WSB / WSS Magny-Cours - Qualifying 2

Click here if you cannot see the mail correctly.

QUALIFYING 2 REPORT 04/10/2008 Haga laps up Superpole win Noriyuki Haga Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team) was fastest qualifier going into the Superpole competition, thanks to the time he set on Friday, and he converted that into a stunning pole position with a new track best time. His remarkable 1'38.444 Superpole lap came after another disrupted day of practice due to inclement weather conditions. The final timed session this morning started out on a damp track leaving the qualifying order largely as it was at the end of Friday. Haga's outstanding pre-race performance delivered him his first pole of the 2008 season, despite starting from the front row on five previous occasions, and having scored six race wins. His career Superpole total now stands at six. Troy Corser (Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team) was fifth going into Superpole but slid off on the final right-hander before the last chicane on his Superpole lap, while leading the field by 0.4 seconds. By regulation, he has now been relegated to the back of the row behind that which he originally qualified on, leaving him 12th on the grid. World Championship leader Troy Bayliss was third in Superpole, with Fonsi Nieto and Carlos Checa also on the front row. Both David Checa (Yamaha GMT94) and Sebastien Gimbert (Yamaha GMT94) easily qualified for Superpole, with Checa an impressive seventh, and Gimbert 13th after this specialised one lap contest against the clock. Shinichi Nakatomi (Team YZF Yamaha) was 19th overall. Noriyuki Haga (1st - 1'38.444 - Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team) "To me it doesn't matter about pole so much as long as we get on the front row. The feeling of the bike is working well even though the weather yesterday and this morning was not so good. We hope for sunshine tomorrow. We will check the data from last year, but otherwise we are ready for the races." Troy Corser Troy Corser (12th - 1'41.515 - Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team) "I'm not sure what happened in my crash but I just lost the front on the right at the bottom of the hill. It's not ideal to start from the third row but nothing we can do now except make up places as quick as I can tomorrow. Our bike usually works well here, so that's positive." Massimo Meregalli (Team Manager, Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team) "In the end our bike is working well here and both riders know their job very well. We were not expecting a pole position maybe, but we need a good result for tomorrow. Even though Troy is starting from the third row we know he can still fight for the podium." Shinichi Nakatomi Shinichi Nakatomi (19th - 1'43.139 - Team YZF Yamaha) "I have been unlucky during the first qualifying session. Every time I went on the track to do a quick lap, it started to rain again. My lap time was not good enough. Today the conditions were better, but not enough to go faster. I have just been unlucky." Circuit Length: 4411 2008 WSB France - Magny-Cours 04/10/2008 Superpole Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Noriyuki Haga Yamaha JPN 1'38.444 2 Fonsi Nieto Suzuki ESP 1'38.574 3 Troy Bayliss Ducati AUS 1'38.666 4 Carlos Checa Honda ESP 1'38.765 5 Roberto Rolfo Honda ITA 1'39.349 6 Max Neukirchner Suzuki GER 1'39.480 7 David Checa Yamaha ESP 1'39.514 8 Max Biaggi Ducati ITA 1'39.606 9 Michel Fabrizio Ducati ITA 1'39.627 10 Lorenzo Lanzi Ducati ITA 1'39.957 11 Ruben Xaus Ducati ESP 1'40.006 12 Troy Corser Yamaha AUS DNF 13 Sebastien Gimbert Yamaha FRA 1'40.147 14 Kenan Sofuoglu Honda TUR 1'40.149 15 Yukio Kagayama Suzuki JPN 1'40.631 Qualifying 2 Pos. Rider Nat. QUAL I QUAL II 1 Noriyuki Haga JPN 1'41.012 n/a 2 Troy Bayliss AUS 1'41.020 1'43.710 3 Carlos Checa ESP 1'41.130 1'45.696 4 Fonsi Nieto ESP 1'41.513 1'47.361 5 Troy Corser AUS 1'41.515 1'46.010 6 Roberto Rolfo ITA 1'41.681 n/a 7 Lorenzo Lanzi ITA 1'41.783 n/a 8 Ruben Xaus ESP 1'41.885 1'45.312 9 Yukio Kagayama JPN 1'41.892 1'47.359 10 Max Neukirchner GER 1'41.900 1'46.437 11 David Checa ESP 1'41.936 n/a 12 Sebastien Gimbert FRA 1'41.963 1'46.077 13 Max Biaggi ITA 1'42.410 1'46.265 14 Kenan Sofuoglu TUR 1'42.683 1'49.843 15 Michel Fabrizio ITA 1'42.704 1'45.455 