FIM Superbike World Championship Phillip Island, Australia February 25, 2011 Qualifying Session One Results (all on Pirelli tires): 1. Carlos CHECA, Spain (Ducati 1098R), 1:31.577 2. Sylvain GUINTOLI, France (Ducati 1098R), 1:31.850 3. Eugene LAVERTY, Ireland (Yamaha YZF-R1), 1:31.969 4. Max BIAGGI, Italy (Aprilia RSV4 Factory), 1:32.009 5. Jakub SMRZ, Czech Republic (Ducati 1098R), 1:32.066 6. Leon HASLAM, Great Britain (BMW S1000RR), 1:32.082 7. Michel FABRIZIO, Italy (Suzuki GSX-R1000), 1:32.108 8. Joan LASCORZ, Spain (Kawasaki ZX-10R), 1:32.163 9. Jonathan REA, Great Britain (Honda CBR1000RR), 1:32.424 10. Josh WATERS, Australia (Suzuki GSX-R1000), 1:32.690 11. Troy CORSER, Australia (BMW S1000RR), 1:32.699 12. Marco MELANDRI, Italy (Yamaha YZF-R1), 1:32.700 13. Tom SYKES, Great Britain (Kawasaki ZX-10R), 1:32.705 14. Noriyuki HAGA, Japan (Aprilia RSV4 Factory), 1:33.058 15. James TOSELAND, Great Britain (BMW S1000RR), 1:33.074 16. Leon CAMIER, Great Britain (Aprilia RSV4 Factory), 1:33.084 17. Bryan STARING, Australia (Kawasaki ZX-10R), 1:33.130 18. Maxime BERGER, France (Ducati 1098R), 1:33.176 19. Ruben XAUS, Spain (Honda CBR1000RR), 1:33.411 20. Ayrton BADOVINI, Italy (BMW S1000RR), 1:33.598 21. Mark AITCHISON, Australia (Kawasaki ZX-10R), 1:33.788 22. Roberto ROLFO, Italy (Kawasaki ZX-10R), 1:33.864 More, from a press release issued by BMW Motorrad Motorsport: Weather conditions: Sunny, warm. Temperature: Air: 19 – 21 °C, Track: 42 – 45 °C Number of riders participating: 22 from 14 teams Fastest lap Free Practice: Carlos Checa (Althea Racing) 1:31.647 min Fastest lap Qualifying Practice 1: Carlos Checa (Althea Racing) 1:31.577 min Team BMW Motorrad Motorsport started the 2011 season solidly: While Leon Haslam (GBR) and Troy Corser (AUS) suffered from severe grip issues in today’s free practice session, both BMW Motorrad Motorsport riders were able to secure provisional starting positions on the second and third rows during the first qualifying session. Both riders’ crews worked on the engine mapping as well as the chassis set-up between the sessions. Leon finished today’s qualifying in sixth, while Troy finished eleventh. Leon Haslam: Fastest lap Free Practice: 1:32.360 min (P4)/Fastest lap Qualifying Practice 1: 1:32.082 min (P6) “We are happy with how today went, and definitely made a step forward from the test. We found half a second in warmer conditions, which is not too bad. Carlos Checa is still the man to beat, but I am pretty close to the other guys, and that’s the main thing. We now have to fine-tune some smaller remaining issues, but we are pretty much on the race pace now. As usual, we are pushing as hard as we can for tomorrow and Sunday.” Troy Corser: Fastest lap Free Practice: 1:34.913 min (P22)/Fastest lap Qualifying Practice: 1:32.699 min (P11) “We have definitely made improvements with the bike. My bike’s set-up is now pretty much the same as Leon’s, and my lap times dropped down to the same as his in the morning. Obviously we have moved on, but still we are not where we want to be. Again, this afternoon, we tried some things but did not improve any further. After this morning’s session, we should be happy with the qualifying result. We will now look into the data and see where we can make further improvements.” Rainer Bäumel (Head of Race Operations): “On Tuesday we saw we were heading in the right direction on Leon’s side, while it took us longer to make Troy’s bike quicker. He still had big problems during this morning’s session. We were better in the afternoon, but still both riders lack mechanical grip. Tomorrow’s weather forecast is not too good, so we are happy with our provisional starting positions.” More, from a press release issued by Castrol Honda: Rea fights pain for top ten in Australia Castrol Honda’s Jonathan Rea set the ninth fastest time in this afternoon’s opening qualifying session at Phillip Island in Australia in preparation for the first round of the 2011 World Superbike championship on Sunday. The 24-year-old from Northern Ireland, who suffered a 210kph testing crash only three days ago, was second fastest in this morning’s free practice session and comfortably quick in race trim. However, he was unable to improve his lap time with Pirelli’s new ‘big’ rear tyre and, in