FIM Superbike World Championship Portimao, Portugal March 26, 2010 Provisional Qualifying Results (all on Pirelli tires): 1. Leon HASLAM (Suzuki GSX-R1000), 1:43.476 2. Michel FABRIZIO (Ducati 1098R), 1:43.508 3. Carlos CHECA (Ducati 1098R), 1:43.645 4. Max BIAGGI (Aprilia RSV4 Factory), 1:43.688 5. James TOSELAND (Yamaha YZF-R1), 1:43.735 6. Cal CRUTCHLOW (Yamaha YZF-R1), 1:43.769 7. Shane BYRNE (Ducati 1098R), 1:43.881 8. Jakub SMRZ (Ducati 1098R), 1:43.932 9. Leon CAMIER (Aprilia RSV4 Factory), 1:44.041 10. Jonathan REA (Honda CBR1000RR), 1:44.042 11. Noriyuki HAGA (Ducati 1098R), 1:44.098 12. Troy CORSER (BMW S1000 RR), 1:44.203 13. Max NEUKIRCHNER (Honda CBR1000RR), 1:44.272 14. Sylvain GUINTOLI (Suzuki GSX-R1000), 1:44.423 15. Tom SYKES (Kawasaki ZX-10R), 1:44.559 16. Lorenzo LANZI (Ducati 1098R), 1:44.851 17. Andrew PITT (BMW S1000 RR), 1:44.852 18. Luca SCASSA (Ducati 1098R), 1:45.368 19. Ruben XAUS (BMW S1000 RR), 1:45.406 20. Makoto TAMADA (BMW S1000 RR), 1:45.522 21. Sheridan MORAIS (Honda CBR1000RR), 1:45.933 22. Matteo BAIOCCO (Kawasaki ZX-10R), 1:46.096 23. Roger HAYDEN (Kawasaki ZX-10R), 1:46.657 24. Vittorio IANNUZZO (Honda CBR1000RR), 1:47.805 More, from a press release issued by Infront Motor Sports: Haslam leads after one day in the Portuguese sun Leon Haslam (Suzuki Alstare) made best use of a dry and steadily improving track surface to record the best qualifying time so far and take provisional pole with a 1’43.476. Late charger Michel Fabrizio (Ducati Xerox) was only 0.032 seconds back in second, with Phillip Island race winner Carlos Checa (Ducati Althea) third. Aprilia Alitalia rider Max Biaggi was a competitive fourth quickest on his latest spec of machine, with Yamaha Sterilgarda rider and double WSBK World Champion James Toseland fifth, having been the first rider to get under the 1’44 barrier. SBK rookie Cal Crutchlow (Sterilgarda Yamaha) was a fine sixth, and was one of seven riders to take their place at the top of the timesheets at some stage of the first qualifying session, before Haslam left his name on top. Shane Byrne (Althea Ducati) held off Jakub Smrz (Pata B&G Racing Ducati) for seventh. Aprilia Alitalia rider Leon Camier pushed his machine to ninth place, and yet another British rider, Jonathan Rea (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda) was once again the top Honda runner, tenth. Jonathan had suffered a high speed crash in the first untimed practice session, but got going again in the afternoon. Troy Corser took his BMW Motorrad Motorsport S1000RR to 12th, and Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team) posted a top Kawasaki ranking of 15th. His team-mate Chris Vermeulen elected not to ride in the qualifying session, to help his injured right knee heal up faster. A total of 14 riders were covered by a second today, with an even closer level of competition expected in the next qualifying session, to be held tomorrow morning. The fastest 20 riders will then make it into Superpole, on Saturday afternoon, to fight for their ultimate grid positions. 1.Haslam L. (GBR) Suzuki GSX-R1000 1’43.476; 2. Fabrizio M. (ITA) Ducati 1098R 1’43.508; 3. Checa C. (ESP) Ducati 1098R 1’43.645; 4. Biaggi M. (ITA) Aprilia RSV4 1000 F. 1’43.688; 5. Toseland J. (GBR) Yamaha YZF R1 1’43.735; 6. Crutchlow C. (GBR) Yamaha YZF R1 1’43.769; 7. Byrne S. (GBR) Ducati 1098R 1’43.881; 8. Smrz J. (CZE) Ducati 1098R 1’43.932; 9. Camier L. (GBR) Aprilia RSV4 1000 F.1’44.041; 10. Rea J. (GBR) Honda CBR1000RR 1’44.042; 11. Haga N. (JPN) Ducati 1098R 1’44.098; 12. Corser T. (AUS) BMW S1000 RR 1’44.203; 13. Neukirchner M. (GER) Honda CBR1000RR 1’44.272; 14. Guintoli S. (FRA) Suzuki GSX-R1000 1’44.423; 15. Sykes T. (GBR) Kawasaki ZX 10R 1’44.559; 16. Lanzi L. (ITA) Ducati 1098R 1’44.851 Leon Haslam: “It is all feeling good here even though we are not as quick as we were at the winter test. We did a lot of laps on the same tyre to get ready for the race and it is pretty satisfying to be fast on the first