eni FIM Superbike World Championship Silverstone Circuit, England August 2, 2013 Provisional Qualifying Results (all on Pirelli tires): 1. Tom SYKES, UK (Kawasaki ZX-10R), 2:05.355 2. Leon CAMIER, UK (Suzuki GSX-R1000), 2:06.236 3. Davide GIUGLIANO, Italy (Aprilia RSV4 Factory), 2:06.332 4. Jonathan REA, UK (Honda CBR1000RR), 2:06.349 5. Leon HASLAM, UK (Honda CBR1000RR), 2:06.353 6. Eugene LAVERTY, Ireland (Aprilia RSV4 Factory), 2:06.539 7. Loris BAZ, France (Kawasaki ZX-10R), 2:06.553 8. Marco MELANDRI, Italy (BMW S1000RR), 2:06.590 9. Sylvain GUINTOLI, France (Aprilia RSV4 Factory), 2:06.656 10. Jules CLUZEL, France (Suzuki GSX-R1000), 2:06.718 11. Ayrton BADOVINI, Italy (Ducati 1199 Panigale R), 2:06.735 12. Chaz DAVIES, UK (BMW S1000RR), 2:06.826 13. Max NEUKIRCHNER, Germany (Ducati 1199 Panigale R), 2:07.516 14. Carlos CHECA, Spain (Ducati 1199 Panigale R), 2:07.546 15. Michel FABRIZIO, Italy (Aprilia RSV4 Factory), 2:07.753 16. Mark AITCHISON, Australia (Kawasaki ZX-10R), 2:09.126 17. Federico SANDI, Italy (Kawasaki ZX-10R), 2:10.471 18. Vittorio IANNUZZO, Italy (BMW S1000RR), 2:11.866 More, from a press release issued by SBK Press Office: Superbike Blazing sunshine welcomed the eni FIM Superbike World Championship riders in today’s Qualifying 1 at Silverstone. Despite a late crash at Turn 1, Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team) stole the show courtesy of an impressive 2’05.355 seconds lap-time, to lead the way until the chequered flag was waved on the finish line. Apart from the leader, competition on track was very close: riders from 2nd to 12th place were all within 6 tenths of each other, while five of the British representatives took a spot in the top-6. Leon Camier (FIXI Crescent Suzuki) ended up an impressive second followed by Moscow Raceway pole-sitter Davide Giugliano (Althea Racing Aprilia) – who crashed at Turn 8 halfway through the session – and Pata Honda duo of Jonathan Rea and fresh Suzuka 8 Hours winner Leon Haslam. Championship leader Sylvain Guintoli (Aprilia Racing Team) was far back in ninth, behind team mate Eugene Laverty, Loris Baz (Kawasaki Racing Team) and Marco Melandri (BMW Motorrad GoldBet). Tough luck for for Michel Fabrizio (Red Devils Roma Aprilia), as the rider from Rome lost control of his RSV4 at Turn 13 and finished 15th. Supersport World Supersport Qualifying 1 took place today at Silverstone under dry track conditions and warm temperatures, as the sun popped out from behind the clouds to finally shine on the British track. Kenan Sofuoglu (Mahi Racing Team India Kawasaki) was the fastest rider in Round 9 first qualifying. The reigning Champion broke into the 2’08 seconds barrier with few minutes left and improved his lap-time again to a final 2’08.823, to edge title contender and current Championship leader Sam Lowes (Yakhnich Motorsport Yamaha) – who had a crash halfway through the session – and Riccardo Russo (Puccetti Racing Kawasaki), back on track after missing the Russian Round. Sheridan Morais (PTR Honda) ended up fourth with almost a second gap from the top, ahead of one event Florian Marino and Intermoto Ponyexpres regular rider David Salom. Irishman Jack Kennedy (Rivamoto Honda) was 7th followed by Raffaele de Rosa (Team Lorini Honda) and Suzuka 8 Hours winner Michael van der Mark (Pata Honda World Supersport). The red flag was waved once during the session after the technical problem occurred to Eduard Blokhin’s Rivamoto Honda CBR600RR. Alex Schacht (Racing Team Toth Honda) and Luca Scassa (Intermoto Ponyexpres Kawasaki) had the same fate as the Russian rider. More, from a press release issued by Althea Racing: Giugliano continues as a frontrunner at Silverstone UK The ninth round of the 2013 World Superbike Championship is taking place this weekend at Silverstone and it was a positive first day of practice and qualifying for team Althea Racing and rider Davide Giugliano. This morning the skies threatened rain but the track fortunately remained dry, allowing Davide and his technicians to work on their RSV4 Aprilia. In the first free practice session Giugliano recorded a 2’06.997 to finish in fourth position. In afternoon qualifying, which took place in sunny conditions, team Althea’s rider put in another solid performance despite a small crash mid way through the session. He finished in overall third position with a time of 2’06.332. A few problems with