MARCO MELANDRI IS ON THE SECOND ROW, LESS INCISIVE ON A SOFT TYRE BUT WITH A FAST RACE PACE.
THREE RSV4s ON THE FIRST TWO ROWS.
Sepang (Malaysia), 7 June 2014 – The first Sepang Superpole had an Aprilia flavour once the Italian bikes had demonstrated their potential in all the timed sessions. With a perfect lap Sylvain Guintoli put the best time on the boards and tomorrow, for the fourth time in his career, he will be starting in front of all the rest. Marco Melandri, feeling at ease on race tyres, was unable to be incisive with the soft tyre but in any case took a spot on the second row with the fifth best time.
The Aprilia branded day was completed by the second row spot taken by Toni Elias on his “satellite” RSV4.
Guintoli took to the track at the beginning of the session on a race tyre, stopping the clock at an impressive time of 2’03.581 and immediately taking a solid lead. After returning to the pits to put on a qualifier, Sylvain further improved his performance with 2’03.002 on the boards. The speed demonstrated in Superpole is in line with his performance in the practice sessions: three out of four times the French rider was the fastest on the track.
Sylvain Guintoli: “This has been an almost perfect weekend so far even if the results tomorrow are the ones that really count. I have trained well, preparing for the high heat, and I actually feel better on a race tyre than on a qualifier. I’m very happy with how well the RSV4 is performing here – we are really able to take full advantage of it. I’m having fun riding and the two races tomorrow will definitely be hard but I can’t wait to get on the track”.
Fast in all the sessions, Marco Melandri was also aiming for a spot on the front row, but a lack of feeling with the qualifier tyre and a few changes that didn’t have the desired effects kept him from being incisive in Superpole. Finishing with the fifth best time is definitely a positive result, although it is disappointing after everything demonstrated during the practice sessions. His pace makes him hopeful for the races tomorrow: “This was a difficult qualifier. We tried to keep improving stability and grip at the rear, but in the end I was struggling a lot with the front. On a qualifying tyre I wasn’t very efficient, but finishing in fifth makes me hopeful for tomorrow. We’ll need to improve a bit more and the races will be complicated both in terms of tyres and riders”.
SEPANG – SUPERPOLE
1. Guintoli (Aprilia) 2’03.002
2. Sykes (Kawasaki) 2’03.108
3. Giugliano (Ducati) 2’03.137
4. Elias (Aprilia) 2’03.160
5. Melandri (Aprilia) 2’03.971
6. Baz (Kawasaki) 2’04.027
7. Laverty (Suzuki) 2’04.263
8. Davies (Ducati) 2’04.343
9. Lowes (Suzuki) 2’04.433
10. Rea (Honda) 2’04.514
