Marco Melandri and Eugene Laverty took to the British track at Silverstone today where they encountered overcast skies and air temperatures of 19 degrees. Both riders got down to business in this morning’s free practice, familiarizing themselves with the long and historic track on their YZF-R1s
Eugene Laverty made improvements on his R1 set-up as the afternoon progressed to complete today’s first qualifying session in eighth place, just five tenths of a second off Checa at the top of time sheets and less than two tenths from Berger in second. The Northern Irishman encountered some difficulties in the morning’s free practice session, struggling turning in corners, a similar issue to that experienced in Brno. After some adjustments to the chassis set-up to improve the geometry of his machine, the 25 year old managed to improve his times and feel more confident ahead of his home race on Sunday.
Eugene Laverty
Yamaha World Superbike Team – 8th, 2’06.037
“Today was a solid first day at Silverstone. It was very close with the top 12 riders all under a second. Carlos was fast and has got the edge on everyone at the moment. I’m contempt with day one here. We are losing time on two sections of the track, having difficulty with changes of direction. We need to improve on that but we seem to know what we have to do resolve it and I should then be able to make a jump to the front. I’m looking forward to tomorrow.”
Marco Melandri
Yamaha World Superbike Team – 14th, 2’06.697
“Today was a very difficult first day. I was hoping to do a lot better and didn’t expect today’s outcome. I just never had a good feeling with the bike. I struggled from a severe lack of grip and the bike just didn’t go where I wanted it to. We’ve a lot of work to do and I hope we can improve this for tomorrow’s second qualifying. The weather will hopefully be a bit warmer and that should also help the situation.”
Andrea Dosoli – Yamaha World Superbike Team Manager
“Today was a pretty tough first day for both riders. We will have to work hard this evening to find a better chassis set up for tomorrow’s second qualifying session. Eugene worked on the geometry of the bike in this morning’s free practice session and the first part of the qualifying session and was quite satisfied with the solution. His lap times are quite good, especially considering Checa is in the lead just five tenths ahead so it’s very close. There are a few things that need improving to make up that time and in order to be at the top of the time sheets. Marco is struggling with a lack of grip on both the front and rear of the bike. He tried various front and rear set ups but he didn’t find a good solution. He needs to regain confidence for tomorrow’s second qualifying and Superpole. The team will work hard this evening to find a solution.”
2011 World Superbike United Kingdom
Silverstone 29/07/2011
1 Carlos Checa Ducati ESP 2’05.477
2 Maxime Berger Ducati FRA 2’05.870
3 Tom Sykes Kawasaki GBR 2’05.899
4 Leon Camier Aprilia GBR 2’05.937
5 Russel Holland Honda AUS 2’05.974
6 Michel Fabrizio Suzuki ITA 2’06.023
7 Jakub Smrz Ducati CZE 2’06.029
8 Eugene Laverty Yamaha GBR 2’06.037
9 Max Biaggi Aprilia ITA 2’06.044
10 Leon Haslam BMW GBR 2’06.116
11 Sylvain Guintoli Ducati FRA 2’06.176
12 James Toseland BMW GBR 2’06.316
13 Ayrton Badovini BMW ITA 2’06.647
14 Marco Melandri Yamaha ITA 2’06.697
15 Alexander Lowes Honda GBR 2’06.740
Circuit Length:
5900
Weather:
Overcast
Lap Record:
2’05.259
(Cal Crutchlow, 1/1/2010)
Fastest Lap Ever:
2’04.091
(Cal Crutchlow, 5/27/2010)
Last Years Winner:
Cal Crutchlow
Scassa Back on Form at Silverstone
Yamaha ParkinGO riders Luca Scassa and Chaz Davies got straight down to business today at Silverstone and completed the first qualifying session in third and tenth places respectively. Both riders made the most of the first day at the long British track to work through various set-ups, in search of a good feeling on their R6s ahead of Sunday’s race day.
Luca Scassa was back on top form today, following less than perfect results in the previous two consecutive rounds. The Italian impressed on the fast flowing track, finishing up the first qualifying session in third place, with just four tenths of a second behind the British rider, Gino Rea at the top of the time sheets and with a provisional front row position on Sunday’s grid. Teammate Chaz Davies spent the first day at Silverstone trying to find a good feeling on his machine and making adjustments to his chassis set up. The British rider is confident that he made improvements in the right direction, ahead of tomorrow’s second qualifying session.
Luca Scassa
Yamaha ParkinGO Team – 3rd, 2’09.804
“We worked hard on my bike and made some major changes before coming to Silverstone. We took all the data from the beginning of the season in Australia and tried to analyze several aspects; the set-up, my input, the tyres etc., in order to discover what the problem was in the last few rounds. We were strong in colder conditions but struggled in the heat. We obviously succeeded in making progress as the bike is going very well. We still need to do some minor changes especially to the front, but I’m confident for tomorrow. Finally, I feel like I’m riding my bike again and it feels good!”
Chaz Davies
Yamaha ParkinGO Team – 10th, 2’11.217
“It wasn’t exactly a very successful session today. I didn’t get the times I would have hoped for but I’m not too concerned. We tried a few different set-ups to get the feel of them, but nothing was quite right. We have some adjustments to do before tomorrow but I’m pretty confident that we know what to do. I also tried the soft tyres towards the end of the session and I expected to improve on my lap times but that wasn’t the case. Tomorrow is another day and I’m sure things will go much better.”
2011 World Supersport United Kingdom
Silverstone 29/07/2011
1 Gino Rea Honda GBR 2’09.362
2 Sam Lowes Honda GBR 2’09.590
3 Luca Scassa Yamaha ITA 2’09.804
4 Fabien Foret Honda FRA 2’10.004
5 Robbin Harms Honda DNK 2’10.414
6 Roberto Tamburini Yamaha ITA 2’10.789
7 James Ellison Honda GBR 2’10.951
8 David Salom Kawasaki ESP 2’10.972
9 Florian Marino Honda FRA 2’11.181
10 Chaz Davies Yamaha GBR 2’11.217
11 Massimo Roccoli Kawasaki ITA 2’11.285
12 Balazs Nemeth Honda HUN 2’11.323
13 Alexander Lundh Honda SWE 2’11.544
14 Imre Toth Honda HUN 2’11.567
15 Broc Parkes Kawasaki AUS 2’11.634
23 Luca Marconi Yamaha ITA 2’13.209
29 Yves Polzer Yamaha AUT 2’18.477
30 Oleg Pozdneev Yamaha RUS 2’18.756
31 Eduard Blokhin Yamaha RUS 2’18.945
Circuit Length:
5900
Weather:
Overcast
Lap Record:
2’08.717
(Kenan Sofuoglu, 1/1/2010)
Fastest Lap Ever:
2’08.717
(Kenan Sofuoglu, 5/27/2010)
