Yamaha World Superbike Team riders Marco Melandri and Eugene Laverty delivered impressive performances in sweltering sunshine in Brno today to secure two front row positions on tomorrow’s starting grid.
Melandri kept his cool on the hot track to comfortably complete Superpole one in first place on a race tyre while team-mate Laverty, qualified for the second session in ninth place. Both riders switched to qualifiers for the Second Superpole to complete the heat with Laverty in second place and Melandri in fourth before being bumped down a position in the dying seconds and consequently finishing up third and sixth. The final heat saw the Yamaha World superbike riders immediately produce a flying lap to secure two front row positions on the starting grid of the historical Brno Automotodrom. Melandri will start tomorrow’s two races from second place, while Laverty is in fourth. The Italian also registered the top speed in all three Superpole sessions todays, reaching an impressive high of 295.9 Km/h on his Yamaha R1 machine
This morning’s second qualifying session saw Melandri completing a series of laps, focusing on tyre wear ahead of tomorrow’s races with the hope the threatened rain storms hold off. Team-mate Laverty tried some new changes to his bike’s chassis set-up. Failing to improve on yesterday’s performance, the Irishman returned to the original base set-up and completed the afternoon’s free Practice session topping the time sheets for the first time in his World Superbike rookie year.
Melandri Melandri
Yamaha World Superbike Team – 2nd, 1’58.580
“It was a good day for me, my Yamaha worked very well. My team has done a great job, working hard and step by step making improvements, so thanks a lot to them! We knew the qualifying would be difficult so I’m really happy with my second place. It’s not pole position but that’s not important for me. The main thing is to be on the front row. The weather conditions tomorrow will make it interesting. We are expecting rain so anything can happen. But also if it’s hot like today the race will be difficult too, as it won’t be easy to keep the pace.”
Eugene Laverty
Yamaha World Superbike Team – 4th, 1’59.055
“This morning we tried something which didn’t work very well, so we had to take a step backwards. In the free practice session we made progress in the right direction and I topped the times for the first time this year, which I am quite pleased with. Superpole went smoothly. All I wanted was a front row for two good races tomorrow so that’s what I’m hoping for. A good starting place on the grid is very important in order to be in a position to fight for a win. That’s what I’m aiming for, but I’d be happy with a podium!”
Andrea Dosoli – Yamaha World Superbike Team Manager
“A front row start for both riders shows how the teams have worked hard and Marco and Eugene are both very competitive. They were fast on the qualifiers but also on the race tyres and this is important. Marco improved the chassis set up and the gearbox this morning while Eugene made progress on the front end. The times he put in during the free practice prove how strong he can be tomorrow. We expect very different weather conditions tomorrow so it will be difficult for everyone to choose the suitable tyres. I am confident that we can be strong no matter what the weather is like.”
2011 World Superbike Czech Republic
Brno 09/07/2011
1 Max Biaggi Aprilia ITA 1’58.580
2 Marco Melandri Yamaha ITA 1’58.801
3 Carlos Checa Ducati ESP 1’58.908
4 Eugene Laverty Yamaha GBR 1’59.055
5 Jakub Smrz Ducati CZE 1’59.541
6 Michel Fabrizio Suzuki ITA 1’59.908
7 Leon Camier Aprilia GBR 1’59.925
8 Tom Sykes Kawasaki GBR 2’00.303
9 Ayrton Badovini BMW ITA 1’59.684
10 Sylvain Guintoli Ducati FRA 1’59.800
11 Mark Aitchison Kawasaki AUS 2’00.362
12 Maxime Berger Ducati FRA 2’01.011
13 Leon Haslam BMW GBR 2’00.252
14 Noriyuki Haga Aprilia JPN 2’00.374
15 Lorenzo Lanzi BMW ITA 2’00.619
Circuit Length:
5403
Weather:
Very Hot
Lap Record:
1’59.291
(Cal Crutchlow, 1/1/2010)
Fastest Lap Ever:
1’58.018
(Cal Crutchlow, 7/11/2010)
Last Years Winner:
Max Biaggi
Qualifying 1 & Qualifying 2
I II
1 Carlos Checa Ducati ESP 1’59.322 2’00.296
2 Jakub Smrz Ducati CZE 1’59.585 2’00.424
3 Marco Melandri Yamaha ITA 1’59.653 2’00.262
4 Max Biaggi Aprilia ITA 1’59.940 1’59.668
5 Michel Fabrizio Suzuki ITA 2’00.196 1’59.905
6 Eugene Laverty Yamaha GBR 1’59.906 2’00.562
7 Noriyuki Haga Aprilia JPN 2’00.494 1’59.946
8 Tom Sykes Kawasaki GBR 2’00.154 2’00.199
9 Leon Haslam BMW GBR 2’00.164 2’00.531
10 Leon Camier Aprilia GBR 2’00.440 2’00.294
11 Sylvain Guintoli Ducati FRA 2’00.310 2’00.772
12 Ayrton Badovini BMW ITA 2’00.348 2’00.370
13 Maxime Berger Ducati FRA 2’00.463 2’00.439
14 Matteo Baiocco Kawasaki ITA 2’00.970 2’00.466
15 Lorenzo Lanzi BMW ITA 2’00.580 2’01.583
Difficult Qualifying for Yamaha ParkinGO in hot conditions in Brno
Yamaha ParkinGo riders Chaz Davies and Luca Scassa completed the second qualifying session in very hot conditions today in Brno, taking them to tomorrow’s race day where they will be sitting in seventh and 12th place on the starting gird.
