2007 FIM Superbike World Championship Magny Cours, France October 5, 2007 Provisional Qualifying Results (wet conditions): 1. Lorenzo LANZI (Ducati 999F07), 1:40.962 2. Troy BAYLISS (Ducati 999F07), 1:41.334 3. Noriyuki HAGA (Yamaha YZF-R1), 1:41.402 4. Fonsi NIETO (Kawasaki ZX-10R), 1:41.423 5. Troy CORSER (Yamaha YZF-R1), 1:41.425 6. Ruben XAUS (Ducati 999F06), 1:41.731 7. James TOSELAND (Honda CBR1000RR), 1:41.742 8. Regis LACONI (Kawasaki ZX-10R), 1:41.840 9. Karl MUGGERIDGE (Honda CBR1000RR), 1:42.012 10. Michel FABRIZIO (Honda CBR1000RR), 1:42.136 11. Roberto ROLFO (Honda CBR1000RR), 1:42.147 12. Jakub SMRZ (Ducati 999F05), 1:42.376 13. Max NEUKIRCHNER (Suzuki GSX-R1000K7), 1:42.397 14. Max BIAGGI (Suzuki GSX-R1000K7), 1:42.620 15. Yoann TIBERIO (Honda CBR1000RR), 1:43.132 16. Steve MARTIN (Suzuki GSX-R1000K6), 1:43.290 17. Guillaume DIETRICH (Suzuki GSX-R1000K6), 1:44.478 18. Shinichi NAKATOMI (Yamaha YZF-R1), 1:44.616 19. Luca MORELLI (Honda CBR1000RR), 1:44.940 20. Dean ELLISON (Ducati 999RS), 1:47.729 More, from a press release issued by Scuderia SC Caracchi: WET QUALIFYING AT MAGNY COURS, GOOD RESULT FOR SMRZ The rain started just a few minutes before that Superbike enter the track for their qualifying session at Magny Cours, final round of 2007 series. On the wet track Jakub Smrz has been at the top level and 12 minutes to the end of the session, when the track started to dry quickly, the Czech rider of Scuderia SC Caracchi was leading the placings, but the he lost some position, scoring however a good 12th position. “On the wet track I feel quite well.” has been the comment of Jakub Smrz at the end of session. “Even I was on the top of the classification about at three quarters of the session time. But later the track dried and the fastest riders on the factory bikes passed me. Anyway I’m quite satisfied, the bike has a good setting, the engine I used today was still the same from Vallelunga, so it was a bit tired, but the team is already working to change it for tomorrow, so I’m rather confident to maintain a good position also in dry conditions.” More, from a press release issued by Xerox Ducati: DUCATI XEROX TEAM MEN FIRST AND SECOND IN OPENING QUALIFYING SESSION AT MAGNY-COURS Magny-Cours (France), Friday 5 October : Ducati Xerox Team men Lorenzo Lanzi and Troy Bayliss set the pace in today’s opening qualifying session for the final round of the World Superbike Championship at Magny-Cours in France. 2005 winner Lanzi went three-tenths quicker than his team-mate in the rain-affected hour, the Italian clinching provisional pole in a time of 1m40.962s, despite the track being wet for half the session due to a sudden downpour. Troy, winner here last year, was second ahead of Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha) and Fonsi Nieto (Kawasaki). “Very good, I’m really happy!” declared Lorenzo. “It wasn’t an easy session, a bit wet, but in the last ten minutes the track was dry and I was setting dry weather times. It wasn’t so wet that you didn’t know which tyre to use and run the risk of wasting a tyre. Finally I’m back at the front again and it’s a great feeling, it was a pity only because we had a lot of things to try but the work load was ruined by the bad weather. Basically the bike was just the same as this morning, but we’ve still got the whole day tomorrow to work on things. The feeling is already good, let’s hope I can consolidate this position and do a good Superpole that can earn me pole position!” “That was good for Lorenzo and myself” said Troy. “It was a strange session. I went out pretty confident to try a few things this afternoon, things that probably would have worked but got in half a lap, half-way round the back, and the rain absolutely came out of nowhere. From completely dry to completely wet in one metre and that was it! In the end, when the track dried out it was just a question of going out, going round and getting a bit of confidence. You couldn’t really do anything special, the track is dry but the places I wanted to go weren’t dry enough. We’ll see what happens tomorrow.” More, from a press release issued by HANNspree Ten Kate Honda: Positive start at Magny-Cours Day one qualifying for the final round of the 2007 World Superbike Championship took place in unpredictable weather at Magny-Cours in France today. HANNspree Ten Kate Honda’s James Toseland ended the day as the seventh fastest rider while team-mate Roberto Rolfo qualified in 11th position. The morning free practice took place in warm and sunny weather and saw Toseland remain at the top of the timesheet for the entire 60 minutes. The British rider – who turns 27 years old today – beat his own fastest lap three times in quick succession and ended with a best time of 1’40.718. In the end, this turned out to the quickest lap of the day. As the HANNspree Ten Kate Honda riders prepared to mount their bikes for the afternoon qualifying, a sudden rain shower halted their plans as the session was declared wet. The majority of riders chose to remain in the garages until the sun made a welcome return with just 30 minutes left on the clock. Although the track surface dried out quite quickly, some wet patches