consideration of his injuries and tyre allocation for tomorrow, opted to sit out some of this afternoon’s session. His Castrol Honda team-mate Ruben Xaus was 19th fastest this afternoon after spending much of the session on used race rubber in preparation for Sunday’s two 22-lap races around the 4.5km Phillip Island circuit. The Spaniard suffered similar problems to Rea when using the bigger rear, however, and was unable to improve his time. Jonathan Rea P9, 1m32.424s I think the most important thing is that the Clinica Mobile guys have patched me up really well. My back and neck are really sore today, but the heavy strapping on my left wrist seems to be fine on the bike. This morning we worked through race distance on a potential race tyre and we continued that this afternoon. But when we threw in the new bigger shape tyre, which was working really well on Tuesday, the track temperatures were too hot so it wasn’t any better. So, rather than burn another tyre from our allocation and burn valuable energy at this point of the weekend, we sat out the session. To be top ten after the first day and to have another 36 hrs to get stronger for Sunday makes me really optimistic. The bike’s working great and is really fun to ride and I have no confidence issues after the crash on Tuesday. When I was lying in hospital on Wednesday and the doctors were talking about keeping me in another night, I never even thought I’d be on a bike this weekend. I’d like to say a really big thanks to everyone who’s got me to this position, and for me to be putting in good lap times on old tyres is really down to them. Ruben Xaus P19, 1m33.411s I planned not to use so many tyres this afternoon but my last run was quite difficult. I spent most of today working on race distances with old tyres and then when we moved to the bigger tyre we expected to go better. I couldn’t even get close to the times I was doing on the smaller tyre. Instead the rear started to jump quite badly and it was very difficult to hold the line without that grip. I just couldn’t use it and I think with the smaller tyre I was already having some problems absorbing the bumps, so this just made it worse. We’re still making changes to the bike and it’s really beginning to feel like it’s mine I can have some fun with it now and the team is working really. I need to improve some things myself and try again tomorrow. Ronald ten Kate team manager After Jonathan’s high speed crash and the injuries he sustained, we’re honestly just happy that he is even riding the bike again here this weekend. His performance just shows what a tough, strong and brave rider he is. Today we weren’t pushing for too many laps and we were trying to keep some tyres in reserve. After another night’s sleep and some more recovery time we can hopefully we can make another step forward tomorrow. On Ruben’s side of the garage we are clearly not where we would like to be. There are a few things we still need to figure out with him because on used tyres there seems to be quite good speed but things got worse when we put in a new tyre. We need to look into this and make a big step forward tomorrow. More, from a press release issued by Team Suzuki Alstare: MICHEL SEVENTH ON CLOSE FOUGHT OPENING DAY Team Suzuki Alstare rider Michel Fabrizio ended the opening day of the new Superbike World Championship season with the seventh fastest time in a very close qualifying session. If he had lapped just three tenths of a second quicker he would’ve ended up second quickest! Before the day started, Michel and Team Suzuki Alstare knew that this year’s championship would be the toughest ever, but to be so competitive on day one is a boost to everybody in the team and a huge encouragement ahead of tomorrow’s qualifying and Superpole. Spaniard Carlos Checa (Ducati) continued the form he had shown in the tests earlier in the week and ended with a time of 1:31.577, inside the lap record set by Troy Corser. Second quickest today was Sylvain Guintoli (also Ducati mounted) with Eugene Laverty (Yamaha) third and reigning champion Max BIaggi (Aprilia) fourth. Michel – 7th, 1:32.108 I feel pretty happy with my seventh today, especially when you consider how close the lap times are. Just three tenths faster and I would’ve finished second