Today was a less than perfect day for the Yamaha ParkinGO team on the historical Brno circuit. Chaz Davies continued to struggle from chatter issues which he also experienced in yesterday’s first qualifying. Extremely hot track conditions with temperatures reaching 51 degrees did not improve the situation. The unexpected heat of the asphalt rendered the tyre performance unpredictable and both Davies and Scassa suffered from a lack of grip and were unable to complete a long run. Luca Scassa spent the morning’s free practice session in search of a suitable chassis set up for his R6 machine. Despite the extreme conditions, the Italian was one of few riders to proceed to improve on yesterday’s times, in this afternoon’s second qualifying.
Chaz Davies
Yamaha ParkinGo Team – 7th, 2’04.610
“I expected to make a big improvement this afternoon. We put in with a softer tyre, but when I went around the first corner, I lost the rear so aside from the ongoing chatter, I don’t know if I also had a bad tyre or just extremely bad grip. I couldn’t seem to get a good lap in. Changes we made which we expected would improve performance, just didn’t. We need to look harder, find a solution and make improvements in tomorrow morning’s session. I’m not too concerned about the position as long I get a good feeling on the machine.”
Luca Scassa
Yamaha ParkinGo Team – 12th, 2’04.996
“Today went ok overall. I wasn’t too far off the others, except maybe the first three. I had difficulty getting up to speed but I think we have made progress and can finally see the light. Tomorrow morning we can keep going in this direction and hopefully further improve. I got my best time in on a soft tyre but only after six or seven laps, so it wasn’t performing as expected. It won’t be easy, but we should be able to improve times in the warm up tomorrow and then I’m confident that I’ll be up there battling with the leaders. Not everyone improved times today, but we did and that’s a good sign.”
2011 World Supersport Czech Republic
Brno 09/07/2011
Circuit Length:
5403
Weather:
Very Hot
Lap Record:
2’02.708
(Cal Crutchlow, 1/1/2009)
Fastest Lap Ever:
2’02.060
(Cal Crutchlow, 7/26/2009)
Qualifying 1 & Qualifying 2
I II
1 Fabien Foret Honda FRA 2’03.941 2’03.548
2 Broc Parkes Kawasaki AUS 2’03.611 2’04.014
3 David Salom Kawasaki ESP 2’04.013 2’03.681
4 Gino Rea Honda GBR 2’03.909 2’04.691
5 Massimo Roccoli Kawasaki ITA 2’04.279 2’04.093
6 Sam Lowes Honda GBR 2’04.123 2’04.856
7 Chaz Davies Yamaha GBR 2’05.151 2’04.610
8 Robbin Harms Honda DNK 2’04.639 2’04.772
9 Roberto Tamburini Yamaha ITA 2’05.047 2’04.839
10 Miguel Praia Honda POR 2’05.406 2’04.862
11 Florian Marino Honda FRA 2’05.358 2’04.959
12 Luca Scassa Yamaha ITA 2’05.079 2’04.996
13 James Ellison Honda GBR 2’05.560 2’05.135
14 Ondrej Jezek Honda CZE 2’05.151 2’05.738
15 Vittorio Iannuzzo Kawasaki ITA 2’05.567 2’05.447
25 Luca Marconi Yamaha ITA 2’07.767 2’06.814
