Yamaha World Superbike riders, Eugene Laverty and Marco Melandri delivered impressive performances today to secure two front row starts ahead of tomorrow’s races on the demanding German circuit at the Nurburgring. The Yamaha riders were on top form, being the strongest team performers throughout the qualifying day, confirming the current leading status for Yamaha on the WSB Team standing.
Laverty and Melandri completed the afternoon’s knockout Superpole sessions in second and fourth place respectively. Both Yamaha riders sailed through the first Superpole, comfortably qualifying for the second heat of the day with Laverty in second place and his team-mate in fifth having recorded an impressive high speed of 282.7 km/h. The Yamaha riders were on equally impressive form in the second heat with Laverty shooting straight into the lead while his Italian team-mate was just behind in second place before Checa stole the top position by just 0.016. Using the last set of qualifiers Laverty and Melandri proceeded to complete the third and final session in second and fourth place, guaranteeing a front row start for tomorrow’s races. As the typically wet German weather is forecast to make a come-back tomorrow, the Yamaha WSB riders are confident they can make the most of the front row advantage to get ahead of their competitors in what could prove to be a challenging race.
Splendid sunshine over the Eifel mountains this morning provided a picturesque setting for the Yamaha riders to work through various potential race set-ups on their R1 machines. Eugene Laverty was quick off the mark in this morning’s second qualifying session, storming straight to the top of the time sheets, a position he maintained until the very end of the session before being bumped to second by Carlos Checa on the last lap. Team-mate Melandri concentrated on further improving from yesterday’s progress in search of a suitable race set up and qualified for the Superpole heats in 6th place.
Eugene Laverty
Yamaha World Superbike Team, 2nd – 1’54.512
“I’m very satisfied with today’s result. I usually spend the few sessions working on chassis set ups but this weekend I had a good feeling from the beginning and was up there in the time sheets since yesterday, so that’s a great start for me and hopefully I can keep it up tomorrow. Carlos was that bit stronger today and he’ll be the guy to catch in tomorrow’s races. It won’t be easy but I’ll give it my best shot. It’s important to be starting on the front row especially considering we don’t know what to expect with the weather. As we can see, also with Marco’s front row position, the Yamaha is working well once again on this track so I’m confident we can do two good races tomorrow. I’m aiming for two podiums finishes!”
Marco Melandri
Yamaha World Superbike Team, 4th – 1’54.818
“It wasn’t an easy qualifying day but I’m really pleased as I reached my highest objective which was to be on the front row for tomorrow’s races. I really hope the weather will be good and it won’t rain. That will make a huge difference as we spent today working on a suitable race set up. We haven’t decided what tyres to use so we need to work on that in the morning. Rain will make things very difficult, the few laps we did on wets yesterday was not easy. It’s an enjoyable track but quite difficult, especially the first corner which is particularly demanding.”
Andrea Dosoli – Yamaha World Superbike Team Manager
“Today was a very positive second qualifying day. To have both riders starting from the front row tomorrow is very important. Marco, Eugene and their teams worked hard throughout the day. In Eugene’s case, they worked on improving the bike handling in order to be able to make up time he was losing in certain areas of the track. Marco gained more confidence in the afternoon’s free practice. He has made progress since yesterday and we are confident ahead of tomorrow’s races.If the weather forecast is true and it rains tomorrow it will definitely change everything so it’s important that the riders can take advantage of being on the front row.”
2011 World Superbike Germany
Nurburgring 03/09/2011
1 Carlos Checa Ducati ESP 1’55.144
2 Eugene Laverty Yamaha GBR 1’54.512
3 Max Biaggi Aprilia ITA 1’54.743
4 Marco Melandri Yamaha ITA 1’54.818
5 Noriyuki Haga Aprilia JPN 1’55.113
6 Tom Sykes Kawasaki GBR 1’55.223
7 Leon Haslam BMW GBR 1’55.237
8 Sylvain Guintoli Ducati FRA 1’55.249
9 Jonathan Rea Honda GBR 1’55.321
10 Jakub Smrz Ducati CZE 1’55.598
11 Mark Aitchison Kawasaki AUS 1’55.625
12 Michel Fabrizio Suzuki ITA 1’56.177
13 Leon Camier Aprilia GBR 1’55.633
14 Maxime Berger Ducati FRA 1’55.811
15 Ayrton Badovini BMW ITA 1’56.101
Circuit Length:
4556
Weather:
Sunny
Fastest Lap Ever:
1’54.595
(Max Biaggi, 9/5/2010)
Last Years Winner:
Noriyuki Haga
Qualifying 1 & Qualifying 2
I II
1 Carlos Checa Ducati ESP 1’55.673 1’55.030
2 Eugene Laverty Yamaha GBR 1’56.197 1’55.428
3 Noriyuki Haga Aprilia JPN 1’56.517 1’55.479
4 Max Biaggi Aprilia ITA 1’55.524 1’56.103
5 Tom Sykes Kawasaki GBR 1’56.353 1’55.781
6 Marco Melandri Yamaha ITA 1’55.819 1’56.096
7 Sylvain Guintoli Ducati FRA 1’56.319 1’55.827
8 Jonathan Rea Honda GBR 1’56.325 1’55.842
9 Leon Camier Aprilia GBR 1’56.571 1’55.856
10 Leon Haslam BMW GBR 1’56.354 1’55.887
11 Michel Fabrizio Suzuki ITA 1’56.085 1’55.927
12 Jakub Smrz Ducati CZE 1’56.470 1’55.933
13 Joan Lascorz Kawasaki ESP 1’56.444 1’55.994
14 Mark Aitchison Kawasaki AUS 1’56.820 1’56.273
15 Maxime Berger Ducati FRA 1’56.338 1’56.355
Impressive Second Qualifying for Yamaha ParkinGO Team
Yamaha ParkinGO riders Chaz Davies and Luca Scassa were on top form today in the glorious sunshine at the Nurburgring to complete the second qualifying session in second and seventh places respectively.
