YRC News
|
WSB : Pitt leads R1s in Misano qualifying
Round: 6 - San Marino
Circuit: Misano
Date: 25 June 2005
Temp: 52ēC
Weather: Sunny
Australian rider Andrew Pitt will start tomorrow's two-race round six of the
Superbike World Championship from 13th position as he and his fellow Yamaha R1
riders found life tough during qualifying at the hot Misano Adriatico circuit in
Italy.
The 29-year-old Yamaha Motor Italia rider improved his time and position from
Friday's qualifying to end the one-lap session with a weekend's best lap time of
1'36.619 and a position at the head of row four on the starting grid.
Yamaha's Japanese riders Noriyuki Haga and Norick Abe had were unable to find a
good set-up during the morning qualifying session and failed to make the cut for
the 16-rider superpole. Both riders struggled for rear end grip and will start
the race from 21st and 25th positions respectively. However each is confident of
improving his positions in tomorrow's two 25-lap races after finding improved
settings in the afternoon's free practice session.
Pole position for tomorrow's races goes to championship leader Troy Corser
(Suzuki) with a 1'35.330 lap in superpole. Chris Vermeulen (Honda), Regis
Laconi (Ducati) and Karl Muggeridge (Honda) complete the front row.
Andrew Pitt (Yamaha Motor Italia)
"My superpole lap was my best of the weekend and at the end of the day I think I
did the best that I could today. We can't seem to find a set up that works well
round here. Either we can get something that turns well but is struggling for
grip, or we can get good grip but the steering is not good enough. There are a
few things that we can try for the warm-up but it's going to be tough tomorrow,
that's for sure."
Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha Motor Italia)
"It's going to be a hard race from the sixth row but I don't think that this is
our real performance. Grip is not so good but on race tyres our times are ok.
When I tried the qualifiers this morning I could not go as fast as I expected
and missed superpole. In free practice we changed many things and it was a
little better but as the conditions become hotter the grip is getting less. We
will try to make some more improvements to the bike tonight and for the race we
will have to see."
Norick Abe (Yamaha Motor France)
"We have not been able to find a good set-up so far. Yesterday we had a big
traction problem so today we changed many things. Unfortunately we still do not
have a good set-up so we must now sit down and see how we can improve things for
the first race."
Round: 6 - San Marino
Circuit: Misano
Circuit Length: 4060m
Lap Record: 1' 34.913 (Troy Bayliss, 2002)
Fastest Lap Ever: 1' 33.525 (Troy Bayliss, 2002)
Date: 25 June 2005
Temp: 52ēC
Session 2 :
Pos.Rider Manufacturer Nat. 1st Qualifying 2nd Qualifying Superpole
1 T. Corser Suzuki AUS 1'35.717 1'35.417 1'35.330
2 C. Vermeulen Honda AUS 1'37.223 1'36.034 1'35.685
3 R. Laconi Ducati FRA 1'36.012 1'36.056 1'35.798
4 K. Muggeridge Honda AUS 1'36.170 1'36.292 1'35.866
5 Y. Kagayama Suzuki JPN 1'36.652 1'35.944 1'35.868
6 P. Chili Honda ITA 1'36.492 1'36.370 1'35.961
7 J. Toseland Ducati GBR 1'36.384 1'36.565 1'35.963
8 S. Martin Petronas AUS 1'37.106 1'36.700 1'36.147
9 M. Neukirchner Honda GER 1'35.835 1'35.697 1'36.167
10 L. Lanzi Ducati ITA 1'38.486 1'36.106 1'36.301
11 G. Bussei Kawasaki ITA 1'37.950 1'36.336 1'36.584
12 I. Clementi Ducati ITA 1'36.990 1'36.052 1'36.617
13 A. Pitt Yamaha AUS 1'37.121 1'36.798 1'36.619
14 J. Cardoso Yamaha ESP 1'37.329 1'36.794 1'36.863
15 C. Walker Kawasaki GBR 1'37.487 1'36.234
16 B. Bostrom Honda USA 1'37.589 1'36.764
17 L. Alfonsi Yamaha ITA 1'36.957 1'36.931
18 G. Vizziello Yamaha ITA 1'37.361 1'36.958
21 N. Haga Yamaha JPN 1'37.203 1'37.138
25 N. Abe Yamaha JPN 1'38.235 1'37.534
Front row for Curtain
25/6/2005
Kevin Curtain will start tomorrow's sixth round of the Supersport World
Championship from the front row of the grid following an impressive showing in
today's second qualifying session.
The 39-year-old Yamaha Motor Germany rider improved his time from yesterday by
one third of a second, setting the fourth best time of the weekend with a lap of
1'38.118 - moving him up from the second row. Team-mate Broc Parkes was another
improver and will start on the second row after setting the seventh fastest
time (1'38.470) on his YZF-R6.
Both riders go into tomorrow's race in a positive mood after being consistently
among the fastest riders over the weekend. With Misano usually proving to be one
of the toughest races on tyres and machine, the team's engineers and suspension
technician have worked hard to find settings that will work well over race
distance. Both riders reported good longevity from their Pirelli tyres, even
when using the softest available option, and have benefited from a recent test
at Brno which allowed them to improve the settings of their machines.
Misano specialist Fabien Foret (Honda) grabbed pole position with a best time of
1'37.620 with Katsuaki Fujiwara and Sebastien Charpentier (both Honda)
completing the front row with Curtain.
Kevin Curtain
"I think we're in pretty good shape tomorrow. The times are all really close and
we've been able to do a lot of 1'38 laps in race set-up. In this heat it will be
a tough race for everyone but I think that we can be up there."
Broc Parkes
"I'm looking forward to the race. It's the first time this year that I've gone
into the race feeling really comfortable with the bike and that's down to the
guys finding a set-up that suits me as well as me changing my riding to suit the
R6 better. We've been pretty much up there in every session and I reckon we're
going to have a close race tomorrow."
|