remained and this made it difficult for the riders. Despite this, both Toseland and Rolfo managed to put in a number of good laps before the time ran out. At the end of the session, they finished in seventh and 11th respectively. Ronald ten Kate, Team Manager: “Despite the rain coming in just in time for the qualifying session, we have actually had a positive day. This morning went really well with James staying at the top of the timesheet for the whole session. The afternoon was a little strange with the weather but we still saw some good laps from both riders. Tomorrow should be dry and we have done some good work today so we are not at all worried.” James Toseland: “It’s nice to end the day knowing that I’ve put the fast lap of the day in. This afternoon’s conditions didn’t allow me to improve, nor anybody else. The track dried out during the session but there were still a few wet patches and that made it difficult to get a fast lap in. I made a mistake on my last lap out there and it was too late to try again. Anyway, we’ve got tomorrow and the weather looks good for the rest of the weekend so we should be ok. I really want to end the season with a race win as well as the championship.” Roberto Rolfo: “This was a strange session. I waited in the garage for the first half of the session because of the rain. With 15 minutes left I went out and tried to push hard – I got in a few good laps when everyone was riding slower. As the track dried, I wanted to try for another good lap but we didn’t have time to change the tyre. This meant that my last few laps were on a used tyre and I couldn’t get another fast lap in. In any case, we will start tomorrow with the setting we ended on today and I am aiming for at least the second row.” More, from a press release issued by Team Suzuki Press Office: Team Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra rider Max Biaggi and stand-in Max Neukirchner endured difficult conditions in the first qualifying session at Magny-Cours this afternoon at the final round of the World Superbike Championship. Just as the session began, light rain began to fall, making the 4.411 kilometre circuit very slippery in places. Although the rain soon stopped, most riders stayed in the garages and waited for the track to dry out before trying to set a fast qualifying time. Neukirchner, deputising for injured Yukio Kagayama, managed to go out and complete a lap in 1:42.397 to end the day 13th quickest overall, whilst Biaggi set a lap of 1:42.620 and finished 14th overall. Neither rider wanted to take any risks, on a track that was still damp in places, so took things steadily instead. Italian Lorenzo Lanzi (Ducati) posted the day’s fastest time in qualifying with a lap of 1:40.962 with Troy Bayliss (Ducati) second and Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha) third. Max Neukirchner – 13th, 1:42.397: “Even before the conditions worsened in the afternoon, I wanted to ride steadily and get to know the bike and the team. The Alstare Suzuki K7 feels very different to my K6 and works much better in all areas. The chassis, engine and brakes are wonderful and I found it quite easy to get a good rhythm in the morning untimed session. I spent the day learning the bike and also the team. I know that this is not going to be an easy weekend so I have to try and get a lot of work done very quickly. In qualifying this afternoon, the track never completely dried out and because the new parts of tarmac are very dark, it was impossible to see how wet it was in places. I didn’t want to crash so I took it pretty steadily this afternoon, knowing that tomorrow we will see a big improvement.” Max Biaggi – 14th, 1:42.620: “I know I have been here before but the conditions – and the bike – were very different then. That was about a year ago, so basically I started afresh here today. At the moment I a still trying to learn the secrets of the track but once I do that, I can push a lot harder. We started today with our Vallelunga set-up but it didn’t really work, so we will make changes for tomorrow. This afternoon it wasn’t necessary to take any risks so I just rode steadily and tried to get us much info as possible to help us tomorrow.” Friday WSB Qualifying: 1 Lanzi (I-Ducati) 1.40.962, 2 Bayliss (AUS-Ducati) 1.41.334, 3 Haga (J-Yamaha) 1.41.402, 4 Nieto (E-Kawasaki) 1.41.423, 5 Corser (AUS-Yamaha) 1.41.423, 6 Xaus (E-Ducati) 1.41.731. 13 Max Neukirchner (D-Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra) 1.42.397. 