Mario Illien's fledgling MotoGP team completed their first official qualifying session today ahead of the Portuguese leg of the World Championship in Estoril. Australian Garry McCoy had a difficult task ahead of him as he tested out the qualifying tyres for the first time. Despite being hampered by a rear shock absorber problem, the team exceeded most expectations finishing only 5 percent off the qualifying pace - an astonishing feat considering the 20 percent reduction in capacity of the 800cc Ilmor X³.
Qualifying Classification: 20thTime: 1'41.260
Laps: 24
Top speed: 304.7 Km/h
Garry McCoy, Ilmor X³ Rider:“It was great to be out qualifying with the other guys again. So far this weekend is going to plan for us, everything is going smoothly. Every session we’ve managed to improve on time up until qualifying where we had a few problems, that’s to be expected though at this stage because we are still developing the bike.”
Mario Illien, Owner, Ilmor:“We finished qualifying without any dramas so I’m pleased about that but I’m frustrated that we couldn’t improve on the lap time. It was the first time we’ve had the X³ on qualifying tyres so we’ve learnt a lot during qualifying. We also had a rear shock absorber problem that we discovered after qualifying which might account for the loss in performance – now we know about it, we can fix it. Currently we’re focussing on producing the best possible set up for the race tomorrow. ”
Eskil Suter, Owner, and CEO Suter Racing Technology:“In all honesty I’m a little disappointed with qualifying. We had problems with the set up of the bike with the qualifying tyres and a minor rear shock absorber issue – we were faster in the practice session this morning. The bike seemed a little off-balance so now we definitely need to concentrate on improving the set up and finding the best solution for the race tomorrow.”
Steve Miller, Managing Director Ilmor:“I think today has demonstrated our reliability once again, we got through another test session and qualifying without any major hiccups. For sure there are things that need to be worked on now in the lead up to the race but I’m quietly confident that we are well on our way to achieving our objectives this weekend.”
Related Linkswww.ilmor.co.uk
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