the front of the bike limited Giugliano’s performance, but overall the team and rider demonstrated once again that they can compete consistently at the top of the time sheets, ahead of many riders who have official bikes. Davide Giugliano: “Despite the positions in the standings, I’m not completely satisfied with what we’ve done today. We still have some problems with the front and my technicians are working to find a good solution. The positive thing is that if we have still managed to be fast despite the problems, this means that once we have the right setting we’ll be able to do a lot better and get closer to Sykes, who was fastest today. In tomorrow morning’s qualifying I want to work on our race pace and prepare as well as possible for tomorrow afternoon’s Superpole.” More, from a press release issued by Pata Honda Superbike Team: Rea and Haslam in the hunt at Silverstone Jonathan Rea and Leon Haslam took provisional fourth and fifth places respectively in this afternoon’s opening qualifying session for round nine of the 2013 World Superbike championship at Silverstone in the UK. The British duo returned from the Suzuka 8-hours race in Japan earlier this week but took no time in adjusting back to their SBK-specification Honda CBR1000RR Fireblades at the 5.902km Silverstone circuit, ending the day separated by just four thousandths of a second. After grey and overcast conditions this morning, the first 45-minute qualifying session was run in warm, sunny but breezy conditions in which Tom Sykes took provisional pole position. Jonathan Rea – P4 2m06.349s We made some good progress straight away and got up to speed early on this morning, so I was really happy. This afternoon we went backwards with the set-up a little bit and we need to revert back to the ride heights that we had earlier. The bike was a little harder to ride, especially in the twisty sections. Looking at everything though, it’s useful to have Leon up there as well because we can learn some things from his data. We’ll sit down and go through it all tonight and learn what we can. It seems we’re faster than last year but in the second session it was quite difficult to do the lap time. We’ll try to make the bike more easy and try tomorrow with some improvements. Engine braking is still a bit of an issue and I feel like I’m being pushed into the corner a little bit, so we need to look at deceleration and then we should be in the ball park. But it’s not bad for a first day! Leon Haslam – P5 2m06.353s We’re making progress, even though we have a few issues that we need to resolve, but, all in all, it’s good. It’s always nice to be a little bit higher up the time sheets and, although I’m happy enough with the progress we’ve made so far, we’ve still got a bit of a way to go. The leg injury is not holding me back as much here as it has at earlier rounds, and once we’ve solved these issues we can hopefully make some bigger steps tomorrow. Pieter Breddels – team-co-ordinator This morning, Leon was struggling a little and didn’t do a lot of laps so we had to make the bike a little more to his liking. This afternoon he improved a little for a pretty good lap time, so it’s good to see him back near the front and showing his potential. Jonathan started pretty well this morning but we tried some things this afternoon, some of which improved the bike, some of which didn’t. We’ll analyse everything and try to make a better bike for tomorrow. More, from a press release issued by Team SBK Ducati Alstare: Work gets underway for Team SBK Ducati Alstare today at Silverstone Silverstone (UK), Friday 2 August 2013: Team SBK Ducati Alstare and riders Carlos Checa and Ayrton Badovini were on track at Silverstone today, taking part in the first practice and qualifying sessions of this ninth round of the 2013 World Superbike Championship. On a dry track (air 21°C, track 26°C), both riders began the planned set-up work with their technicians. Badovini completed a best lap of 2’07.5 on board his 1199 Panigale which placed him tenth at the session’s end. Unfortunately Carlos had trouble with the gears, in that he was unable to shift down, meaning that he lost a lot of time in the garage and was unfortunately only able to complete four laps, closing fifteenth. With the technical issue resolved in time for afternoon qualifying, Checa was back out on track in slightly warmer conditions. He was