quickest today, so I know that we are in contention. I would’ve felt even more happy, but I had a little crash towards the end of this afternoon’s qualifying session, when I lost the front going into turn two. It happened so quickly that I didn’t have time to recover. It’s a shame and I want to say sorry to my mechanics because it means that they’ve extra work to do tonight. Fortunately I was unhurt in the crash and all I did was scrape my leathers. Today we spent the two sessions getting a good set-up for the bike and we will continue to do that tomorrow, paying some more time to fine tune the suspension. The bike is going pretty good around here and I am happy that it is more than holding its own against some of the newer bikes from this year. Also, I am still learning about my bike and feel that there’s quite a bit more to come, so I am looking forward to tomorrow and Sunday. Today was my first day on the Suzuki Alstare bike in a race weekend situation and I think the team and I have done well, all things considered. Now we want to keep up our progress, qualify well and see what happens on Sunday. Although the first turn is a fair distance away from the start line, it is a bit like a funnel when a big group of riders try and go through it. Therefore it’s important to qualify on the first two rows of the grid, make a good start and not get tangled up in the pack going into the turn. That’s going to be my aim, but first we’ve got tomorrow’s practice, qualifying and Superpole. More, from a press release issued by Althea Racing: CARLOS CHECA (ALTHEA RACING) POWERS TO PROVISIONAL POLE AT PHILLIP ISLAND; Phillip Island (Australia), Friday 25th February 2011: the first round of the 2011 World Superbike Championship officially got underway today at the Australian track of Phillip Island and Althea Racing rider Carlos Checa immediately sent out warning signals to his rivals when he powered his Ducati 1198 to the first provisional pole of the season, seemingly without breaking a sweat. In the first free practice session, in temperate conditions (20ËšC air temperature, 42ËšC track), Carlos made his presence felt right from the start, registering a 1m31.6 just a few minutes into the session. Unfortunately that lap was followed up with a small crash but the Spaniard was unhurt and continued to dominate proceedings, closing the session at the top of the timesheets, six tenths of a second ahead of Rea (Honda) in second place. Even though times were not as fast as those he recorded during testing earlier this week, Checa was nevertheless the only rider to duck under the 1m32 barrier this morning. Later in the day, in first qualifying, Carlos backed up his earlier performance by propelling himself into first position after just twenty minutes. He remained ahead of the pack until the end of the session, also managing to drop his time by a few tenths to conclude with a best lap of 1m31.5. His closest rival this afternoon was Guintoli, he too on board a Ducati, who finished three tenths of a second behind Althea’s flagbearer. Although satisfied with today’s results, the Althea Racing team hopes to be able to make further improvements tomorrow ahead of the all important Superpole. Carlos Checa “We worked really well today, concentrating mainly on the tyres. We have a clearer idea of which race tyres to use and I’d say that we’re back in a position where we’re experiencing the same sensations as last year. Unfortunately I fell this morning at the second corner. I was having difficulty shifting down, meaning that I hit neutral and lost the front. Anyway the problem was quickly solved by my always efficient technicians. Today we worked more on tyres while tomorrow we have other things to try, but I admit that I’m feeling very confident for now.” More, from a press release issued by Team Pedercini: The World Superbike Championship officially got underway at Phillip Island today. Bryan Staring, Mark Aitchison and Roberto Rolfo spent both the practice and qualifying sessions exploring the limits of their new Kawasaki Ninja ZX-10R bikes. This was the first real opportunity for the riders to put into practice what has been learned during the testing at the Phillip Island circuit earlier this week. The Team Pedercini riders completed the first free