day.” Michel Fabrizio: “I only really got the chance to go for one quick lap time in the session but with a couple of more chances I think I could have gone faster. We worked well on the set-up today for the race and I am relaxed and confident that we will go even faster tomorrow.” Carlos Checa: “We worked in the morning session to find a good set-up and as soon as we used the softer tyre in the afternoon session we were something like one second faster. We are only losing some time in the final split so we are now working on how to make that up.” Supersport World Championship Laverty steps it up Eugene Laverty (Parkalgar Honda) moved up to the provisional pole position at his team’s home race, setting a best of 1’45.797. His nearest competitor is Michele Pirro (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda) and Michele’s team-mate Kenan Sofuoglu was third. Chaz Davies proved to be top Triumph ParkinGO BE1 rider – fourth – with the best Kawasaki under the control of Joan Lascorz (Kawasaki Motocard.com) in fifth place. I times: 1. Laverty E. (IRL) Honda CBR600RR 1’45.797; 2. Pirro M. (ITA) Honda CBR600RR 1’46.027; 3. Sofuoglu K. (TUR) Honda CBR600RR 1’46.116; 4. Davies C. (GBR) Triumph Daytona 675 1’46.281; 5. Lascorz J. (ESP) Kawasaki ZX-6R 1’46.484; 6. Praia M. (POR) Honda CBR600RR 1’46.725; 7. Foret F. (FRA) Kawasaki ZX-6R 1’46.759; 8. Salom D. (ESP)Triumph Daytona 675 1’46.760 Superstock 1000 FIM Cup Ayrton Badovini topped the first official timed session on his BMW Motorrad Italia machine, followed by Sylvain barrier in the Garnier Junior racing BMW. The unofficial session leader Maxime Berger (Ten Kate Race Junior) was third when it came to the first qualifying session, and a straight run of three French riders was completed by former European 600 Superstock champion, Loris Baz (MRS Racing Yamaha). Times: 1. Badovini A. (ITA) BMW S1000 RR 1’46.566; 2. Barrier S. (FRA) BMW S1000 RR 1’47.215; 3. Berger M. (FRA) Honda CBR1000RR 1’47.343; 4. Baz L. (FRA) Yamaha YZF R1 1’47.631; 5. Giugliano D. (ITA) Suzuki GSX-R 1000 1’47.701; 6. Petrucci D. (ITA) Kawasaki ZX 10R 1’47.703; 7. Antonelli A. (ITA) Honda CBR1000RR 1’47.834; 8. Mähr R. (AUT) Suzuki GSX-R 1000 K9 1’47.852 European Superstock 600 Championship Florian Marino (Ten Kate Junior Honda) upped the ante in the 600 Superstock class, leading the time sheets in the first qualifying session of the new season. Norwegian Frederik Karlsen (MTM Racing Yamaha) was a close second; Gauthier Duwelz (MTM Racing Team Yamaha) joined his team-mate in the upper reaches, going third. Times: 1. Marino F. (FRA) Honda CBR600RR 1’49.452; 2. Karlsen F. (NOR) Yamaha YZF R6 1’49.731; 3. Duwelz G. (BEL) Yamaha YZF R6 1’49.985; 4. Lombardi B. (ITA) Yamaha YZF R6 1’50.185; 5. Guarnoni J. (FRA) Yamaha YZF R6 1’50.243; 6. Lanusse R. (FRA) Yamaha YZF R6 1’50.447; 7. Calero Perez N. (ESP) Yamaha YZF R6 1’50.844; 8. Fanelli D. (ITA) Honda CBR600RR 1’50.918 More, from a press release issued by Althea Racing: A month after Carlos Checa’s fantastic victory at the first round of Phillip Island, the Althea Racing team today returned to the track, this time in Portimao, for the first day of qualifying of this, the second round of the World Superbike season. Today’s two sessions took place in warm, dry conditions. In the early afternoon’s free practice, both Althea riders worked to refine the set-up of their 1198 machines. Checa recorded the twelfth fastest time (1m45.071s) and Byrne the fourteenth (1m45.128s). In the afternoon’s qualifying both Checa (1m43.645) and Byrne (1m43.881s) significantly improved on the times set earlier and recorded the third and seventh fastest times respectively, with performances that auger well for tomorrow’s qualifying and Superpole sessions. Free practice : 1) Toseland (Yamaha) 2) Haslam (Suzuki) 3) Neukirchner (Honda)- 4) Biaggi (Aprilia) “¦”¦”¦ 12) Checa (Ducati) 13) Corser (BMW) 14) Byrne (Ducati) Qualifying practice : 1) Haslam (Suzuki) 2) Fabrizio (Ducati) 3) Checa (Ducati) 