able to improve on his morning’s times by several seconds and Badovini too dropped his best time set this morning by almost a second. With eleven of the first twelve riders all closing within six tenths of a second of each other, the Ducati Alstare pair concluded this first qualifying session in eleventh (Badovini) and fourteenth (Checa) position. Carlos Checa: “This afternoon was a first approach for us of course as this morning’s gear issue meant we lost the entire session. With only one bike available, a problem like that keeps you in the garage unfortunately. In qualifying I had a few grip problems, I wasn’t fully confident with the front of the bike and there are also sections where I know I can improve, so let’s say there’s still a lot to do tomorrow. I hope we can make some modifications that allow us to find a good pace in preparation for the races.” Ayrton Badovini: “With regard to overall set-up we’ve started once more from the base identified at Imola and Misano. My biggest problem today has been with rear grip, which is only exaggerated by the fact that, as in Russia, we don’t have the softer tyre solution at this track. So we’ve worked to increase traction and made a couple of changes towards the end of qualifying that gave me a little more grip but I still have to ride carefully and it will be difficult to maintain a good race pace in these conditions. Tomorrow I will do my best to make the most of the second qualifying and practice sessions.” More, from a press release issued by Aprilia: A LOT OF WORK IN THE APRILIA RACING GARAGE ON THE FIRST DAY OF PRACTICE AT THE SILVERSTONE TRACK. EUGENE LAVERTY IS HUNTING FOR GRIP COMING OUT OF TURNS, WHILE SYLVAIN GUINTOLI HAS TO DEAL WITH HIS INJURED SHOULDER. Silverstone (UK), 2 August 2013 – The first times are in from the Silverstone World Superbike round, with all the riders taking to the track for the first two sessions of the weekend. The morning free practice sessions were held under a typical English sky, in other words overcast, luckily without any precipitation. Eugene Laverty and Sylvain Guintoli respectively ended the sessions with the eighth and ninth best times in a small group of riders with very similar pace. On the other hand, a bright sun came out in the afternoon just before the qualifying session began. In this session the Aprilia riders put in a lot of laps on the English track, looking for the best technical solutions in order to take on Superpole tomorrow and the races on Sunday. Sylvain Guintoli had to deal with the pain in his injured shoulder, particularly stressed by the fast turns and direction changes. Sylvain confirmed his ninth place position at just over a second behind the leading time. The Frenchman, current leader in the rider standings, is still lacking something in order to feel comfortable on this asphalt on his fast RSV4. Sylvain Guintoli: “My shoulder still isn’t at 100%, so I need to work on it. In any case we are faster than we were in Moscow and I’m confident that we can get even better. I’m certainly not riding the way I know how to yet. We need to find some solutions to achieve a more effective race pace. Everything is working well, but we still need to work on a few details in order for me to feel comfortable on the bike since my injury is still quite painful”. Eugene Laverty consistently increased his pace, ending the session in sixth place. The Northern Irish rider, who has a particular soft spot for this track, complained of a lack of grip coming out of turns in the extremely important acceleration phase. Eugene blames most of the gap on this problem and he’ll be working on it with his mechanics in view of the two sessions that precede Superpole tomorrow. Eugene Laverty: “As far as the final position goes, sixth place is certainly not exceptional. The most important problem at this point is the lack of grip coming out of turns. That’s where we lose a lot of time. My Aprilia is not aggressive on the tyres and that’s good on a track like this one, but if I can’t find grip in the initial acceleration phase everything becomes a bit more difficult. I like the track. It’s fun to ride even in the slower sections and I expect a good battle”. The other two Aprilia RSV4s on the track also had good results. Davide Giugliano (Althea Racing) improved his fourth best time from the morning session, qualifying with third best time in the first