Michel Fabrizio (Ducati Xerox) took provisional pole in the opening qualifying session for the sixth round of the Hannspree FIM Superbike World Championship at Kyalami.
Second place went to Jonathan Rea, four-tenths of a second behind Fabrizio, Ben Spies moved up from 14th to third in the last few minutes of the session, while Leon Haslam (Stiggy Racing Honda) was fourth.
Michel Fabrizio – Ducati Xerox – 1st“Everything has gone well so far.
After the win and second place at Monza I’ve arrived here ready for action.
We were fast right from the beginning of this morning’s practice and this made it easier to improve further during the qualifying.
We’ll see tomorrow but I’m sure that to remain ahead I need to go a few tenths faster than I have today.
I’m aware that I’m 21 points off second place in the championship and knowing this only spurs me on further!”Jonathan Rea – Hannspree Ten Kate Honda – 2nd “We made a good step forward between the two sessions, just by softening up the front and adjusting the ride height.
The track is really quite bumpy so a softer setting is needed, and that made things a little easier.
The crew and I will have a look at the data, because we had a small chatter problem, which we’ll try to eliminate tomorrow and see where else we can improve.
”Ben Spies – Yamaha World Superbike Team – 3rd“We’ve been going through the motions today, working things out with the bike as we’ve struggled with a couple of points.
We haven’t really gone crazy but been steady, and will make some more changes now so we can get ready to turn it up tomorrow and get on it.
”Leon Haslam – Stiggy Racing Honda – 4th “I had a good session, especially the first free practice went really well.
We were playing around with the gearing and different set-ups.
This morning I had a few chattering issues, but we made some small improvements and solved the problems.
I just really have to focus on trying and finding the right tyre now.
I’ve been able to set good lap times on all three tyres, while the guys in front of me could only set their fast laps on the soft tyre.
I feel comfortable on both tyres, we’ll just have to figure out tomorrow which one will be better over a race distance.
We still have a few minor changes to make in the suspension, and maybe some changes to the gearing, but overall I am pretty happy with the results so far and feel very confident “.
Noriyuki Haga – Ducati Xerox – 6th“Physically, I’ve not had too many problems and my arm already feels better this afternoon compared to this morning but it’s getting tired easily and I haven’t been able to put together many consecutive laps.
The bike isn’t copying the uneven track surface and this puts more strain on my arm.
Anyway, today the bike has felt similar to how it did during winter testing which is a good thing but tomorrow we need to try a different setting to improve on times and get us to the front of the pack.
”Jakub Smrz – Guandalini Racing – 7th“In Free Practice I spent more or less going around and learn the track.
There are many bumps so I was trying to look for the best line.
For Qualifyng Practice we changed something on the bike and it was definetely better and time came quite easily.
I am happy for today but there is a lot we can improve on the bike and in my riding last lap I was 0,3 under my best lap on 1st split but met slower rider so for sure I wasn’t on limit.
”Tom Sykes, -Yamaha World Superbike Team – 8th“We’ve been working out a couple of changes for tomorrow, we’re going to change the geometry of the bike to help around the circuit, which should make me quicker.
I’m looking forward to being stronger on the circuit and faster as a result.
We tried some good tyres today and found a good race pace.
I’m looking to be the fastest though so with the changes for tomorrow we should be in for big improvements.
”Carlos Checa – Hannspree Ten Kate Honda – 11th“This morning was fine and in the early part of this afternoon’s session but we changed bikes and I was not able to make any improvement or use the grip offered by a softer tyre.
I think perhaps we went a little too soft to try to cure a small chatter problem, but that setting did not work when I tried to push harder at the end of the session, so I could not improve my time.
”Shane Byrne- Sterilgarda BRC Racing – 14th “We figured out what was the problem that prevented us from scoring a good result last weekend at Monza.
However, we kept working hard and it looks like the results are getting slightly better.
I like this track a lot but we have to improve and with a good setup we can definitely do well both in the Superpole and in the raceYukio Kagayama – Alstare Suzuki – 15th“We started with the set-up we used when we tested here last December, but my bike didn’t work as well.
The track feels more bumpy to me and that meant I could not push as hard as I wanted.
We improved the bike in the afternoon, but many other riders went faster, so I ended 15th.
My main problem today was the bumps, but the rear tyre was also spinning in a couple of corners, so tomorrow we will try some suspension changes to see if we can make any improvements.
”Fonsi Nieto – Alstare Suzuki – 22nd“New track, new bike and a lot to learn today for me.
Fortunately I know the team very well and they have helped me a lot.
I am very happy to be back in World Superbikes and I feel as if I have never been away because this team is so good.
The K9 bike is very different to last year’s bike, but I hope to learn everything fast and keep on improving.
I don’t particularly like this track because for me it is very bumpy and dangerous in some places.
”Qualifying Session One Results:1.
Michel FABRIZIO (Ducati 1098 F09), 1:38.
1032.
Jonathan REA (Honda CBR1000RR), 1:38.
5063.
Ben SPIES (Yamaha YZF-R1), 1:38.
6004.
Leon HASLAM (Honda CBR1000RR), 1:38.
8655.
Shinya NAKANO (Aprilia RSV4 Factory), 1:38.
9986.
Noriyuki HAGA (Ducati 1098 F09), 1:39.
0557.
Jakub SMRZ (Ducati 1098R), 1:39.
2308.
Tom SYKES (Yamaha YZF-R1), 1:39.
2589.
Max BIAGGI (Aprilia RSV4 Factory), 1:39.
28410.
Ruben XAUS (BMW S1000 RR), 1:39.
35711.
Carlos CHECA (Honda CBR1000RR), 1:39.
37012.
Sheridan MORAIS (Kawasaki ZX-10R), 1:39.
38813.
Gregorio LAVILLA (Ducati 1098R), 1:39.
38914.
Shane BYRNE (Ducati 1098R), 1:39.
47015.
Yukio KAGAYAMA (Suzuki GSX-R1000 K9), 1:39.
47516.
Ryuichi KIYONARI (Honda CBR1000RR), 1:39.
78817.
Broc PARKES (Kawasaki ZX-10R), 1:39.
96118.
David SALOM (Kawasaki ZX-10R), 1:40.
10519.
Luca SCASSA (Kawasaki ZX-10R), 1:40.
19220.
Karl MUGGERIDGE (Suzuki GSX-R1000 K9), 1:40.
30421.
Tommy HILL (Honda CBR1000RR), 1:40.
30822.
Fonsi NIETO (Suzuki GSX-R1000 K9), 1:40.
54423.
Shaun WHYTE (Yamaha YZF-R1), 1:41.
73724.
Steve MARTIN (BMW S1000 RR), 1:42.
015