FIM Supersport World Championship Losail International Circuit Doha, Qatar March 12, 2009 Provisional Qualifying Results (all on Pirelli tires): 1. Cal CRUTCHLOW (Yam YZF-R6), 2:02.634 2. Fabien FORET (Yam YZF-R6), 2:02.772 3. Kenan SOFUOGLU (Hon CBR600RR), 2:02.883 4. Matthieu LAGRIVE (Hon CBR600RR), 2:02.950 5. Mark AITCHISON (Hon CBR600RR), 2:03.065 6. Joan LASCORZ (Kaw ZX-6R), 2:03.111 7. Eugene LAVERTY (Hon CBR600RR), 2:03.114 8. Garry MCCOY (Tri Daytona 675), 2:03.177 9. Anthony WEST (Hon CBR600RR), 2:03.253 10. Andrew PITT (Hon CBR600RR), 2:03.282 11. Gianluca NANNELLI (Tri Daytona 675), 2:03.374 12. Michele PIRRO (Yam YZF-R6), 2:03.400 13. Robbin HARMS (Hon CBR600RR), 2:03.405 14. Miguel PRAIA (Hon CBR600RR), 2:03.410 15. Barry VENEMAN (Suz GSX-R600), 2:03.560 16. Katsuaki FUJIWARA (Kaw ZX-6R), 2:04.226 17. Pawel SZKOPEK (Tri Daytona 675), 2:04.276 18. Gianluca VIZZIELLO (Hon CBR600RR), 2:04.326 19. Jesco GÃœNTHER (Hon CBR600RR), 2:04.465 20. Matej SMRZ (Tri Daytona 675), 2:04.504 More, from a press release issued by Team YZF Yamaha: Busy first day for Doni Tata Pradita It was a hard working day for the young Indonesian rider, trying to find the right set-up for his Yamaha R6. He progressed all day long and tomorrow looks promising. Doni Tata Pradita rode for the first time today on the Doha track in the Supersport class and with Pirelli tyres. He had some prior experience of the circuit in the GP 250 class, but the Supersport category is completely different. In the free practice session in the morning, he spent some time finding the right settings for the chassis. In the afternoon, he did a lot of work again and clearly progressed. The evolution is positive and a good result can be expected tomorrow for the second qualifying practice session. The quickest bikes were the two Yamaha R6s of team mates Cal Crutchlow and Fabien Foret. The Frenchman was leading the race last year when he ran out of fuel in the last lap. Doni Tata Pradita: “The qualifying practice in the afternoon was better than the free practice in the morning. I had some early handling problems. The qualifying session was difficult in the beginning but then we put a better tyre that gave more grip. Unfortunately, the time ran out because the session is short. We still have some problems with the final ratio, I have to use too many RPMs, and so we will change the setting for tomorrow. Today, I am not sure I am happy with the result.” Martial Garcia (team manager): “Doni is 3 seconds off the provisional pole position, so this is satisfying for the first day. We need to find a better set-up for the chassis. We are not yet happy with the final ratio of the transmission. Maybe we will put it a little bit longer for tomorrow.” The track The circuit features 16 bends (10 right, 6 left) and is 5380 m long, 12 m wide. The main straight is 1068 m long. This will be the fifth time the WSBK championship comes to this circuit, which was opened in July 2004. It was built in about two years at a cost of around $58 million. A special lighting equipment was used last year for the first time ever for the Grand Prix of Qatar. Supersport World Championship points (after 1 round of 14): 1. Sofuoglu (Honda) 25; 2. Pitt (Honda) 20; 3. West (Honda) 16; 4. Crutchlow (Yamaha) 13; 5. Laverty (Honda) 11; 6. Aitchison (Honda) 10; 7. Foret (Yamaha) 9; 8. Lascorz (Kawasaki) 8. More, from a press release issued by Parkalgar Honda: Parkalgar Honda happy with first qualifying Parkalgar Honda’s pairing of Eugene Laverty and Miguel Praia put in a solid performance during first qualifying for round two of the World Supersport Championship at Losail in Qatar, with Laverty grabbing seventh and Praia finishing in fourteenth position. Both riders vastly improved their lap times from free practice and have a direction in which to go for tomorrow’s second qualifying where they are hoping to secure front-row starts. Yamaha’s Cal Crutchlow took provisional pole position with a time of 2min 2.634secs. The World Supersport race starts at 11:25 CET on Saturday 14th March. Eugene: “The session finished well as I am seventh and, provisionally, on the second row of the grid. I’m happy with how things are progressing as we have been working through different tyre options. I started out on a hard tyre and then went for the softer one which was an improvement. I took a big chunk off my lap time from free practice this morning and I’ve dropped my time by around three seconds, so we are definitely getting there. We have a few changes to make to the front end of my Parkalgar Honda and I know once we get that how I want it I will feel even more confident than I do at the moment. I’m looking forward to tomorrow.” Miguel: “All of the session I was pretty competitive and I stayed near the front for a long time, it was only at the end that I dropped my position. We were working on adjusting the bike for the race and