4) Biaggi (Aprilia) 5) Toseland (Yamaha) 6) Crutchlow (Yamaha) – 7) Byrne (Ducati) Carlos Checa : “This morning I used both my bikes and built up confidence with both the 1198 and with the track. In the afternoon we tried a different tyre solution and I was able to improve by more than a second. We worked hard on the set-up of my Ducati and I am quite happy with the work we’ve got done, even though I hope to improve further in the third split where I’m still having a few problems.” Shane Byrne : “I am very satisfied with how things went today. In the morning we worked a lot on the suspension and settings. It was important to do that this morning in free practice while we didn’t have the pressure of needing to do very fast times, and so were happy to get all that work out of the way so to speak. In the afternoon the bike performed much better thanks to our earlier work and with a softer tyre I registered some good lap times. I’m happy because compared to the practices in Australia, I am going much better and I’m feeling comfortable on the 1198. I hope to continue to do well for the rest of the weekend.” Genesio Bevilacqua General Manager : “I’m happy because Shakey has demonstrated that he is in strong physical shape and is not suffering any after effects from his crash in Phillip Island. He was able to work well with his team and the results are evident. I think that he is on the right track and he should be able to improve further tomorrow. Carlos needs to improve slightly in the third sector where he doesn’t yet have total confidence with the rear tyre. I am confident ahead of tomorrow and we hope to be up at the top of the timesheets.” More, from a press release issued by Team Suzuki News Service: Team Suzuki Alstare rider Leon Haslam led the way during first qualifying for the second round of the Superbike World Championship today at the Autodromo do Algarve in Portimao. The Briton posted a lap of 1:43.476, to finish ahead of Michel Fabrizio (Ducati), Carlos Checa (Ducati) and Max Biaggi (Aprilia), while team-mate Sylvain Guintoli ended the day in 14th, but is confident of significant improvement tomorrow Leon Haslam – 1st, 1:43.476: “It’s always good to be the fastest in qualifying, but it’s more important what we do in Superpole and on Sunday. We were successful during our tests here back in January and it’s good that we have done well again today. The track did not feel so grippy today – especially in first practice – but once everybody has put in more laps, that will improve and the times will come down. No big dramas today, just trying to find a good set-up for the bike and be in good shape when Superpole starts tomorrow.” Sylvain Guintoli – 14th, 1:44.423: “Even though the result doesn’t show it, for me today was a good first day of practice. We started off with one of my bikes using a set-up from the last race in Phillip Island and the other one with the set-up we used here during the tests in January. The Phillip Island set-up actually worked better here today, so that’s the one we will start working with tomorrow and improve. The grip level was not great today, but that’s probably because there’s not enough rubber down on the track after all the rain over the winter. I’m sure the lap times will fall as more rubber is laid down.” More, from a press release issued by Team Reitwagen BMW: Team Reitwagen BMW riders Andrew Pitt and Makoto Tamada ended the first day of practice and qualifying at Portimao with the 17th and 20th fastest laps, but were happy with the progress made throughout the day. Unlike all the other WSBK teams, who tested here in January Team Reitwagen BMW had no previous data to work with, so they had to start from scratch. So for Pitt to finish just over a second or so down on today’s fastest rider – Leon Haslam – was not so bad. Series leader Haslam posted a lap of 1:43.476, with Michel Fabrizio (Ducati) second and Carlos Checa (Ducati) third. Andrew Pitt – 17th, 1:44.852: “I think it’s been a pretty