FIM Supersport World Championship
Motorland Aragon, Spain
April 2, 2016
Superpole Two/Qualifying Results (all on Pirelli tires):
1. Kenan SOFUOGLU, Turkey (Kawasaki ZX-6R), 1:54.000
2. Randy KRUMMENACHER, Switzerland (Kawasaki ZX-6R), 1:54.830
3. Jules CLUZEL, France (MV Agusta F3 675), 1:54.844
4. PJ JACOBSEN, USA (Honda CBR600RR), 1:54.919
5. Christian GAMARINO, Italy (Kaw ZX-6R), 1:55.087
6. Lorenzo ZANETTI, Italy (MV Agusta F3 675), 1:55.395
7. Alex BALDOLINI, Italy (MV Agusta F3 675), 1:55.443
8. Nico TEROL, Spain (MV Agusta F3 675), 1:55.478
9. Gino REA, UK (MV Agusta F3 675), 1:55.583
10. Alessandro ZACCONE, Italy (Kaw ZX-6R), 1:55.743
11. Roberto ROLFO, Italy (MV Agusta F3 675), 1:57.167
12. Axel BASSANI, Italy (Kaw ZX-6R), no time recorded in Superpole Two, crash
34. Braedon ORTT, Canada (Honda CBR600RR), 2:01.628
More, from a press release issued by Kawasaki:
Superpole Win For Sofuoglu As Krummenacher Takes Second Spot
Kenan Sofuoglu (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) secured his second pole position of the season with his Superpole winning lap time of 1’54.000. It gave him a class leading 25th Superpole win in the WorldSSP category and ensured he would start from the optimum spot on the front row for Sunday’s 16-lap race. His team-mate Randy Krummenacher was second on the grid.
Sofuoglu spent most of his time working on a race set-up and then a change in setting allowed him to go for his successful qualifying time in the 15-minute Superpole 2 track session.
Randy Krummenacher (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing), winner of the first race of the year, was second, overcoming some technical issues that prevented him making a full quota of laps over the first two days of track action.
Krummenacher’s second place lap time put him 0.830 seconds behind Sofuoglu but ready to fight for another podium in what will only be his third WorldSSP race start since his move from Moto2.
In a fine fifth place Christian Gamarino (GO Eleven Kawasaki) was the third Kawasaki rider in the top five grid places.
After morning warm-up tomorrow the race itself will take place at 11.20 – Sunday 3 April.
Kenan Sofuoglu stated: “It’s nice to make 25 Superpole wins and at the beginning we worked a lot on old tyres and with full tank of fuel, to make a race simulation, and never focused on a fast lap time. We made a big change on the bike today to go for a good lap time. Yesterday we had some issues when I tried something on the bike but we made the change today and the bike is quite a bit different. I am still adapting to it but it looks like we have a good advantage. The most important thing is to be ready for the race tomorrow. The main thing is that I am strong on worn tyres so I am very happy to face the race.”
Randy Krummenacher stated: “I could not make the preparations for the race the way I wanted because we had some issues yesterday and this morning. I did not do a lot of laps until now, so I am quite happy to be on the front row. For sure we can improve our package for tomorrow. With more laps I will get a better feeling for the bike and understand it more. Kenan did a really great lap but I think I can improve tomorrow to keep with him and that must be the goal for the race.”
Alessandro Zaccone (San Carlo Team Italia Kawasaki) was tenth in qualifying for his first race of the year as a part-time ESS championship rider, while his team-mate Axel Bassani (San Carlo Team Italia Kawasaki) placed 12th after Superpole 2. DS Junior Kawasaki team rider Ilya Mikhalchik was 15th on the grid, Zulfahmi Khairuddin (Orelac Racing VerdNatura) 17th.
Series regular Ondrej Jezek (GoEleven) finished Superpole 1 in 20th place. Nacho Calero (Orelac Racing VerdNatura) was 21st and Lachlan Epis (Response RE Team Kawasaki) 32nd of 35 riders. Japanese wildcard rider Hiromichi Kunikawa (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) was 30th after Superpole.
