LAST-MINUTE EFFORT BY LACONI POWERS THE DUCATI XEROX TEAM RIDER TO
SEVENTH WORLD SUPERBIKE POLE IN QATAR QUALIFYING

Losail (Qatar), Friday 25 February: Ducati Xerox Team’s Régis Laconi powered to
his seventh World Superbike pole position with a splendid last-minute effort at
the Losail Raceway in Qatar. The Frenchman edged out his closest rival Troy
Corser (Suzuki) in the final seconds of the fifty minute Superpole session,
which was run to wet-weather procedure, to take the pole with a time of
2m01.593s. His Ducati Xerox team-mate James Toseland was unable to get his 2005
season off to a good start and will line up on the fourth row of the grid after
qualifying in thirteenth position.

“It was dry for the first few minutes and for the last few laps of Superpole but
no one went out for 30 minutes in the middle because it was wet”, commented a
delighted Laconi. “I went out at the start but I knew I could do better. We
changed both the front and the rear and I pushed very hard on the final lap; to
do a 2m01.5 in these conditions is really good. For the race I am pleased with
the set-up and with the duration of my tyre, we have been working really hard to
get the best feeling all weekend and now it is working OK. Hopefully it will be
dry tomorrow for the race, because it's going to be a really tough battle. The
other guys will make life difficult for us, but for sure that's good for the
championship”.

Toseland’s efforts to improve during the morning’s second and final qualifying
session were thwarted by the rain. The world champion then missed out on a good
position in Superpole, slipping down to thirteenth on the grid with a time of
2m03.357s.

“Today was not such a good day” declared Toseland. “In the wet this morning we
weren’t too bad but you couldn’t do much in that session. This afternoon I had a
few problems so came back in and was unable to get much of a long run. I just
needed more dry time on the track because every time we seemed to try something
it started to rain. We were just unable to get back into a rhythm. Physically I
feel a bit battered but that’s not the problem, the weather has not allowed us
to get the time, and when you haven’t got the right feeling, you can’t set a
good time in Superpole. Unfortunately I just didn’t get it together when I
should have done, but I’m sure I’ll be able to run a good race tomorrow”.

TIMES:

 1. Laconi (Ducati Xerox)    2m01.593s
 2. Corser (Suzuki)          2m01.641s
 3. Gimbert (Yamaha)         2m01.889s
 4. Kagayama (Suzuki)        2m02.643s
 5. Pitt (Yamaha)            2m02.670s
 6. Cardoso (Yamaha)         2m02.745s
 7. Haga (Yamaha)            2m02.766s
 8. Vermeulen (Honda)        2m02.960s
 9. Silva (Yamaha)           2m03.049s
10. Chili (Honda)            2m03.100s

13. Toseland (Ducati Xerox)  2m03.357s