Alcaniz (Spain), Friday 12 April 2013 – A close battle characterised the first qualifying session for the eni FIM Superbike World Championship at MotorLand Aragon, and saw Irishman Eugene Laverty (Aprilia Racing Team) topping the timesheets with a 1’58.548 set with few minutes to go.
“We worked quite a bit on the electronics today” explained Laverty “because I wasn’t happy about it during free practice this morning, especially going into turns. There is still room for improvement but we’re moving in the right direction, and our times show it. We just need to make our performance last longer race-wise. We’ll see what happens tomorrow, the track will have more grip so we’ll change our settings in order to be ready for Sunday”.
The Championship Leader was 0.104 second faster than 2nd place Chaz Davies (BMW Motorrad GoldBet), with Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team) and Davies’ team mate, Marco Melandri, to follow.
“It was a good Friday, everyone has done a great job” said Davies. “We were able to confirm the success of the work we have done over the last month and today has proved that I now feel really comfortable on my RR. I was already happy with my pace at Phillip Island and I knew we could improve on it even more. We came here fresh and hungry and it was good. I did my fastest lap on used tyres, which is a good sign regarding race pace. The bike is working very well but the grip is still limiting us. In addition, we will just do some fine tuning of the electronics and the power delivery.”
Jonathan Rea (Pata Honda World Superbike Team) rode his CBR 1000 RR up to 5th position ahead of Phillip Island Race 1 winner Sylvain Guintoli (Aprilia Racing Team) and the unfortunate Leon Camier (FIXI Crescent Suzuki), who had a high-side at Turn 10 early in the session and was transferred first to the Medical Centre, where he was diagnosed with a left knee dislocation and a wound, then taken to the Alcaniz hospital, where he’s undergoing further examination. His participation to the rest of the round is seriously doubtful.
On the other hand, Jules Cluzel with the other GSX-R1000 bettered his morning’s performance and finished 8th, with Loris Baz (Kawasaki Racing Team) and Davide Giugliano (Althea Racing Aprilia) to complete the top-10. A bit of a step back for Spaniard Carlos Checa (Team Ducati Alstare), who was 12th behind Leon Haslam (Pata Honda World Superbike Team).
Times: 1. Laverty (Aprilia) 1’58.548 average 162.284 kph; 2. Davies (BMW) 1’58.652; 3. Sykes (Kawasaki) 1’58.887; 4. Melandri (BMW) 1’58.944; 5. Rea (Honda) 1’59.060; 6. Guintoli (Aprilia) 1’59.144; 7. Camier (Suzuki) 1’59.379; 8. Cluzel (Suzuki) 1’59.414; 9. Baz (Kawasaki) 1’59.423; 10. Giugliano (Aprilia) 1’59.599; 11. Haslam (Honda) 1’59.599; 12. Checa (Ducati) 2’00.004; 13. Fabrizio (Aprilia) 2’00.199; 14. Badovini (Ducati) 2’00.688; 15. Lundh (Kawasaki) 2’01.041; 16. Neukirchner (Ducati) 2’01.658; 17. Sandi (Kawasaki) 2’01.928; 18. Iannuzzo (BMW) 2’03.201; 19. Clementi (BMW) 2’03.233; 20. Aitchison (Ducati) 2’04.169.
World Supersport – Lowes makes the difference in QP1 with a new Best Lap
A new Best Lap of the MotorLand Aragon for the series was set today by Sam Lowes (Yakhnich Motorsport Yamaha) in Qualifying 1. Despite not being 100% following last week’s crash while testing here, the Brit lapped the 5344 m Spanish track in 2’01.930 and was 0.463 second faster than Sheridan Morais, who brought his PTR Honda machine into second place.
Rookie sensation Michael van der Mark (Pata Honda World Supersport) was third, ahead of Reigning Champion Kenan Sofuoglu (Mahi Racing Team India Kawasaki), Italy’s Luca Scassa (Kawasaki Intermoto Ponyexpres) and DMC Lorenzini Kawasaki duo of Kev Coghlan and Vladimir Ivanov.
Supersport veteran Fabien Foret (Mahi Racing Team India Kawasaki) ended up in 8th place, followed by Russian Vladimir Leonov (Yakhnich Motorsport Yamaha) and Florian Marino, who made his comeback to the series by replacing injured David Salom in the Intermoto Ponyexpres Team.
An unlucky QP1 for WSS rookies Nacho Calero (Honda PTR) and Riccardo Russo (San Carlo Team Italia), both crashed within the first 20 minutes on track. 2007 125cc World Champion Gabor Talmacsi (Prorace Honda) and South Africa’s Mathew Scholtz (Suriano Racing Team) did the same as well, later on in the session.
