The rain held off just long enough today for Haga and Corser to take second and fifth qualifying positions respectively for tomorrow's races at Silverstone. This morning's qualifying session was dry with the track temperature slightly higher than yesterday and both riders quickly improved on their best times from yesterday, dropping down into 1'25 lap times. The lap times continued to tumble with the first sub 1'25 lap occurring during the session. Corser posted the fastest time with minutes to go - 1'24.731 - and went into Superpole in first position. Haga started Superpole in sixth.
Haga was first to do his Superpole lap and joined the 1'24 club with his best time so far of the weekend. He remained in pole position until Bayliss beat him by 0.02 seconds. Corser was the final man to complete the Superpole lap and he secured fifth place start for tomorrow's race. Haga has finished six out of the eight races ever held at Silverstone on the podium and he maintains his 100% record of front row starts here.
Shinichi Nakatomi put in a courageous ride today and made some improvement from yesterday's sessions to qualify in 18th place. The Team Yamaha YZF rider had a pain killer injection this morning to help the pain in his foot and managed to knock five seconds off his best time from Friday.
Noriyuki Haga (2nd - Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team)"Today's Superpole was good. I had a good lap with no mistakes and even got my best lap time so far this weekend. It is annoying to be beaten by such a small margin but I am happy with front row. Tomorrow I hope it is sunny but I suspect it won't be! If it does rain it will be a bit of a gamble as we have not had a wet practice yet this weekend. It could end up being a survival race if we have no wet practice but a wet race - we will have to wait and see."
Troy Corser (5th - Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team)"Today we have made a lot of adjustments to our set up, constantly checking and refining where possible. I still lack some confidence in braking at the end of the back straight which we will work on before the race. It was good to see my name at the top of the board after the qualifying session this morning, it shows we have made progress and have the potential to win here. If it rains everyone will be in a similar position so it could prove very interesting."
Massimo Meregalli (Team Coordinator, Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team)"Today we showed that the potential is good for both Troy and Nori. We will make final adjustments tonight but both riders are happy with what they have found over the last two days. Tomorrow will probably be wet so most of the work that we have done will need to be modified. I still have a good feeling, though, for tomorrow with both riders whether it is wet or dry."
Shinichi Nakatomi (18th - Team Yamaha YZF)"I was in pain this morning but the pain killer helped a bit. I am lucky it was dry this morning and I managed to qualify. All I can say about tomorrow is that I will do my best under the circumstances."
Circuit Length: 3619
Temp: 16
Weather: Dry
Superpole WSB Silverstone:
1. Troy Bayliss - Ducati - AUS 1'24.558
2. Noriyuki Haga - Yamaha - JPN 1'24.577
3. James Toseland - Honda - GBR 1'24.621
4. Lorenzo Lanzi - Ducati - ITA 1'24.810
5. Troy Corser - Yamaha - AUS 1'25.164
6. Ruben Xaus - Ducati - ESP 1'25.299
7. Yukio Kagayama - Suzuki - JPN 1'25.597
8. Max Biaggi - Suzuki - ITA 1'25.866
9. Karl Muggeridge - Honda - AUS 1'25.886
10. Joshua Brookes - Honda - AUS 1'26.116
11. Fonsi Nieto - Kawasaki - ESP 1'26.175
12. Jakub Smrz - Ducati - CZE 1'26.365
13. Roberto Rolfo - Honda - ITA 1'26.488
14. Regis Laconi - Kawasaki - FRA 1'26.661
15. Michel Fabrizio - Honda - ITA 1'26.933
Qualifying 2:
Pos. - Rider - Nat. - QUAL I - QUAL II1. Troy Corser - AUS 1'26.408 - 1'24.731
2. James Toseland - GBR 1'26.203 - 1'24.999
3. Troy Bayliss - AUS 1'25.295 - 1'25.726
4. Ruben Xaus - ESP 1'26.328 - 1'25.337
5. Lorenzo Lanzi - ITA 1'25.952 - 1'25.447
6 .Noriyuki Haga - JPN 1'26.689 - 1'25.505
7. Fonsi Nieto - ESP 1'27.707 - 1'25.704
8. Michel Fabrizio - ITA 1'26.724 - 1'25.917
9. Regis Laconi - FRA 1'26.847 - 1'25.946
10. Max Biaggi - ITA 1'27.464 - 1'25.957
11. Max Neukirchner - GER 1'27.356 - 1'25.982
12. Yukio Kagayama - JPN 1'27.436 - 1'26.021
13. Karl Muggeridge - AUS 1'27.280 - 1'26.119
14. Jakub Smrz - CZE 1'28.976 - 1'26.222
15 .Roberto Rolfo - ITA 1'27.473 - 1'26.763
18. Shinichi Nakatomi - JPN 1'31.902 - 1'26.970
Related News
