Following an afternoon of mixed weather, the Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team has finished day one of qualifying with Haga and Corser in provisional third and fifth positions respectively. Both riders started the day in the top six during this morning's free practice but it was the weather that changed everyone's plans when the qualifying session was declared wet after a sudden rain shower at the start. Everyone went out initially but came in after only one out lap as the back of the circuit was wet. With Sunday's dry forecast making wet laps pointless, there was then no further on-track activity until 30 minutes into the session when the sun had dried the tarmac sufficiently.
Both Corser and Haga went out with about 20 minutes left and Haga went into provisional pole, where he stayed until being knocked off it in the last minute by Lanzi and Bayliss. Corser qualified in a comfortable fifth position, only 0.002 seconds behind Nieto in fourth and 0.463 seconds behind pole.
Team Yamaha YZF rider Shinichi Nakatomi had a good start to today going seventh fastest in this morning's session, but the rain prevented him from making an initial qualifying position higher than 18th. Following Nakatomi's two ninth places last weekend, which was a personal best for the Japanese rider, FGSport have asked the team to consider fielding a two-man team in 2008.
It was on this day in 1997 that Haga made his first front row start at Sugo, Japan; his count of front row starts now stands at 38. He went on to score his first race win in race one that same weekend and take the 25th fastest lap in Yamahas history.
Noriyuki Haga (3rd - 1'41.402 - Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team)"I couldn't get some of my settings sorted today because of the rain, which forced us to sit in the pit box for almost 40 minutes. I'm feeling good anyway. We made some good progress this morning and I've got a good feeling for the bike. We just need to make some engine adjustments and I will decide on my tyre tomorrow; we tried two tyres today and tomorrow I'll confirm which is the best. Other than that it's business as usual. All the times are close so I need to focus on finding the best set-up possible in order to make a 1'40 lap time and be up the top."
Troy Corser (5th - 1'41.423 - Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team)
"This afternoon was a bit like a wet Superpole session with everyone waiting until towards the end before going out. I only got two dry laps in during the whole session and the wet always makes it more difficult to read the track. I have struggled a bit today with rear grip; it was more that the tyre wasn't working enough rather than it wearing out. We'll have a look at the chassis settings to solve that. Today was my first session on this bike at this track and I feel like I've struggled a bit with the bike. Maybe I'm expecting too much of myself. The wet session didn't help either as it cut down the track time we effectively had today. The main thing is that we have a direction to go in tomorrow for the best set-up."
Massimo Meregalli (Team Coordinator, Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team)"Today both riders were pretty confident. They made some adjustments between first and second sessions and lost some time due to the wet second session but it seems that the best set-up is not so far away. The tyre choice is almost already done so tomorrow we can concentrate on being fastest for Superpole."
Shinichi Nakatomi (18th - 1'44.940 - Team Yamaha YZF)"Today didn't go so well for me because the rain meant I couldn't work so much on my set-up. It is a disappointing start to the weekend, especially after such a good result last weekend. But I'm confident that, if it stays dry, I will make better progress tomorrow and improve my grid position."
Circuit Length: 4411
Temp: 24
Weather: Wet
Qualifying 1 - WSB Magny Cours:1. Lorenzo Lanzi - Ducati - ITA 1'40.962
2. Troy Bayliss - Ducati - AUS 1'41.334
3. Noriyuki Haga - Yamaha - JPN 1'41.402
4. Fonsi Nieto - Kawasaki - ESP 1'41.423
5. Troy Corser - Yamaha - AUS 1'41.425
6. Ruben Xaus - Ducati - ESP 1'41.731
7. James Toseland - Honda - GBR 1'41.742
8. Regis Laconi - Kawasaki - FRA 1'41.840
9. Karl Muggeridge - Honda - AUS 1'42.012
10. Michel Fabrizio - Honda - ITA 1'42.136
11. Roberto Rolfo - Honda - ITA 1'42.147
12. Jakub Smrz - Ducati - CZE 1'42.376
13. Max Neukirchner - Suzuki - GER 1'42.397
14. Max Biaggi - Suzuki - ITA 1'42.620
15. Yoann Tiberio - Honda - FRA 1'43.132
18. Shinichi Nakatomi - Yamaha - JPN 1'44.616
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