Lorenzo Lanzi and Troy Bayliss will line up on the second row of the grid for the Ducati Xerox Team after a relatively below-par Superpole qualifying session at the Magny-Cours circuit. James Toseland (Honda) took the pole ahead of Max Neukirchner (Suzuki), with the other two title contenders Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha) and Max Biaggi (Suzuki) in fourth and sixth respectively.
Quickest after the first two qualifying sessions, the 38 year-old Australian put together his fastest lap of the weekend in Superpole, but his time of 1m39.174s was only good enough for the second row. "I'm pretty disappointed with my lap to say the least" declared Troy. "That was as fast as I've ever gone around here, but I honestly thought I was going to do quite a bit better. It wasn't just one thing, the whole lap was missing just a little bit; I didn't flow with the bike and it didn't come together. I'm a bit disappointed to start on row 2, but the bike's been working quite good and I'm looking forward to a nice sunny day and some good racing. We know which tyre we're going to use, I haven't done a full long-run in one go, but we've done a lot of laps on the tyre and I've been pretty happy with how it's going. I think tomorrow's going to be one of the hardest days of the year, everyone seems to be going very fast and it's going to be interesting!"
Lorenzo Lanzi improved throughout qualifying and was quite pleased with his time of 1m38.955s which put him in fifth place on the grid. "I'm only happy in part because I hoped to get on the front row. I didn't make it but it's OK anyway" commented Lorenzo. "I'm right behind Toseland on pole and if I can get a good start I am sure I can do a couple of good races. I'm also pleased for my team, who deserve it for all the work they've done this year. I'm the first Ducati on the grid, I want to show that I am still competitive and that I can stay up there with everyone. I've got a good feeling with the 999, we just have to decide which tyre to use at the front and for the rest we're in a good position".
Times: 1. Toseland (Honda) 1m3.501s
2. Neukirchner (Suzuki) 1m38.524s
3. Corser (Yamaha) 1m38.624s
4. Haga (Yamaha) 1m38.897s
5. Lanzi (Ducati Xerox) 1m38.955s
6. Biaggi (Suzuki) 1m38.982s
7. Bayliss (Ducati Xerox) 1m39.174s
8. Laconi (Kawasaki) 1m39.638s; etc.
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