FIM Supersport World Championship Donington Park, England May 25, 2013 Final Qualifying Results (all on Pirelli tires): 1. Sam LOWES, UK (Yamaha YZF-R6), 1:30.276 2. Kenan SOFUOGLU, Turkey (Kawasaki ZX-6R), 1:30.733 3. Glenn RICHARDS, Australia (Triumph Daytona 675R), 1:31.100 4. Florian MARINO, France (Kawasaki ZX-6R), 1:31.339 5. Lorenzo ZANETTI, Italy (Honda CBR600RR), 1:31.361 6. Jack KENNEDY, Ireland (Honda CBR600RR), 1:31.382 7. Christian IDDON, UK (MV Agusta F3 675), 1:31.410 8. Sheridan MORAIS, South Africa (Honda CBR600RR), 1:31.448 9. Vladimir IVANOV, Russia (Kawasaki ZX-6R), 1:31.600 10. Fabien FORET, France (Kawasaki ZX-6R), 1:31.602 11. Luca SCASSA, Italy (Kawasaki ZX-6R), 1:31.662 12. Kev COGHLAN, UK (Kawasaki ZX-6R), 1:31.718 13. Raffaele DE ROSA, Italy (Honda CBR600RR), 1:31.801 14. Ricardo RUSSO, Italy (Kawasaki ZX-6R), 1:31.841 15. Billy McCONNELL, Australia (Triumph Daytona 675R), 1:31.859 16. Roberto ROLFO, Italy (MV Agusta F3 675), 1:31.986 17. David LINORTNER, Austria (Honda CBR600RR), 1:32.012 18. Gabor TALMACSI, Hungary (Honda CBR600RR), 1:32.040 19. Luca MARCONI, Italy (Honda CBR600RR), 1:32.230 20. Michael VD MARK, Netherlands (Honda CBR600RR), 1:32.272 More, from a press release issued by PTR Honda: PTR HONDA’S Sheridan Morais qualified eighth for tomorrow’s fifth round of the World Supersport Championship at Donington Park in the UK, and is getting faster and faster every time he rides his bike. Sheridan said: “This morning in the dry I got a good feeling and we improved it this afternoon, taking over half a second off my lap times. My PTR Honda is good and we are approximately 1/10th of a second from fourth on the grid. There are a couple of areas we can improve on for tomorrow, so I think we can go faster again. The podium is the target and I’ll be giving it my all.” David Linortner is riding with increasing confidence and took 1.8 seconds from his morning lap time to qualify a strong 17th, just over half a second back from fourth place on the grid. He says some of the corners lift his heart rate high they are so fast. He is looking to get another points scoring finish in the race. Luca Marconi qualified 19th in a personal best lap time at the circuit and is feeling good for the race, well within touching distance of a top 10 finish. Matt Davies made a big step forward to take nearly three seconds of his morning lap time to take 25th on the grid. Baulked by another rider on his fast lap, he feels sure he could have gone even faster and qualified in the top 20. Nacho Calero improved his lap times by more than two seconds to qualify 28th as he looks for the best set-up for his bike for the race, which starts at 1330GMT on Sunday 26th May. Simon Buckmaster, PTR Honda Team Manager: “Sheridan in eighth has the potential to fight for the podium with some small improvements and a good race set up. He did a great job considering he is still struggling with shoulder ligament damage sustained at Assen. There is just one-second covering fourth to 23rd on the grid, so it looks like the race for the top 10 will be close. “David is really starting to get confidence in his bike and show his potential. His 17th place is closer to the front than it sounds. Luca is riding really well and he has top 10 potential if he can get a good start. “Matt has improved dramatically since yesterday and his confidence is building. He should challenge for points over the race distance. Nacho is improving but needs to go faster earlier in the event so he can improve his qualifying position. He is targeting a top 20 in the race.” Final Qualifying 1: Lowes1:30.276 2: Sofuoglu 1:30.733 3: Richards 1:31.100 4: Marino 1:31.339 5: Zanetti 1:31.361 6: Kennedy 1:31.382 8: Morais PTR HONDA 1:31.448 17: Linortner PTR HONDA 1:32.012 19: Marconi PTR HONDA 1:32.230 25: Davies PTR HONDA 1:32.783 28: Calero PTR HONDA 1:33.606. More, from a press release issued by Kawasaki: Sofuoglu Second Quickest After Qualifying At Donington WSS, Donington, Europe, 25 May 2013 Kawasaki Mahi Racing Team India competitor Kenan Sofuoglu got his pre-race wish of a front row start at Donington while his team-mate Fabien Foret worked hard for tenth on the grid in England. In warm and dry conditions, a marked contrast to the first day’s cold and wet track surface, Sofuoglu was second on the grid after qualifying, only behind local rider and track specialist Sam Lowes. This puts Kenan in near perfect position to start Sunday’s fifth round of the season as he aims to reduce the points gap to Lowes in the championship table. With only one dry day of track time to find a good set-up for qualifying and racing Fabien Foret was unable to make the kind of push he wanted in the pre-race sessions and he will