Both Yamaha WSS riders took up where they left off yesterday and continued to make constant progress, working through various settings on their powerful R6 machines, in search of the perfect set up ahead of tomorrow’s race day at the German circuit. Chaz Davies made the most of the day to get more familiar with the track while team-mate Luca Scassa made some minor adjustments to the electronics of his machine in search of a little extra speed.
Welshman, Chaz Davies worked on his race pace in the second qualifying session this afternoon. Confident with the consistent lap times, he proceeded to produce a faster lap time towards at the final stages of the session to secure second position on the front row of tomorrow’s grid. Scassa was on equally impressive form this afternoon. Despite having swapped to a softer tyre in the dying minutes, the Italian was unable to set a flying lap due to getting caught up in traffic and was forced to settle for seventh place.
Chaz Davies
Yamaha ParkinGO Team, 2nd – 1’59.334
“I’m happy with today’s result. The bike is working very well and we haven’t had to change much, which is great. It seems to be going smoothly, similar to at Monza. I did a few consistent laps and felt good overall so I will leave the bike untouched and see again tomorrow. I’m a little concerned about the weather. I lost a lot of time on the only wet session yesterday, so I hope the rain holds off. I’m confident in general and hope to be back on a winner again in tomorrow’s race.”
Luca Scassa
Yamaha parkinGO Team, 7th – 1’59.929
“It didn’t go too bad today but I expected to do a bit better. I put in a soft tyre towards the end of the session in order to produce a flying lap but I caught up in traffic and was unable to improve my times. That was disappointing as I had hoped to be on the front row. I have a good feeling with the bike, even on today’s hot track temperatures, which has been an issue on some tracks this season. The weather is due to change for tomorrow but I’m not too concerned, I’m confident I can do well anyway.”
2011 World Supersport Germany
Nurburgring 03/09/2011
Circuit Length:
4556
Weather:
Sunny
Fastest Lap Ever:
1’57.866
(Cal Crutchlow, 9/6/2009)
Qualifying 1 & Qualifying 2
I II
1 Fabien Foret Honda FRA 2’01.096 1’59.258
2 Chaz Davies Yamaha GBR 2’00.305 1’59.334
3 Gino Rea Honda GBR 2’01.104 1’59.738
4 Sam Lowes Honda GBR 1’59.771 2’00.726
5 James Ellison Honda GBR 2’01.119 1’59.785
6 Massimo Roccoli Kawasaki ITA 2’01.197 1’59.905
7 Luca Scassa Yamaha ITA 2’01.236 1’59.929
8 David Salom Kawasaki ESP 2’00.522 2’00.250
9 Broc Parkes Kawasaki AUS 2’01.011 2’00.339
10 Florian Marino Honda FRA 2’00.990 2’00.407
11 Miguel Praia Honda POR 2’02.480 2’00.802
12 Robbin Harms Honda DNK 2’00.974 2’00.844
13 Marc Moser Yamaha GER 2’02.311 2’00.889
14 Ronan Quarmby Triumph RSA 2’02.021 2’00.967
15 Alexander Lundh Honda SWE 2’02.551 2’01.105
16 Roberto Tamburini Yamaha ITA 2’03.955 2’01.335
29 Yves Polzer Yamaha AUT 2’07.250 2’04.678
31 Oleg Pozdneev Yamaha RUS 2’07.757 2’07.468
32 Eduard Blokhin Yamaha RUS 2’09.631 2’08.346