Times: 1. Lowes (Yamaha) 2’01.930 average 157.782 kph; 2. Morais (Honda) 2’02.393; 3. Vd Mark (Honda) 2’02.524; 4. Sofuoglu (Kawasaki) 2’02.557; 5. Scassa (Kawasaki) 2’02.738; 6. Coghlan (Kawasaki) 2’03.018; 7. Ivanov (Kawasaki) 2’03.030; 8. Foret (Kawasaki) 2’03.076; 9. Leonov (Yamaha) 2’03.083; 10. Marino (Kawasaki) 2’03.532; etc.
Superstock 1000
Reigning Champion Sylvain Barrier (BMW Motorrad GoldBet STK Team) set the fastest time in FIM Superstock 1000 Cup Qualifying 1. Onboard the new BMW S 1000 RR HP4, the Oyonnax-born rider was once again the only one able to lap within the 2’01 bracket, despite being almost 0.7s slower than in the morning session.
Argentinean Leandro Mercado (Team Pedercini Kawasaki) improved his lap-time and finished again in 2nd place, ahead of Jeremy Guarnoni (MRS Kawasaki), 2012 runner-up Eddi La Marra (Barni Racing Team Ducati) and team mate Lorenzo Savadori.
Top-10 was completed by Greg Gildenhuys (BMW Motorrad GoldBet), 2007 STK1000 Champion Niccolò Canepa (Ducati Barni Racing), Romain Lanusse (Team MRS Kawasaki), Alessandro Andreozzi (Team Pedercini) and Spanish wild-card Enrique Ferrer (Targobank CNS Motosport BMW).
Times: 1. Barrier (BMW) 2’01.762 average 158.000 kph; 2. Mercado (Kawasaki) 2’02.144; 3. Guarnoni (Kawasaki) 2’02.523; 4. La Marra (Ducati) 2’02.544; 5. Savadori (Kawasaki) 2’02.555; 6. Gildenhuys (BMW) 2’02.796; 7. Canepa (Ducati) 2’03.026; 8. Lanusse (Kawasaki) 2’03.598; 9. Andreozzi (Kawasaki) 2’03.641; 10. Ferrer (BMW) 2’03.874; etc.
Superstock 600
The 45-minutes maiden qualifying session for the Superstock 600 European Championship saw Gauthier Duwelz (MTM Racing Yamaha) on top in the blazing sunshine of Alcaniz’s MotorLand Aragon, courtesy of a 2’05.577 and despite a crash with 20 minutes to go. The 19 year old from Belgium finished ahead of team mate Robin Mulhauser, who was able to make it to the top positions in the final minutes of the session.
Bastien Chesaux (EAB Ten Kate Junior Team Honda) was third, followed by Team Italia’s Franco Morbidelli, Tony Coveña (Nito Racing Kawasaki) and Aussie Adrian Nestorovic – third rider for the MTM Racing Team – who fell off his YZF-R6 at Turn 7 early in the session. 7th place for Riccardo Cecchini was the last rider to lap within a second gap from the leader.
Rookie Alesssandro Nocco (San Carlo Team Italia Kawasaki) had a small crash at Turn 9 but he was OK straight after, while France’s Mathieu Marchal, was driven to the Medical Centre after losing control of his Coutelle Racing Yamaha.
Times: 1. Duwelz (Yamaha) 2’05.577 average 153.200 kph; 2. Mulhauser (Yamaha) 2’05.683; 3. Chesaux (Honda) 2’05.690; 4. Morbidelli (Kawasaki) 2’05.877; 5. Coveña (Kawasaki) 2’05.982; 6. Nestorovic (Yamaha) 2’06.452; 7. Cecchini (Honda) 2’06.475; 8. Schmitter (Yamaha) 2’07.074; 9. Mamola (Yamaha) 2’07.167; 10. Gamarino (Kawasaki) 2’07.194; etc.
European Junior Cup
The Pata European Junior Cup, powered by Honda had its first taste of the 2013 season at MotorLand Aragon, as the 35 entries performed today’s 45-minute Free Practice. Spaniard Illan Fernandez topped the timesheets with a 2’27.064 lap-time, followed by France’s Guillaume Raymond, who starred last year’s season finale as wildcard (a win and a 3rd place in the two races), in second place. Wildcard Augusto Fernandez was 3rd ahead of New Zealand’s Jake Lewis.
Times: 1. Fernandez (Honda) 2’27.064 average 130.817 kph; 2. Raymond (Honda) 2’27.347; 3. Fernandez (Honda) 2’27.464; 4. Lewis (Honda) 2’27.722; 5. Rusmiputro (Honda) 2’28.141; 6. Mykhalchyk (Honda) 2’28.162; 7. Canducci (Honda) 2’28.241; 8. Manfredi (Honda) 2’28.276; 9. Orellana (Honda) 2’28.694; 10. Bodis (Honda) 2’28.723; etc.