More, from a press release issued by Honda:
Fourth place on the grid for Jacobsen after Aragón WorldSSP Superpole
Round 3 – Aragon
MotorLand Aragón, Spain
PJ Jacobsen has claimed the first spot of the second row for tomorrow’s third race of the season for the 2016 FIM Supersport Championship, which is set to start at 11:20 local time (GMT +2) at MotorLand Aragón in Spain. The 22-year-old rider and the Honda WorldSSP team have made a good step forward in terms of setup for the #2 Honda CBR600RR machine and came only 0.075s short of a front-row start.
From yesterday’s free practice 2, Jacobsen was able to lap almost a second quicker and that translated in an encouraging qualifying for the young American, who currently sits second in the championship standings. His 1’54.919 put him on provisional third place until the final seconds of Superpole 2, when his position was snatched by Jules Cluzel.
Patrick Jacobsen 2
4th / 1’54.919
Qualifying was good today and it appears we have found some consistency in terms of race pace, so overall things look quite promising for tomorrow. We’re on the second row, fourth place just like in Thailand so it would be perfect if I can get the same type of start to the race. We need to be up there with the front-runners again and make sure we can stay in contention for the win up to the chequered flag.
Pieter Breddels
Technical Manager
In the morning we tried different settings at the rear but we noticed straight away that the bike was quite unstable under braking. After that short 15-minute session we had to decide what to do. We made a new plan by looking at the data and the settings and it worked out well. PJ was immediately faster and looked much more comfortable on the bike and that helped us achieving a good qualifying result. We will try to fine tune the package tomorrow morning, we’re not too far in terms of speed from second place and if we can find that little extra we will be in the right conditions for a great performance.
More, from a press release issued by MV Agusta Reparto Corse:
MV AGUSTA REPARTO CORSE CONTINUE TO SHOW A GOOD PACE ON DAY 2 AT ARAGON
2 APRIL 2016
After a stunning opening day at MotorLand Aragon, which saw Jules Cluzel and Lorenzo Zanetti finishing 1st and 3rd in WorldSSP free practice and Leon Camier entering the WorldSBK Superpole 2, the actions got under way this Saturday morning on the fast Spanish track.
In WorldSBK Leon Camier continued to impress, especially in the Superpole session, where he closed the gap to the leading riders getting the 7th position on starting grid. The race as ever took place a few hours later with the talented MV Agusta rider who immediately started fighting with the front riders. Unfortunately his MV Agusta F4 RC suffered a technical problem and he had to end his race after 10 laps.
Tomorrow Leon and MV Agusta Reparto Corse team will be back on track at 13.00 local time for the second and final race of the weekend.
Early in the morning the WorldSSP riders were on track for the FP3 and the MV Agusta riders worked hard to fix some little glitch to their bike. In Superpole 2 Jules Cluzel gave his best to repeat the great performance of the previous day and in the end he placed 3rd, ready to start this first WorldSSP european race from the front row. Lorenzo Zanetti qualified in 6th position and he will start his battle in second row, right behind Cluzel.
Team MV Agusta Reparto Corse is now in confident mood for this first WorldSSP european race, scheduled tomorrow at 11.20 local time.
Leon Camier #2 – We changed a bit the clutch setting for this race and it’s working better. The first laps of the race I struggled to stay with the pace and I tried to catch the group in front and we were very close to the top of the race. Unfortunately something went wrong with the bike and the team is now figure it out. I stay positive and I am confident tomorrow we can fight again for the top position.
Jules Cluzel #16 – It was a quite strange day because yesterday I was always on top and today I struggled a little bit more. More or less we figured out a solution and we are already back to work to be competitive, starting from tomorrow’s race. The 3rd placement is for sure a positive result and I will do my best for the race.
Lorenzo Zanetti #87 – Despite I am not satisfied with the 6th place, I am very confident we can have a great race tomorrow because I have a good pace. Today in qualifying I could get a better placement if I had not encountered traffic during my fast lap.