qualifying, whereas Michel Fabrizio (Red Devils Roma), after putting the third best time on the boards in free practice, crashed at the beginning of the second session and then struggled to find the right pace. More, from a press release issued by BMW Motorrad Motorsport: Silverstone – Free Practice & Qualifying Practice 1. Friday, 2nd August 2013. Weather conditions: Cloudy in the morning, sunny in the afternoon. Temperature: Air: 21 – 24 °C, Track: 26 – 34 °C Number of riders participating: 18 from 11 teams Fastest lap Free Practice: Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team) 2:06.056 min Fastest lap Qualifying Practice 1: Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team) 2:05.355 min The BMW Motorrad GoldBet SBK Team has completed an intensive day’s work preparing for Sunday’s races at Silverstone. The British race track hosts the ninth round of the 2013 FIM Superbike World Championship. The weekend started with dry conditions in the afternoon for factory riders Marco Melandri (ITA) and Chaz Davies (GBR). Marco finished eighth with his BMW S 1000 RR in today’s first qualifying practice while Chaz was 12th. In the FIM Superstock 1000 Cup, Sylvain Barrier (FRA) from the BMW Motorrad GoldBet STK Team secured provisional pole-position after posting the fastest time in today’s first qualifying session with his BMW HP4. His team-mate Greg Gildenhuys (RSA) finished 17th. Marco Melandri:? Fastest lap Free Practice: 2:07.005 min (P5)/Fastest lap Qualifying Practice 1: 2:06.590 min (P8)? “Going back out of the track is the best cure for us as riders after what had happened in Moscow. This afternoon there’ll be a meeting with all riders and the organiser, there it will be decided if from now on we will meet on a regularly basis to share our thoughts about safety issues. This would be very important. The track conditions here in Silverstone are getting more and more difficult and we were struggling a bit to absorb the bumpy surface. In addition, I had a pretty good feeling with used tyres but with new tyres I was struggling to go fast. We will now work on improving my feeling on the bumps and with new tyres. I think that it will be a very slow and difficult race. We will find out after the first laps but I am quite optimistic that we can be among the front runners.”? Chaz Davies:? Fastest lap Free Practice: 2:08.450 min (P14)/Fastest lap Qualifying Practice 1: 2:06.826 min (P12) “Today was not too easy. We are at a bumpy track again. We started our work with the set-up we were successful with in Russia, but it seems that these settings are not ideal for bumps so we need to go away from that and find something that works on this surface and also something that helps us to find more grip as it is bumpy and slippery here. This morning was difficult but already this afternoon the bike definitely went in the right direction but we still need to improve. In general I think we have found the right way, we just need to keep working in this direction for tomorrow.” Serafino Foti (Sport Director BMW Motorrad GoldBet SBK Team): “I want to compliment to the team, who keep their focus, continue to work hard and demonstrate to be real professionals. The track conditions are getting more difficult and this has not been helpful for our work. Marco has a good pace and with used tyres, he has a good feeling. Chaz was struggling a little bit more but we are confident for the races. In the Superstock class, Sylvain got the provisional pole position. Greg still has to learn the track as he is riding here for the first time.” Andrea Dosoli (Technical Director BMW Motorrad GoldBet SBK Team): “Today both crews used the two dry sessions to work hard on the bike. We expected to have some difficulties on this bumpy surface and unfortunately both riders are still struggling with the rear end of the bike which is not absorbing the bumps as they expected. I addition to the bumpy surface, Chaz was still lacking some side grip and this combination makes the rear end of the bike a bit unstable. This is the main area on which we will focus now. We need to improve the riders’ confidence in the rear end. On this long race track, as soon as you do so a bit you can make a big step in terms of lap times. We are losing time mainly in the first and the last sector and these are the areas where our efforts will be focused. I am confident that in tomorrow’s