14 Max Biaggi (I-Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra) 1.42.620. SUPERSTOCK 1000: Despite problems with traffic and getting held up by slower riders in this afternoon’s timed qualifying session, Team Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra rider Xavier Simeon still managed to set the second quickest time of the day. The young Belgian experienced a difficult qualifying but kept his head and set his fastest lap on the very last lap of the day. Italian Claudio Corti (Yamaha) took provisional pole at the 4.411 kilometre Magny-Cours circuit with ‘Xavi’ second, Brendan Roberts (Ducati) third and Ayrton Badovini (MV) fourth. Xavier Simeon – 2nd, 1:43.688: “That was a bit of a close one! For most of the qualifying session I was stuck in traffic or held up by riders getting in the way when I was trying for a quick lap. With only a few minutes remaining I was only ninth fastest, but I put in a big effort and did a fast lap – quick enough to end the day second! It was on my very last lap of the day! It’s just as well, because my team would have been very angry with me, if I hadn’t got on the provisional front row! “We’ve had some suspension and rear grip problems today so to finish second quickest is quite good I think. However, we’ve got some ideas about what to do tomorrow and I am sure we can improve a lot. Whatever happens, I must be on the front row of the grid after qualifying tomorrow if I am to have any chance of a good result. I know that it doesn’t look likely that I can take the title, but I am going to go all-out for the win, have some fun and see what happens to the others.” Friday Superstock 1000 Qualifying: 1 Corti (I-Yamaha) 1.43.065, 2 Xavier Simeon (B-Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra) 1.43.688, 3 Roberts (AUS-Ducati) 1.43.751, 4 Badovini (I-MV) 1.43.817, 5 Scassa (I-MV) 1.43.958, 6 Van Keymeulen (B-Yamaha) 1.44.018. More, from a press release issued by Yamaha Racing: Shower-Proof Yamaha Take Third and Fifth in Qualifying One Following an afternoon of mixed weather, the Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team has finished day one of qualifying with Haga and Corser in provisional third and fifth positions respectively. Both riders started the day in the top six during this morning’s free practice but it was the weather that changed everyone’s plans when the qualifying session was declared wet after a sudden rain shower at the start. Everyone went out initially but came in after only one out lap as the back of the circuit was wet. With Sunday’s dry forecast making wet laps pointless, there was then no further on-track activity until 30 minutes into the session when the sun had dried the tarmac sufficiently. Both Corser and Haga went out with about 20 minutes left and Haga went into provisional pole, where he stayed until being knocked off it in the last minute by Lanzi and Bayliss. Corser qualified in a comfortable fifth position, only 0.002 seconds behind Nieto in fourth and 0.463 seconds behind pole. Team Yamaha YZF rider Shinichi Nakatomi had a good start to today going seventh fastest in this morning’s session, but the rain prevented him from making an initial qualifying position higher than 18th. Following Nakatomi’s two ninth places last weekend, which was a personal best for the Japanese rider, FGSport have asked the team to consider fielding a two-man team in 2008. It was on this day in 1997 that Haga made his first front row start at Sugo, Japan; his count of front row starts now stands at 38. He went on to score his first race win in race one that same weekend and take the 25th fastest lap in Yamahas history. Noriyuki Haga (3rd – 1’41.402 – Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team) “I couldn’t get some of my settings sorted today because of the rain, which forced us to sit in the pit box for almost 40 minutes. I’m feeling good anyway. We made some good progress this morning and I’ve got a good feeling for the bike. We just need to make some engine adjustments and I will decide on my tyre tomorrow; we tried two tyres today and tomorrow I’ll confirm which is the best. Other than that it’s business as usual. All the times are close so I need to focus on finding the best set-up possible in order to make a 1’40 lap time and be up the top.” Troy Corser (5th – 1’41.423 – Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team) “This afternoon was a bit like a wet Superpole session with everyone waiting until towards the end before going out. I only got two dry laps in during the whole session and the wet always makes it more difficult to read the track. I have struggled a bit today with rear grip; it was more that the tyre wasn’t working enough rather than it wearing out. We’ll have a look at the chassis settings to solve that. Today was my first session on this bike at this track and I feel like I’ve struggled a bit with the bike. Maybe I’m expecting too much of myself. The wet session didn’t help either as it cut down the track time we effectively had today. The main thing is that we have a direction to go in tomorrow for the best set-up.” Massimo Meregalli (Team Coordinator, Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team) “Today both riders were pretty confident. They made some adjustments between first and second sessions and lost some time due to the wet second session but it seems that the best set-up is not so far away. The tyre choice is almost already done so tomorrow we can concentrate on being fastest for Superpole.” Shinichi Nakatomi (18th – 1’44.940 – Team Yamaha YZF) “Today didn’t go so well for me because the rain meant I couldn’t work so much on my set-up. It is a disappointing start to the weekend, especially after such a good result last weekend. But I’m confident that, if it stays dry, I will make better progress tomorrow and improve my grid position.”