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.
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.
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).
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.
Having already tested at Portimao earlier this year in often wet and wintry conditions, the Ducati Xerox squad now returns to the Algarve once more, for what they hope will prove to be a winning race weekend for both championship contenders Noriyuki Haga and Michel Fabrizio.
Michel Fabrizio is currently second in the championship, and won a race at Portimao last year. “We made a good start to the championship a few weeks ago at Phillip Island and took some good points. It’s a pity I lost out on the Race 1 win but the racing was great fun; it sure was a close finish! I’m in second position in the standings which isn’t bad and now we move to Portimao, another track that I really enjoy racing, and I’ll be looking for race wins; I need to consolidate the strong start that we’ve made because this year will inevitably a very long and hard-fought competition.”
For Noriyuki Haga memories of losing the championship at the final round of the year at Portimao in 2009 will be the first hurdle to overcome as practice starts on Friday in Portugal. But he also knows that only a warm-up injury held him back at Phillip island in round one this year, and Portimao will hopefully be more of a level playing field. “I had a few problems during the races at Phillip Island as I had crashed that morning in warm-up, hurting my right arm and lower back. The injuries made it hard for me to keep pace with Michel, Checa and Haslam and so I was fairly happy with my results and the points gained. Now I’m feeling a lot better and am looking ahead to the coming weekend – I haven’t had the best luck at the track over the last two years, so it’s not my favourite but we hope to score two good results.”
The official BMW Motorrad Motorsport team had some up and down experiences during the opening round of the season, but the team is now working on getting both riders and their machines ready for the first European-based round of the season, at Portimao.
Davide Tardozzi, team manager for the German-based squad, is currently in Spain with the test team, at Valencia, and met with factory rider Ruben Xaus recently.
Ruben was ruled out of the Australian races after the effects of four practice crashes on his mind and body, but Tardozzi confirmed that he is on course for a return at Portimao. “The main issue at this moment is to have Ruben on form in Portimao,” confirmed Tardozzi, who has been Xaus’s team manager in the past, as well as in the BMW set-up in 2010. “We are working on that, it is my priority so far. Ruben is not so bad so far. I am in Spain now and I spoke to him here. I think Ruben still thinks he can be fast and do well, and I have seen he is very well in these two days, so I think he will be ready for Portimao.”
The BMW S1000RR will have more technical updates in Portugal but for Tardozzi improvements must still come gradually, to ensure a more consistent degree of competitiveness. “On the technical side we will have another step on the bike,” said Tardozzi. “We are making progress step by step, not looking for a huge step. You can’t pass from seventh to first immediately; you first have to be consistently close to the top guys. Houses are built stone-by-stone.”
The historic and evocative venue of Silverstone is the host circuit for the British round of the Superbike World Championship this year, between July 30 and August 1.
A vast programme of modernization and upgrading is currently being carried out, with the majority of the work set for completion by the end of March. The final result will be a facility with many key improvements from the one last used by SBK racing in 2007, for spectators and participants alike.
Richard Phillips, Managing Director of Silverstone Circuits Limited, said in a recent press release, “Work on the circuit and venue is on schedule. The team has been working around the clock, through some pretty terrible weather conditions, to make sure the circuit is ready on time. The track works at Brooklands and Woodcote are now complete, including the new run-off area for the fast entry into Pits Straight, while the major new development – the new section of circuit from Abbey, up to the Arena Complex and round to the National Straight – is also coming along nicely. There is still a considerable amount of work going on at Silverstone, including the new elevated banks and spectator viewing areas, which will continue beyond March. Conference and hospitality buildings are also being built on the new Stowe Complex.”
The whole SBK community is excited to be heading back to one of the great names in racing, particularly as the layout will feature some existing sections and some new parts which have been specifically designed to improve the spectacle for motorcycle events in general.