practice of the 2011 season this morning on a dry track, but struggled with various set up problems. In the second session all three riders worked hard with their technical staff to find a competitive set-up for their Kawasaki bikes but unfortunately all suffered from different set up or brakes problems that prevented them from improving their positions in the qualifying classification. Tomorrow morning the riders will continue to work with their technicians as they strive to obtain entry into the Superpole. Phillip Island Friday free practice : 1) Checa (Ducati) 2) Rea (Honda) 3) Lascorz (Kawasaki) 4) Haslam (BMW) 5) Guintoli (Ducati) “¦”¦..19) Aitchison (Kawasaki) 1’34″014 20) Rolfo (Kawasaki) 1’34″095 21) Staring (Kawasaki) 1’34″391 Phillip Island Friday qualifying session : 1) Checa (Ducati) 2) Guintoli (Ducati) 3) Laverty (Yamaha) 4) Biaggi (Aprilia) 5) Smrz (Ducati) “¦”¦..17) Staring (Kawasaki) 1’33″130″¦”¦ 21) Aitchison (Kawasaki) 1’33″788 21) Rolfo (Kawasaki) 1’33″864 Roberto Rolfo: “I’m disappointed by the results of today’s qualifying session. This morning I worked with my team to find quite a good set up but during the afternoon qualifying session it was more difficult for me because I changed bikes, so I lost a lot of time as well as my former race pace. Tomorrow morning I want to push hard right from the start. I think we still have a bit of work to do to find the best bike balance, but we are not that far from obtaining the best motorcycle setting that will help me to lower my lap time.” Bryan Staring: “Today we tried many different things during both the morning and afternoon sessions. During qualifying we made some useful improvements on the bike. The problem we have right now is that the faster I go, the more problems we seem to find. It’s normal in racing I guess and we have to work hard to have a better bike. My Kawasaki is now going better than it was during testing and we just need to make a few changes to make it faster. I’m working very well with my team and so I’m confident for tomorrow’s qualifying session. I’ll do my best to get into Superpole.” Mark Aitchison: “Today we started our day very well, adjusting the front fork setting which meant that midway through qualifying I had a much better feeling with the bike. We made this change to make me more comfortable on the bike, so I hope to reconfirm this feeling tomorrow morning. I’m happy because I’m starting to change my riding style for the Superbike, which is very important. Unfortunately toward the end of the qualifying session we had some problems with the front brakes, which stopped me from improving on my overall lap time. In any case we’ll work hard tomorrow to make me as comfortable as possible ahead of the races on Sunday.” More, from a press release issued by Yamaha: Strong Start for Laverty in First Phillip Island Qualifying New Yamaha World Superbike Team rider Eugene Laverty made an impressive debut today for his first ever World Superbike Championship race weekend. Having spent the morning’s free practice session making further adjustments to his set up, the 24yr old rider from Northern Ireland sent a clear message in the afternoon’s qualifying, the first of two over the weekend, using his 2011 R1 to its full potential to take third in the final timesheets just 0.392 seconds from front man Carlos Checa. Laverty’s new teammate, fellow World superbike rookie Marco Melandri had a less successful day today. The 28yr old Italian rider struggled to find a good feeling with the tyres used today, resulting in him losing the front end on turn 6 and falling. Melandri wasn’t hurt in the incident and returned to complete qualifying on his number two bike but was unable to better eleventh in the timesheets, just over a second off the lead. Eugene Laverty, Yamaha World Superbike Team 3rd, 1’31.969 “I’m very satisfied with my position today, I didn’t expect to be that high up in the standings although my aim was to do a 1.31 to get me through to Superpole tomorrow, so I was expecting the lap time but not the position. We learnt a bit more today for our race set up but we still need to work on a bit of consistency. Thankfully we can now focus tomorrow morning on race set up.” Marco Melandri, Yamaha World Superbike Team 12th, 1’32.700 “It was a