Superpole, both riders will be able to fight for the first two rows.” More, from a press release issued by FIXI Crescent Suzuki: Camier starts Silverstone weekend with superb second in first qualifying FIXI Crescent Suzuki’s Leon Camier began his birthday celebrations early as he set the second fastest time during first qualifying at today’s eni FIM Superbike World Championship event at Silverstone in England. Camier celebrates his 27th birthday on Sunday and started the weekend off in good style by setting the second quickest time in this morning’s free practice session around the 5,902m English circuit, a feat he followed up this afternoon to give him a provisional front row start for Sunday’s two races. Camier looked impressive all day on his Yoshimura-powered Suzuki GSX-R and believes that with a few small improvements he will be able to push all the way on race-day. Jules Cluzel made significant steps between today’s two sessions that saw him shave almost a-second-and-a-half off his morning practice time during this afternoon’s qualifying. The Frenchman is making his first appearance at the fast and complicated Silverstone circuit on a Superbike and used this morning’s session to re-assess his braking points and lines before pushing for a faster time later in the day. Cluzel claimed the 10th quickest time in qualifying, but admitted that a mistake on what looked like being his best lap cost him dearly and stopped him from being much higher on the time-sheets. Today’s activities were held in changing conditions with the occasional hint of rain, which fortunately never materialised. Tom Sykes on a Kawasaki led the way by securing the top spot in both the practice and qualifying sessions. FIXI Crescent Suzuki will have a further 45-minutes of qualifying tomorrow morning to finalise the riders that progress to the afternoon’s Superpole. This will see the top-15 battle it out for the best grid positions for Sunday’s races. Leon Camier: “I’m happy to be up towards the front and it’s a good way to start the weekend. I don’t think we really improved on anything from the first to the second session, which is probably a good thing because the bike feels quite fast and it’s giving me what I want in a few places, but I think if we can make a couple of improvements to the bike we can go a good step quicker. We’ll keep working and try to get the best feeling and performance we can from the FIXI Crescent Suzuki. The weather was good today, it did drizzle a bit this morning, but that didn’t affect anything. The wind was a bit of a problem and it changed direction this afternoon, it pushed me wide in a few areas and this made the set-up difficult to find, as it was hard to know if it was the wind pushing me wide or the bike’s setting. Grip is also pretty bad out there, but it’s the same for everyone, so we’ll keep working and see what happens.” Jules Cluzel: “It’s been quite a difficult day, because this morning I didn’t have quite a good feeling on the bike. We ran the same tyres for the whole session, so I was expecting some improvement this afternoon and with a new set of the same compound tyres I was immediately one-second quicker, which was quite good. On my last run I used a different compound and at the end I improved by another four-tenths-of-a-second, but I made a big mistake in the last split where I lost three or four-tenths and if that hadn’t happened I could have been second or third, so I think we are doing quite well and I’m looking forward to tomorrow. Paul Denning – Team Manager: “Considering that both riders think there are big steps to take forward with chassis balance and overall performance of the GSX-R1000s from the first day here at Silverstone, the result looks pretty positive and promising for the rest of the weekend, especially if we can find the improvements they are looking for. Silverstone is an incredibly challenging track, with a mix of high corner speeds and demanding requirements for the bike and rider over the course of a lap. It’s tough to find the perfect balance, but the boys will be doing the best they can to do just that. “It’s nice to be at the team’s second home race of the year, we’ve had a busy day and a big involvement from two of our partners, Voltcom and Catch Resource Management. We hope we can build steadily over the weekend and get the results the team and all the partners are looking for.”