19 Shinichi Nakatomi JPN 1'43.139 1'52.266 QUALIFYING 2 REPORT 04/10/2008 Parkes sublime in final Supersport qualifying Broc Parkes Broc Parkes (Yamaha World Supersport Team) secured an outstanding seventh pole of the season today, setting a new Magny-Cours Supersport best of 1'41.543 seconds in the process. Fabien Foret (Yamaha World Supersport Team) showed dramatic improvements in his qualifying performance with some dry track time at his disposal, and went 16th fastest from 30 riders. Parkes has a remarkable record at Magny-Cours, and after final checks of the set-up in warm-up tomorrow morning he faces 22-laps of the 4.411km circuit in his quest to win his second race of the season on the YZF-R6. His team-mate Foret has also won a single race in 2008, but his day two performance can also be considered a victory of sorts, after coming back so strongly at his home circuit after serious injury. Massimo Roccoli (Yamaha Team Italia Lorenzini by Leoni) improved on his Friday performance to secure a ninth place grid slot, 1.6 seconds from Parkes' pole. David Salom (Yamaha Spain World Supersport) used his dry track time to go 18th in the rankings, making for a fifth row start. Broc Parkes (1st - 1'41.543 - Yamaha World Supersport Team) "It's awesome to take my seventh pole of 2008 but we just want to convert that into a race win on Sunday, and we are still working on some aspects of race set-up. We have not had that many laps, because of the weather. In Vallelunga we had a bike that worked well towards the end of the race. Today we have made it a bit better at the start while trying to keep the speed at the end. We used the sessions really well. At the end I put one lap down and got a new record, even though I felt that the grip wasn't even as good as it was here last year." Fabien Foret Fabien Foret (16th - 1'43.664 - Yamaha World Supersport Team) "I didn't want to make any plan before I came here but after yesterday afternoon I was not too fast, and a little stressed. I am so happy about to day because I feel like I am really back, even if I am still only 85%. So to get into the top 16 was not so bad. My dry laps were good." Wilco Zeelenberg (Team Manager, Yamaha World Supersport Team) "Broc was feeling good and set a great time so I am very happy for him. Seven poles this year is incredible. The bike is handling well and working the way we want. The tyre life looks good as well and I think we will run at a good pace tomorrow. I am happy when the pressure is on another team's pitbox! It will be interesting to see how things go in tomorrow's race. Fabien came back in better form than we could have reasonably expected. We don't have Superpole in Supersport, but if we did, he would have been in it. He is a little tired now, and he has some difficulties changing direction still. But he went incredibly well in qualifying for his first weekend back." Massimo Roccoli Massimo Roccoli (9th - 1'43.183 seconds - Yamaha Team Italia Lorenzini by Leoni) "I am very happy today because we managed to make good use of our track time and my R6 is very fast around here. I was up on my first and second split time in my final lap but another rider got in my way on the final chicane, so I lost that chance to improve even more, and maybe get onto the second row. But I am happy because my set-up is good and my bike is going well at this track." Circuit Length: 4411 2008 WSS France - Magny-Cours 04/10/2008 Qualifying 2 Pos. Rider Nat. QUAL I QUAL II 1 Broc Parkes AUS 1'43.007 1'41.543 2 Jonathan Rea GBR 1'42.849 1'41.912 3 Andrew Pitt AUS 1'43.601 1'42.481 4 Didier Van Keymeulen BEL 1'43.710 1'42.561 5 Barry Veneman NED 1'43.343 1'42.668 6 Joan Lascorz ESP 1'43.445 1'42.729 7 Robbin Harms DNK 1'44.712 1'42.926 8 Joshua Brookes AUS 1'44.390 1'42.976 9 Massimo Roccoli ITA 1'44.636 1'43.183 10 Gianluca Nannelli ITA 1'44.010 1'43.223 11 Mark Aitchinson AUS 1'44.874 1'43.259 12 Gianluca Vizziello ITA 1'45.904 1'43.353 13 Matthieu Lagrive FRA 1'43.390 1'43.357 14 Ivan Clementi ITA 1'45.015 1'43.377 15 Russell Holland AUS 1'45.349 1'43.500 16 Fabien Foret FRA 1'46.914 1'43.664 18 David Salom ESP 1'45.608 1'43.969 Yamaha Racing Communications Hoogte Kadijk 61hs / 1018 BE Amsterdam / The Netherlands T. +31 (0) 20 625 6539 / F. +31 (0) 20 420 9470 E. office@yrc.nl W. http://www.yamaha-racing.com