very bad day for me today everything seemed to be going wrong. Definitely a no meaning day, I will start fresh tomorrow! I lost the front when I was trying a harder front tyre, I had no feeling in it and suddenly it was just gone. Tomorrow we will go for a different tyre and a set up we know so we should be much better, I am confident we will be up there.” Yamaha World Superbike Team Manager – Andrea Dosoli “It wasn’t the best day today for Marco, he crashed after a few laps of qualifying, losing the front at turn six testing a harder front Pirelli tyre. He had to switch to a different bike and was less confident in pushing hard for the rest of the session. I have no doubt that tomorrow he will be much better. Eugene was quite fast and with small change to set up he was able to make a better lap time than the test here last week. He managed to test some different tyres today as the track temperatures were different to the test, so he has a better idea of what he should use for tomorrow and the race. Once again he’s showed us his potential.” More, from a press release issued by Team Pata: Chattering problems for Noriyuki Haga　 A not-so-lucky first day of practices for Pata Racing Team, that due to the ground warming compared to the firsts two days of tests during the beginning of the week has found chattering issues that limited Noriyuki Haga performance. The rider finished the first official practices session as fourteenth, a result that can’t be considered satisfying and that will try to improve tomorrow, counting on the team’s help aiming to solve today’s problems. Noriyuki Haga – Aprilia RSV4R 　#41 – “I still can’t give my best on this condition. After the last practices, things seemed got better but because of a warmer tar the issue came back. We still got some different solutions to try within sight of tomorrow, during which day the starting grid will be determined, but overall we’ll end the setting work on sight of the two rounds on Sunday.　 Marco Borciani – team manager – “Phillip Island isn’t certainly an Aprilia favorable track, because of its uneven tar. Said so, we are sure to get a way better result trying to during the race and to obtain good results. We are paying the bad luck had during the “winter training” when we often had rain with the impossibility to show ourselves at our top-shape at the beginning of this championship.” More, from a press release issued by Team Suzuki News Service: Yoshimura Suzuki wildcard entry Josh Waters qualified the team’s GSX-R1000 10th in today’s opening day of the World Superbike Championship first round at Phillip Island in Australia. The 22-year-old 2009 Australian Superbike Champion, who finished the recent two-day test with a creditable 12th position, is using a brand new R-11R racing exhaust from Yoshimura. Although in prototype form, Yoshimura is focused on testing and using it in extreme use and the competition of WSB is a perfect proving ground. Featuring a newly-designed internal structure as well as an ‘organically’ shaped end-cap partially enclosing a dual-exit, the new systems will be available to the public, in both road and race form, as soon as R&D on the Yoshimura R-11R is complete. Details on the production version will follow later in the year and full technical specifications, fitment options and sleeve finishes will be announced as soon as they become available. More, from a press release issued by Supersonic Racing Team: First day of qualifying at Phillip Island for the Supersonic Team. The World Superbike Championship 2011 started officially this morning, with the first practice session at Phillip Island in Australia. The Supersonic Team continued the work after the test on the Australian track from a few days ago in finding the best setup for the Ducati 1198, Maxime Berger began subsequently to force down the pace, but was encountering a few problems in the second sector, where he lost precious tenths. The Frenchmen finished the first session in seventeenth place with a time of 1’33 “474. During the official session at the afternoon, Maxime was unfortunately the victim of a slip and damaged his number one bike, returned with his second bike on track but he did not find the right feeling. Although Maxime improved three tenths of a second and finished