Championship is scheduled to commence tomorrow at 11:20 local time (GMT+2).

Patrick Jacobsen 2

4th / 1’40.165

I can’t say I’m completely happy with fourth place on the grid, but I guess tomorrow’s result is what counts the most. It seems like we couldn’t put together the best of laps for some reason today, but we also had to use part of Superpole 2 to evaluate the bike settings, as we had no dry track-time prior to then. The first two on the grid had a bit of a head start as they took part in Superpole 1, too. Regarding tomorrow, in the wet we have a great pace but we can defend ourselves well also in the dry. Whatever the weather will be like, I’m sure we’ll be ready to challenge for honours.

Pieter Breddels

Technical Manager

We tried a new setup for the Honda CBR600RR in Superpole as it was the first dry session of the weekend, so we didn’t fully know what to expect. Things went quite good, although we were losing a bit too much time in sector three. PJ got into a good rhythm and in the end he was fourth, so all in all not a bad performance ahead of tomorrow. We will try some more changes in the warm up in order to be fully ready to race.

More, from a press release issued by GRT Racing Team:

ASSEN, NETHERLANDS 16/04/2016 ROUND 4 OF THE SUPERSPORT WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP

The qualifying session making up the fourth round of the Supersport World Championship took place this afternoon at the Assen TT Circuit in The Netherlands. The GRT Racing Team’s Australian rider, Aiden Wagner, was unable to take part in today’s session, after having suffered a crash in FP1 yesterday. Wagner, who fell as a result of the rain, has contusions to his right shoulder which unfortunately mean he will be unable to race tomorrow. The GRT Racing Team’s other rider, Gino Rea, having closed yesterday’s session in seventh place, started out today by scoring a solid fifth place finish in FP3. At 11.55am, the Superpole 2 got underway, and Rea was able to obtain the eighth fastest time, translating into a third row start on the grid for tomorrow’s race, which will start at 11.20am.

Aiden Wagner: “Disappointment is an understatement, but I am determined to come back strong and be ready for the next round at Imola. I’m sure the team will have my bike ready and waiting for me. At this stage, my shoulder is not fit for racing after the crash I had in FP1. I wish the GRT Racing Team and my team-mate Gino all the best for the race tomorrow. We will take some points back to our corner in Italy. Thanks to my team and my apologies to my sponsors, I would have loved to have been on the grid this weekend.”

Gino Rea: “In the end our position is not so bad, and from the third row we can still make a good race but to be honest I’m not so happy with the qualifying session, as the weather was not an advantage. We had made some changes to our bike after Aragon and it was working well here in the wet, we finished fifth earlier. But in the dry we’ve struggled in some areas, and I didn’t feel I could ride the bike to the maximum. We’ll continue to work to improve the bike for the dry conditions and then wait and see what the weather does tomorrow…”

Technical Director Mirko Giansanti: “We’re very disappointed for our rider Aiden Wagner who crashed during yesterday’s FP1 due to the difficult weather conditions. Fortunately, Aiden has no serious injuries but he has to sit out tomorrow’s race and rest up for a few days. He’ll be back for Round 5 taking place at Imola over the weekend of 30 April to 1 May. Our other GRT Racing Team rider, Gino Rea, continues to show his ability and great potential. This morning he finished fifth in FP3 and closed Superpole 2 in eighth place. Our chances are good for tomorrow’s race, although it’s hard to make predictions here where conditions continue to change, forcing the riders to adapt quickly to changes in temperature and track humidity.”