It was still pretty cold at Donington Park for the second qualifying practice ahead of this afternoon’s Superpole and Jakub Smrz once again showed his love for the British track by taking the top spot again.
The Effenbert Liberty rider posted the fastest lap in 1.
280.
740, bettering his yesterday’s Qp1 top lap time by almost half a second.
Coming in second and just a little more than a tenth of second adrift was Kawasaki’s Tom Sykes with Carlos Checa right on his tail – despite complaints of not being able to turn his Ducati in certain sectors of the track.
BMW factory riders Leon Haslam and Marco Melandri were fourth and fifth respectively – evidently Melandri’s machine is no longer nervous, while Leon Camier continues to show his strong form by taking the sixth position.
GoldBet’s Michel Fabrizio was seventh despite a crash at the Melbourne Hairpin followed by Jonathan Rea none the worse following his two crashes yesterday.
Chaz Davies qualified in 9th and outpaced Aprilia factory rider Max Biaggi by a whisker.
Also making it into Superpole will be Davide Giugliano, Sylvain Guintoli, Ayrton Badovini, Eugene Laverty who yesterday had trouble with the crosswinds, Niccolò Canepa and Maxime Berger, making it sixteen riders in 1.
2 seconds.
Hiroshi Aoyama was 17th and has never qualified for a Superpole session so far this season, while Kawasaki replacement rider Loris Baz was 18th.
John Hopkin’s replacement Peter Hickman took the 19th spot on his debut with the Suzuki machine.
The British rider seems to have done a big no-no, as his BSB team MSS Bathams Kawasaki is very pissed off with him, as it seems that they didn’t give him permission to ride for Fixi Suzuki this weekend (and he is wearing his green and black Kawasaki leathers as he didn’t have time to have a new set made up)WSBK Donington QP2 results:1.
Jakub Smrz (Liberty Racing Team Effenbert) Ducati 1098R 1′28.
7402.
Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team) Kawasaki ZX-10R 1′28.
8773.
Carlos Checa (Althea Racing) Ducati 1098R 1′28.
9354.
Leon Haslam (BMW Motorrad Motorsport) BMW S1000 RR 1′29.
0115.
Marco Melandri (BMW Motorrad Motorsport) BMW S1000 RR 1′29.
0286.
Leon Camier (FIXI Crescent Suzuki) Suzuki GSX-R1000 1′29.
1017.
Michel Fabrizio (BMW Motorrad Italia GoldBet) BMW S1000 RR 1′29.
2808.
Jonathan Rea (Honda World Superbike Team) Honda CBR1000RR 1′29.
3059.
Chaz Davies (ParkinGO MTC Racing) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 1′29.
31010.
Max Biaggi (Aprilia Racing Team) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 1′29.
31311.
Davide Giugliano (Althea Racing) Ducati 1098R 1′29.
35412.
Sylvain Guintoli (Team Effenbert Liberty Racing) Ducati 1098R 1′29.
41113.
Ayrton Badovini (BMW Motorrad Italia GoldBet) BMW S1000 RR 1′29.
55714.
Eugene Laverty (Aprilia Racing Team) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 1′29.
69615.
Niccolò Canepa (Red Devils Roma) Ducati 1098R 1′29.
74616.
Maxime Berger (Team Effenbert Liberty Racing) Ducati 1098R 1′29.
95017.
Hiroshi Aoyama (Honda World Superbike Team) Honda CBR1000RR 1′30.
00818.
Loris Baz (Kawasaki Racing Team) Kawasaki ZX-10R 1′30.
23719.
Peter Hickman (FIXI Crescent Suzuki) Suzuki GSX-R1000 1′30.
29620.
Lorenzo Zanetti (PATA Racing Team) Ducati 1098R 1′30.
40221.
Mark Aitchison (Grillini Progea Superbike Team) BMW S1000 RR 1′31.
10222.
Leandro Mercado (Team Pedercini) Kawasaki ZX-10R 1′31.
54023.
Gary Mason (Team Pedercini) Kawasaki ZX-10R 1′33.
103