with a 1’33 “176, the rider from Dijon concluded the eighteenth place. The mechanics from the Supersonic Team are working hard to fix the number one bike which Maxime Berger will ride tomorrow morning trying to get into Superpole. Phillip Island – Free practice 1) Checa (Ducati) – 2) Rea (Honda) – 3) Lascorz (Kawasaki) – 4) Haslam (BMW) – 5) Guintoli (Ducati) – 6) Biaggi (Aprilia) …………17) Berger (Ducati) Phillip Island – Qualifying 1 : 1) Checa (Ducati) – 2) Guintoli (Ducati) – 3) Laverty (Yamaha) – 4) Biaggi (Aprilia) – 5) Smrz (Ducati) – 6) Haslam (BMW) …………18) Berger (Ducati) Danilo Soncini – Team manager: “The slip of Maxime has affected our first official practice. Unfortunately, the number one bike was damaged during the crash, and our rider had to continue with the second bike. This can happen with a rookie, but we are convinced that tomorrow morning Maxime will improve because he shown us to have the potential.” Maxime Berger: “I am very sorry about what happened today. I worked a lot with my team to develop my Ducati 1198 and we were successful until I slipped and damaged the bike. In the second session, although every effort, I could not find the feeling needed to push as hard as I wanted. I improved, but not enough to move up in the standings. My team was exceptional as ever, and tomorrow I intend to do well, with the aim of hitting the Superpole”. More, from a press release issued by Alitalia Aprilia: A LOT OF WORK FOR MAX BIAGGI, CAMIER FALLS BEHIND HINDERED BY A BOTHERSOME FLU. Phillip Island (Australia), 25 February 2011 With the first day of practice (free and timed) on the Australian track at Phillip Island, the 2011 World SBK got underway. The Italian team had their first satisfaction of the season watching Max Biaggi take the track with the World Champion No. 1 on his Aprilia RSV4. For Max it was a day full of work, starting with the free practice in the morning when he was out on the track longer than any of the other riders searching for the best setup, and later with the first Qualifying Practice where the five-time world champion stopped the clock at 1.32.009, earning a respectable fourth place at 432 thousandths behind Checa’s best time (1.31.577) But, as Biaggi explained at the end of the session, the road to full competitiveness for the RSV4 on this track which is traditionally unfavourable is still difficult: “We still have a lot of work to do. There are problems with the engine brake which triggers a very marked chattering. We tried different solutions, even changing bikes often, but we haven’t had any great advantages. There is still work to be done just to understand what needs to be adjusted. The pace isn’t bad, but when I try to push it the problems I’ve mentioned come into play. I think that Checa has a pretty good advantage over us at the moment, but I need to look at my own pit and try to draw out the best from what is available to me. For tomorrow I’d like to improve on the fast lap”. It was a rough day, on the other hand, for Leon Camier who has been fighting a bothersome form of the flu for some days now. For the English rider it was hard work to take the track also because of difficulty breathing. Leon fought to end in 16th place at 1.33.084. “Unfortunately my performance is effected by the ailment stated Camier already after a few laps I’m struggling to breathe and in general I’m not able to concentrate on my riding. This hinders me from understanding best what needs to be done for the bike setup, above all because I can’t take my RSV4 to the limit. Now I’m just thinking about resting. We have a lot of work to do tomorrow so I need to recover… at least a bit”. More, from a press release issued by Infront Motor Sports: Checa again the ace in the WSBK pack Phillip Island (Australia), Friday 25 February 2011 – Results of first qualifying at Phillip Island saw Carlos Checa (Ducati Althea Racing) stake his claim as number 1 favourite for the Superbike wins in the opening round on Sunday. The Spaniard stopped the clocks with a time of 1 minute 31.577 seconds, a tenth quicker than his free practice time of the morning, but slower than his best from recent testing – simply because the warmer track surface delivered less outright grip. Another man on the move was Sylvain Guintoli (Ducati