Q-1, Portimao – Wordl SBK
- From: 'the Wire' | Published: March 26th, 2010 - 4:27 pm
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 tire 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 tire solution, though tomorrow we’ll try a different front tire 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 tire didn’t seem bad but I need to improve the lap-times, so we’ll be working towards that tomorrow.”
Results: 1. Haslam (Suzuki)1m43.4s; 2. Fabrizio (Ducati Xerox) 1m43.5s 3. Checa (Ducati) 1m43.6s; 4. Biaggi (Aprilia) 1m43.6s; 5. Toseland (Yamaha) 1m43.7s; 6. Crutchlow(Yamaha) 1m43.7s; 7. Byrne (Ducati) 1m43.8s; 8. Smrz (Ducati) 1m43.9s…. 11. Haga (Ducati Xerox) 1m44.0s
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 tires 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 tire 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 tire 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. tire 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 tire choice and we’re pretty happy with how they are working. Tomorrow we’ll work again on the set up to see which will tires we’ll choose for the distance. For today we are satisfied.”
Hannspree Ten Kate Honda’s Jonathan Rea and Max Neukirchner found it tough going in today’s opening qualifying session for round two of the 2010 World Superbike championship at Portimao in Portugal.
For Rea, in particular, the day brought its own ups and downs in the form of a fast crash at Portimao’s final turn during the morning’s opening free practice session. Rea, 23, was seventh fastest at the end of that session but slipped to tenth in this afternoon’s timed practice.
After disappointing results from the opening round in Australia a month ago, Max Neukirchner was happy to finish free practice with the third fastest time. However, changes to his rear shock did not result in fast enough times this afternoon, and the 26-year-old German slipped to a provisional 13th fastest.
Jonathan Rea – P10 1’44.042s
We’ve been through the data in a lot of detail and I now know why the crash happened this morning. It was unusual, but I was probably riding within my own comfort zone this afternoon as a result. I need to get back on the top of that wave I was riding here in the test in January so I’ll come back tomorrow morning more aggressive and ready to go again. I’m only 0.5s off and I’m back in tenth and I know that our pace is OK on the race tyre. I just need to work on that one lap to get a good qualifying position.
Max Neukirchner – P13 1’44.272s
We used a tyre for a long time this afternoon to try to understand the changes that we’ve made to the bike since the test here. Towards the end of the session, we changed the rear shock for one with a softer spring and some different internal settings but I wasn’t able to hold a line through the corners. We need to look at the data later on to find out exactly what was the problem, but generally, I’m feeling good on the bike and quite comfortable. I’m confident that better times will come tomorrow.
Ronald ten Kate – team manager
While today’s provisional qualifying results don’t look so good on the timing screens or on paper, Jonathan is not so far off and we are confident that he will bounce back tomorrow with his characteristic aggression and self-confidence. With Max we are also definitely moving in the right direction so we’ll work hard tonight to make sure that both riders are in a position to close the relatively small gap to the front.
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.
Troy Corser -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. See ya, – Troy