now start from the fourth row on his Kawasaki Mahi Racing Team India machine. Young rider Florian Marino (Kawasaki Intermoto Ponyexpres) was able to make a big leap from his tough first day in the wet to go fourth on the grid and is now just off the front row by one place, fourth overall. Luca Scassa (Kawasaki Intermoto Ponyexpres) found another rider in his way on his final hot qualifying lap and now has to start from the fourth row, alongside Foret, in 11th place. Vladimir Ivanov (Kawasaki DMC-Lorenzini Team) went ninth in qualifying, his British team-mate Kevin Coghlan (Kawasaki DMC-Lorenzini Team) 12th at his home round. Riccardo Russo (Puccetti Racing Kawasaki) placed 14th on the grid. Kenan Sofuoglu: “I have a goal to be on the first row all the time, and we achieved it, but of course I have prepared everything for the race more than qualifying. This is Donington, which is Sam Lowes favourite track so I knew he would be very strong here, so we will see what we can do tomorrow. I will do what I can to win the race but if I cannot do that I will go for the points. I think there will be a fight tomorrow because the race pace is close between Sam and me. We have worked a lot on the electronics since Monza, when I had a fall in the race, so we will keep working in that area. Already I am happy with the bike and although today I could not make the best lap time I am sure the bike is capable of doing a lap better than I could do today. Step-by-step I am getting stronger with my Kawasaki and I think I can be better in the race.” Fabien Foret: “I am on the fourth row and that is disappointing. If we ever get a summer and we have three days of warm weather at a race it would help me, but it is the same for everybody. The bike set-up is getting better and maybe we can improve the setting and my performance a bit, get a fast start and have a good race day. Tomorrow is another day.” More, from a press release issued by Pata Honda Supersport Team: Zanetti fifth at Donington Park Lorenzo Zanetti set the fifth fastest time in today’s final World Supersport qualifying session at Donington Park in the UK for a second row start to tomorrow’s fifth-round race. The Italian Pata Honda rider lapped the 4.023km Donington Park circuit in a time of 1m31.361s as local rider Sam Lowes secured pole position for the 22-lap race. There was frustration for Zanetti’s team-mate, Michael van der Mark, however, who has worked hard on his rehabilitation to prepare for this weekend after breaking his left foot at Monza in Italy less than two weeks ago. The Dutch ace, who currently holds third place in the World Supersport rankings, suffered technical gremlins in this afternoon’s qualifying session and was restricted to the seventh row of the grid. Lorenzo Zanetti – P5, 1m31.361s Yeah, it was good today. I am happy, but not with fifth position. It’s OK but I wanted to be on the front row because I think we have potential. It was important to arrive here and show this after our test at Assen and then the last race in Monza. At Monza we made a step forward but I always race well at Monza, because it is my home race. I wanted to check that the improvement was true and it’s OK. We have found a good way and we have been working on the race set-up today because yesterday the weather was so bad. I did a half-race simulation and I think I have a good rhythm for tomorrow. Of course, I hope that the first corner is not like Monza and that we can have a good race. Michael van der Mark – P20, 1m32.272s I don’t know what I can say because I am so disappointed with today. Yesterday was no good because of the weather and this afternoon we had a big problem with the bike’s electronics that took away my chance to get a good grid position. My foot is OK, so I hoped that the bike would be too, but every lap I completed today was really difficult – sometimes with no traction control, sometimes without power, it was incredibly difficult. I have a big job to do in the race tomorrow if the guys can find the problem, but I will do my best. Pieter Breddels – technical co-ordinator Lorenzo had a good day today and proved that Monza was not a one-off and that the steps we have made in the last weeks have been the right ones. He rode well today and we expect him to go well again in tomorrow’s race. Unfortunately, it was not a good day for Michael because we were not able to give him a bike to do the job that he has worked so hard to prepare for since breaking his foot at Monza. We’re not sure what the problems were, but it seems that one of the sensors malfunctioned and that led to a string of problems. We can only apologise for this and work our hardest to give him a bike that offers him a chance to move forward tomorrow.