Effenbert – Liberty Racing), the Frenchman doing exceptionally well to come within three-tenths of Checa, despite suffering a fall in the morning session. Carlos Checa: “Basically, we worked with the tyres this afternoon, just to make choices for raceday. I felt good today but I think the grip was just a little bit less from the racetrack. We used the ‘big’ rear tyre and had similar results to the previous ones, so if we do that I prefer to continue with the existing tyres for now. Tomorrow we will just work towards raceday again, do a comparison with the tyres and then do some longer runs on the tyre we expect to use for the race.” An impressive sub-1m32s lap time was set by Eugene Laverty (Yamaha World Superbike Team) and the WSBK rookie had the satisfaction of finishing one place ahead of 2010 world champion Max Biaggi (Aprilia Alitalia). Guintoli’s team-mate Jakub Smrz posted fifth best time, and Leon Haslam overcame some early set-up issues to go sixth. He was the top BMW Motorrad Motorsport rider today, as Troy Corser went 11th. Michel Fabrizio (Suzuki Alstare) had a harmless crash towards the end and finished seventh, one place up on impressive new WSBK talent, Joan Lascorz (Kawasaki Racing Team). Lascorz, a top runner in WSS until his promotion to Superbike this year, was only just over half a second from Checa. Castrol Honda rider Jonathan Rea, who is still battered and bruised from his big testing get offs, was ninth fastest, placing all the competing manufacturers in WSBK this season in the top nine places in the first qualifying session. Yoshimura Suzuki rider Josh Waters, a wildcard at this event, was an impressive tenth on the exquisitely prepared GSX-R machine, leading his fellow countryman Corser, while Marco Melandri (Yamaha World Superbike Team) was 12th, and one of many top names who ended up in the gravel at one point or other today. Tom Sykes, Noriyuki Haga, James Toseland and Leon Camier rounded out the top 16. Times: 1. Checa C. (ESP) Ducati 1098R 1’31.577; 2. Guintoli S. (FRA) Ducati 1098R 1’31.850; 3. Laverty E. (IRL) Yamaha YZF R1 1’31.969; 4. Biaggi M. (ITA) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 1’32.009; 5. Smrz J. (CZE); Ducati 1098 1’32.066; 6. Haslam L. (GBR) BMW S1000 RR 1’32.082; 7. 84 Fabrizio M. (ITA) Suzuki GSX-R1000 1’32.108; 8. Lascorz J. (ESP) Kawasaki ZX-10R 1’32.163; 9. Rea J. (GBR) Honda CBR1000RR 1’32.424; 10. Waters J. (AUS) Suzuki GSX-R1000 1’32.690; 11. Corser T. (AUS) BMW S1000 RR 1’32.699; 12. Melandri M. (ITA) Yamaha YZF R1 1’32.700; 13. Sykes T. (GBR) Kawasaki ZX-10R 1’32.705; 14. Haga N. (JPN) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 1’33.058; 15. Toseland J. (GBR) BMW S1000 RR 1’33.074; 16. Camier L. (GBR) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 1’33.084; etc. World Supersport Quickest time in the first Supersport qualifying session was recorded by former champion Fabien Foret (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda), as he continues his run of impressive form. The Fast Frenchman had to work for it however as he crashed at the start and then only came out for five flying laps, edging the young Spanish rider David Salom (Kawasaki Motocard.com) off the top in the last few seconds. Salom has an official bike at his disposal for the first time in his career and has been making immediate good use of it. Another up-and-coming youngster, 20 year-old Sam Lowes (Parkalgar Honda) went third quickest ahead of fellow Brit Chaz Davies who is now getting to grips with his Yamaha ParkinGO machine after some trying times in testing recently. Good news also for the other Yamaha team on the grid, Bike Service, with Roberto Tamburini getting the better of Luca Scassa (Yamaha ParkinGO) by a whisker. James Ellison (Bogdanka PTR Honda) continued his recovery with the ninth fastest time, a remarkable feat for a rider who underwent keyhole surgery on his left knee, on Wednesday. Times: 1. Foret F. (FRA) Honda CBR600RR 1’34.091; 2. Salom D. (ESP) Kawasaki ZX-6R 1’34.166; 3. Lowes S. (GBR) Honda CBR600RR 1’34.875; 4. Davies C. (GBR) Yamaha YZF R6 1’35.065; 5. Tamburini R. (ITA) Yamaha YZF R6 1’35.203; 6. Scassa L. (ITA) Yamaha YZF R6 1’35.236; 7. Parkes B. (AUS) Kawasaki ZX-6R 1’35.297; 8. Marino F. (FRA) Honda CBR600RR 1’35.335; etc.