reasonable day really and I’m particularly happy with my improvement in the afternoon. After following a couple of riders around I realised that maybe I was riding the bike as if it was a 600 Supersport bike. So, I modified my riding style and immediately began to go quicker! We started with our set-up from our recent Jerez tests and made some changes and I think we would’ve gone quicker if the grip level had been better. The track needs more rubber down, after all the recent rains, and the grip will improve as more rubber goes down. We didn’t really test any tyres today, so I feel positive we’ll make good improvements tomorrow.” Makoto Tamada – 20th, 1:45.522: “Not so bad today and I’m happy because after practice and qualifying I feel fit – just like I used to when I was racing last season. We tried many different suspension settings today, made improvements and carried on in the right direction, but I’m sure that there’s more to come. We started with our set-up from Jerez, but soon found out that we needed to make many changes for this track. Of course, not having tested here like the other teams means that we started today with a disadvantage, but hopefully we will do a lot of good work tomorrow and catch them up.” More, from a press release issued by Yamaha: The hard work of the Yamaha Sterilgarda Team following the opening round last month in Phillip Island was clearly seen in today’s first Superbike sessions at the Portimao circuit in Portugal. Both James Toseland and Cal Crutchlow made the most of the ongoing set up developments to put in highly competitive times, improving on their Phillip Island performances. The first free practice session of the day gave the riders the opportunity to test out new electronic settings on their R1s. As the session progressed the improvements were clear as Toseland moved steadily up the times, taking the top spot with a 1’44.3 as the clock hit zero. Team mate Crutchlow was just over half a second behind in ninth having tested out some different tyres to Toseland during the session. The first qualifying session of the weekend saw both riders take turns at the top of the time sheet finding ever more speed as the grip levels increased. Intelligent tyre choices and a more effective electronics package saw both delivering consistently fast, competitive laps with the potential for more improvement in tomorrow’s second session and subsequent Superpole. The session drew to a close with Toseland in fifth, less than three tenths off provisional pole and team mate Crutchlow less than one tenth of a second behind in sixth. James Toseland, Yamaha Sterilgarda World Superbike Team (5th, 1’43.735) “We’ve made some really good progress with our testing last week in Misano, we’ve gone in the direction we wanted to with the engine and electronics. We had a lot to try today, and we’ve gone in a really positive direction for the race set up with tyre life and things like that. We’ve got a little bit more to do but I’m really pleased with the work Frankie and the team have done since Australia to here so a massive thank you to the team and hopefully we can keep it going in the top five now.” Cal Crutchlow, Yamaha Sterilgarda World Superbike Team (6th, 1’43.769) “I’m a lot happier today. We have definitely made improvements from Australia and we’ve also come back to a track with lots of grip. As the grip levels of the track improved over the sessions so have we. We still need to work on our bike to improve on really slippery track conditions and optimize our settings and performance. Tyre life is looking better, and there was no chatter here so that’s that problem cured. We intend to keep working on our electronics and progress even further tomorrow.” Massimo Meregalli, Yamaha Sterilgarda World Superbike Team Manager “it seems that the work we’ve done since Australia is working well. To see where both riders are is very encouraging. This gives us real satisfaction. I think we’ve worked very well with our tyre choice