FIM Supersport World Championship Portimao, Portugal October 14 Qualifying Session One Results (all on Pirelli tires): 1. David SALOM, Spain (Kawasaki ZX-6R), 1:46.195 2. Luca SCASSA, Italy (Yamaha YZF-R6), 1:46.201 3. Sam LOWES, Great Britain (Honda CBR600RR), 1:46.208 4. Chaz DAVIES, Great Britain (Yamaha YZF-R6), 1:46.390 5. Florian MARINO, France (Honda CBR600RR), 1:46.772 6. Broc PARKES, Australia (Kawasaki ZX-6R), 1:46.788 7. Gino REA, Great Britain (Honda CBR600RR), 1:46.830 8. Fabien FORET, France (Honda CBR600RR), 1:46.974 9. Miguel PRAIA, Portugal (Honda CBR600RR), 1:46.987 10. James ELLISON, Great Britain (Honda CBR600RR), 1:47.218 More, from a press release issued by Parkalgar Honda: Lowes looking good in Portuguese sunshine PARKALGAR HONDA’S Sam Lowes is third on the provisional front row for Sunday’s 12thand final round of the World Supersport Championship at his home Parkalgar circuit near Portimao in Portugal. In scorching sunshine home favourite Miguel Praia is a strong ninth on the provisional grid and close to the riders in front. There are more practice and qualifying sessions tomorrow before the race takes place at 1330GMT on Sunday 16th October at what is widely recognised as one of the best race tracks in the world. Sam: “On my fast lap I was held up very slightly by some slower riders at turn 10 and that maybe cost us a little time. There is a lot more to come from me than just that. I am still perfecting my lines round the track and will follow Miguel in the morning to get a few more pointers as he knows the track well. I will be concentrating on the final corner and exit on to the straight and there is a lot of time to be gained. The weather is brilliant, we are on the pace and know there is much more speed to come. It’s a great weekend and I can’t thank the Portuguese fans enough for their support, they are great!” Miguel: “We have been approaching today calmly and methodically and made some very good progress. We have tried tyres and some changes to the chassis set-up and ended qualification going in a good direction that we can build on tomorrow. The pressure I anticipated from racing at home is turning into support and helping me, I am confident and determined to put on a good show for all my Portuguese fans, please come and show me and Sam that support on Sunday, it will help us.” Simon Buckmaster, Parkalgar Honda Team Manager: “It’s been a very good day for Parkalgar Honda at our home track. Sam is doing a great job and both he and the team know that there is more to come and what to do to achieve it. “Miguel is riding maturely and using all the pressure effectively to improve his performance. He is riding extremely well and the target is the second row tomorrow, which would set him up with a fantastic chance to get his season’s best result in front of his home crowd – something we all want to achieve.” More, from a press release issued by Bogdanka PTR Honda: Top 10 for confident Ellison BOGDANKA PTR HONDA’S James Ellison is provisonally 10th on the grid for Sunday’s 12th and final round of the World Supersport Championship at the superb Parkalgar circuit near Portimao in Portugal – but knows what needs to be done to fight for the first two rows. Pawel Szkopek on the second Bogdanka PTR Honda suffered a crash in qualifying but remounted to finish 21st. There are more practice and qualifying sessions tomorrow before the race takes place at 1330GMT on Sunday 16th October at what is widely recognised as one of the best race tracks in the world. James: “We have a good base pace but when we tried a few things with the bike to improve we didn’t make go in the right direction. The good news is that we know what we need to do – I want more confidence in the front end entering corners. Once I get that we will see what can be achieved tomorrow.” Pawel: “I suffered a crash at the hairpin but I am OK. I am alright with 21st place but it could have been better without the crash. We have tried different tyres and know what is working and doesn’t in the heat so we will start tomorrow with a decent understanding and start to work on the bike and my riding to improve.” Simon Buckmaster, Bogdanka PTR Honda Team Manager: “James is riding well and we fully expect him to be on the pace to attack the first two rows in final qualifying. He remains a potential race winner and is very focused on what needs to be done. “Pawel has made his job harder by crashing again but if he takes a calm approach to tomorrow he can still qualify and possibly score points in the race on Sunday – he has all the team support as we would like to see him improve on the Polish record that he set earlier in the season of 12th as a best ever in a World Championship event.” More, from a press release issued by Yamaha ParkinGO Team: Chaz Davies and Luca Scassa want to finish the season on the top. After the celebrations for the world championship, both have come back to work this weekend looking for the perfect geometry for Sunday’s race on a circuit where the main characteristics are the rollercoaster shape and quick corners. At the end of the 1st timed session Scassa has finished in second place, meanwhile Davies has done the fourth provisional position for the starting grid. Both have used every minute to prepare the bike for tomorrow’s qualifying where the track will have more grip and the times will probably improve. Chaz Davies – Yamaha YZF R6 #9 – “In both sessions of today even though there wasn’t too much grip, we have done a good job, trying all different tires and searching a good set up. We have to improve still a little on the front of the bike where I don’t have too much feeling, but we are on the right path and I am sure tomorrow It will be better.” Luca Scassa – Yamaha YZF R6 #7 – “We have followed a different path from this morning where I had no grip at all. The different solution we tried gave me a really good feeling allowing me to get a good time at the end of the session this afternoon. We have to improve still a few things but I am confident for tomorrow’s final qualifying.” More, from a press release issued by Ten Kate Honda: Top ten for Hannspree riders at Portimao Hannspree Ten Kate Honda rider Florian Marino was fifth fastest in today’s opening qualifying session and on the provisional second row for Sunday’s final 2011 World Supersport championship race at Portimao in Portugal. In warm sunshine at the undulating 4.592km circuit, provisional pole position was taken by Spain’s David Salom as Marino’s team-mate and fellow Frenchman Fabien Foret took the final provisional second row slot with the eighth fastest time. Florian Marino P5 1m46.772s Today was a bit difficult and I wasn’t riding so well in the first session and didn’t do enough laps. We found some good solutions this afternoon but I still had some stability problems under braking, especially in the downhill sections. Overall, it was so bad but we have something to work on for tomorrow and we’ll see how it goes then. Fabien Foret &nd ash; P8 1m46.974s It was bad and good today. Bad because I didn’t qualify in the position I expected and good because we indentified the issue this afternoon, which is a problem that I’ve had previously. We had the problem until five minutes before the end of the session and we made a big change to the bike. After that, I had only a couple of laps to find out that it was a really good step forward. So I need a few more laps tomorrow to fine tune it a little more, but I am confident of improving things with this change. Ronald ten Kate team manager We were quite far from a good setting today but luckily we made a breakthrough and a big step forward towards the end of qualifying. Tomorrow will be about fine tuning so there is still some work to do, but I think we can realistically aim for front row starts for both riders.