Misano (Italy), Friday 25th June: Fabrizio (Ducati Xerox) has shown that he’s more than ready for the eighth World Superbike round at the Misano World Circuit, having demonstrated a fast pace before registering the fourth fastest time in first qualifying today.
In the opening free practice session, and in conditions typical of the Misano World Circuit in June (28°C air, 40°C track), the Ducati Xerox riders Michel Fabrizio and Noriyuki Haga made a determined start, with the Roman rider in particular recording a string of consistently fast laps throughout the session. After this first hour on track, and despite a lack of grip through certain sections including the Quercia corner where new asphalt has recently been laid, Fabrizio closed in second position with Haga just four tenths of a second behind in sixth place.
Later in the afternoon, and on hotter tarmac, Michel continued to lap fast, ducking under 1m37 already in the early stages of the session. The afternoon’s work involved setting up the suspension for the softer of the two new rear tyre solutions that Pirelli have brought to the track. The Roman rider closed in fourth position, just three tenths of a second behind Crutchlow (Yamaha), the fastest rider of the day. Noriyuki and his technicians concentrated on the setting of the Japanese rider’s machine, trying different combinations in order to improve traction. After a rather difficult session, Haga finished the day in thirteenth position but remains confident that he will be able to improve tomorrow.
Michel Fabrizio 1m36.5
“We’ve already found a good pace and the feeling I have with the bike isn’t bad but we need to work more on the tyre wear because I did some fast laps today but the level of grip was dropping after only a few laps. We’ll see tomorrow but I’m sure we can improve further if we resolve that problem.”
Noriyuki Haga 1m37.4
“We started from the setting that I finished up with at the recent Misano tests, but the feeling I had today was different. Tomorrow we’ll try to combine my setting with what Troy was using and we’ll see if that works. The Quercia corner was also tricky for me today as they’ve put down new tarmac and I didn’t have enough grip there. The tyres haven’t convinced me today but tomorrow I’ll go out on our “usual” tyre, which was the one which worked best for me at the recent tests. Basically, I hope to improve a lot tomorrow.”
TIMES: 1. Crutchlow (Yamaha) 1m36.2; 2. Corser (BMW) 1m36.3; 3. Haslam (Suzuki) 1m36.3; 4. Fabrizio (Ducati Xerox) 1m36.5; 5. Checa (Ducati) 1m36.7; 6. Biaggi (Aprilia) 1m36.7; 7. Byrne (Ducati) 1m36.8; 8. Scassa (Ducati) 1m36.9…. 13. Haga (Ducati Xerox) 1m37.4