and we’re pretty happy with how they are working. Tomorrow we’ll work again on the set up to see which will tyres we’ll choose for the distance. For today we are satisfied.” More, from a press release issued by Team PATA B&G Racing: Jakub Smrz finished eighth the first qualifying session of round 2, only half a second behind the provisional pole position. Marco Borciani and Mirco Guandalini were both satisfied with the result. “We had a slight disadvantage on this track due to the fact that we didn’t do the Infront Motorsports test back in January. We did however use the data we had gathered, and we found the right base setup right away. We’ll have to work on that nonetheless but we’re confident for tomorrow and hopefully we’ll capture a good starting position on the grid”. Lorenzo Baroni made a positive debut for Pata B&G Racing in the seat of the Ducati 1198 Superstock taking tenth provisional place after finding a good feeling with the bike. “Given the fact that Lorenzo tested just for a few days in the preseason, we did really well. We still have to work on the bike setup, but we’ve got what it takes to be competitive in Superstock as well”, Mirco Guandalini and Marco Borciani said. JAKUB SMRZ | Ducati 1098R | 8° classificato in 1’43.932: “I’m happy with what we did today. We were the fastest of the Ducatis this morning, but we did have some clutch issues which the team solved for the afternoon session. Despite finishing in the top 10, we can still improve. We’ll have to get more grip on the back since we’re having some wheeling problems when exiting the corners. However, I’m sure we’ll be ready for tomorrow’s Superpole when hopefully I’ll get a good starting position”. More, from a press release issued by Xerox Ducati: FABRIZIO RESERVES A PROVISIONAL SPOT ON THE GRID FOR SUNDAY’S RACES AT PORTIMAO Portimao (Portugal), Friday 26th March : The second of thirteen World Superbike rounds (and the first European appointment) got underway this afternoon at the Autódromo Internacional de Algarve, and Ducati Xerox’s Michel Fabrizio immediately made his mark, when he concluded the first qualifying session of the weekend in second position, sandwiched between Suzuki’s Haslam and Checa on Althea Racing’s privateer Ducati 1198. Conditions at the Portuguese track were, as expected, significantly better than those faced here by the team during January’s testing sessions and with an air temperature of around 22°C, both Ducati Xerox riders Noriyuki Haga and Michel Fabrizio were able to get straight to work in the early afternoon’s first free practice session. Neither rider experienced problems and by the end of the 60-minute practice Michel was in eighth position and Noriyuki in eleventh, with many of the top ten riders having projected themselves to the top half of the timesheets by making a single flying lap in the final minutes of the session. Later in the afternoon, and in similar conditions, the Superbikes were back on track for first qualifying and again positive progress was made by the Ducati Xerox squad. Michel improved his lap times throughout the session before making his fastest lap in the closing minutes, concluding today with a provisional place on the front row of the grid. Noriyuki meanwhile worked with his technicians to refine the set-up of his 1198, and he also completed a mini long-run of eleven laps in which durability of the chosen tyre solution was confirmed as being fairly good. Michel Fabrizio 1m43.5s “So today it’s Haslam, me and Checa at the top but the Yamahas of Toseland and Crutchlow seem very strong too, as I’ve said before we have a long season ahead of us! Anyway, I’m fairly happy and haven’t had any real problems today even though I only really made that one fast lap right at the end. We need to continue with the work tomorrow, the important thing is to find good race pace but I’m confident and after today we’re feeling positive I would say.” Noriyuki Haga 1m44.0s “We’ve got a lot done today and have found