I put in a lot of fast, consistent laps at a good pace. My Parkalgar Honda is fast and I know I can run race distance. Tomorrow we will concentrate on lap times. I’m very happy with the session, my position of fourteenth isn’t so good but I will work on that tomorrow.” Simon Buckmaster, Team Manager Parkalgar Honda: “That session went well for us. Eugene is just 0.48secs off pole, we are just chipping away at the lap times and we are looking in good shape for the race. Miguel is just 0.7secs off the pace and I know he will improve tomorrow. This circuit improves on the second day and we have a few changes to try so we will be improving too. We will be aiming for the front row tomorrow and I think we are in good shape.” More, from a press release issued by HANNspree Ten Kate Honda: Kenan Sofuoglu has put his Hannspree Ten Kate Honda CBR600RR on the provisional front row for round two of the 2009 World Supersport championship in Qatar. The Turkish rider, who won the first round race at Phillip Island, was third fastest in today’s opening qualifying session at the 5.38km Losail circuit just outside Doha. Provisional pole position went to Cal Crutchlow, with Fabien Foret second fastest, as Sofuoglu’s team-mate, Andrew Pitt, worked on machine set-up for Saturday’s 18-lap race. The Australian set the tenth fastest time today. Kenan Sofuoglu P3, 2’02.634s The track was still quite slippery this morning after all the sand that was blown about yesterday, but it was definitely better this afternoon. The front row was all we wanted from today’s qualifying. We’ll do a longer run during practice tomorrow and go for the front row again, which is important for the race here. It’s a fast track and you need to carry some corner speed with the Honda CBR600RR here, so I had to adapt my riding style a little bit today. Andrew Pitt P10, 2’03.282s There’s really only one choice of tyre here, and I had a few moments with the alternative, so that decision has already been made for us. The settings that we used at Phillip Island weren’t really working that well today so we’ve got some work to do. We need a little more weight on the front to make the bike turn more easily, so we should be there or thereabouts tomorrow. Ronald ten Kate team manager It’s the first day on quite a dirty track so we’re reasonably happy with progress so far. We have a very easy decision to make on race tyres and we’re expecting another hard battle in Saturday’s race so we’re preparing in the only way we know through hard work. More, from a press release issued by Yamaha: Yamaha World Supersport Team start from the top Yamaha World Supersport Team riders Cal Crutchlow and Fabien Foret hit the ground running today in the first day of qualifying at the Qatar round of the World Supersport Championship. Crutchlow, who has never raced at Qatar previously, finished the day with an impressive fastest lap of 2″02.634, putting him at the top of the qualifying board. Experienced team-mate Fabien Foret, still nursing a shoulder injury from Phillip Island, was equally impressive, taking second spot on the day’s qualifying with a time of 2″02.772 Cal Crutchlow, Yamaha World Supersport Team “Not too bad a day for me considering I’ve never really done much on this track, it’s been good for me to come to a circuit were everyone else has been before and still perform well. The track is good, it seems to suit our bike quite well too. We’ve still got some stuff to work on and I’m looking to make the most of tomorrow’s testing and hopefully we can make a break in the race. I’d like to see us on the podium on Saturday.” Fabien Foret, Yamaha World Supersport Team “I’m a little bit sore, my shoulder is still achy and a bit tired. I’m surprised as I thought it would be completely better. We have it strapped up to ride with but it’s not as good as I expected. This morning we had a few issues in practice, then I tried some new settings this afternoon in the early sessions before eventually moving back to last year’s set-up. That felt good and we managed to get a reasonable time in the end. By the end of the session I was pretty confident, so I’m happy with the bike, just the shoulder is a bit tense and not so strong. I’m taking it easy and tomorrow will try to save a bit of my strength for the race itself.” Wilco Zeelenberg, Yamaha World Supersport Team manager “So far so good, we still have some work to do but it seems that both riders are quite fast compared to the competition, however we think we will need to improve along with the others so we still have some work to do. We are not 100% cool, but we are happy to be first and second. Other than that we still have things to do as normal after a Friday session. Cal has never been here before so it’s good that he’s fast straight away here on our bike. Also good to see Fabien straight in where he needs to be, considering his arm is still not perfect.”