a good rear tyre solution, though tomorrow we’ll try a different front tyre and suspension setting. I think if we find better front feeling, that should provide me with better turning, which was the thing that was lacking today; a few of the tighter corners were giving me problems. I also tried a mini long-run and the tyre didn’t seem bad but I need to improve the lap-times, so we’ll be working towards that tomorrow.” More, from a press release issued by Troy Corser’s publicist: TROY SATISFIED WITH FIRST DAY Troy ended the first day of practice and qualifying at Portimao with the 14th quickest time, but is confident of improvement tomorrow. The grip level of the track was not so good today, because of all the rain over winter, but as the day wore on and and more rubber was put down, it improved and all the signs are that it will get even better tomorrow. Series leader Leon Haslam (Suzuki) topped the standings after first qualifying, with Michel Fabrizio (Ducati) second and Carlos Checa(Ducati) third. Troy -12th, 1:44.203 My right shoulder was a bit painful today and that affected my riding on the bike, but the BMW doctor has done a lot of physiotherapy on it and I’m sure it’ll not be a problem come raceday. All the recent rain has cleaned the track and so the grip level was not so good today. But, as more rubber was laid down, the grip level began to improve and I’m sure it will get better tomorrow. The balance of the bike didn’t feel right this morning, so we made some changes and the afternoon session was definitely better. The engine this afternoon had a lot more push (more than last year), so we had to alter the gearing to suit the extra torque. We also had to alter the engine braking, but I think we are going in the right direction and we’ve got plenty of ideas for tomorrow. I was able to ride more consistently in the afternoon and would’ve gone faster if the grip level had been better. But, at the end of the day, I felt strong and fit and I’m looking forward to tomorrow. More, from a press release issued by Aprilia: THE PORTIMAO ROUND STARTS OFF WELL FOR THE APRILIA ALITALIA RACING TEAM One month after the first race of the season, the Superbike circus returns to Europe with the Portuguese round at Portimao. The excellent weather conditions and the track allowed drivers and their teams to work under optimum conditions, with Leon Haslam registering the top qualifying time of 1:43:476. Max Biaggi finished in fourth place with a time of 1:43:688, just 0:212 behind the English driver on his Suzuki. Following the problems encountered at Phillip Island, the Roman driver was quite fast from the outset at the practice rounds that were held during the morning as he concentrated on his RSV4’s alignment. It was ninth place for Leon Camier with a time of 1:44:041, with a difference of 0:565 with respect to his fellow countryman Haslam. The young British driver, who had his second race here last year with the 5-stroke 4 cylinder Aprilia achieving an excellent sixth place result in Race 1, tried out a different alignment on his RSV4 with respect to the winter tests. “The bike is the same one that I used at Phillip Island,” said Biaggi. “No updates were made, but the situation has improved because the problems with vibrations and skipping that we had in Australia are much less noticeable. We tried a new setup with the suspension, which was studied at home by our technicians in the Racing Department, but it didn’t work, so tomorrow we’ll go back to the set-up that we’re familiar with in order to continue to progress.” “We used the same suspension here as we did in the last race,” said Camier. “It was very different from the one used for the tests we did here and we got some results, even if we didn’t have any reference data. The pace of the race is good, even though I still have to find the single lap. The suspension still needs a lot of work, but I’m happy with what’s been done up to this point, considering that the others aren’t far behind.”