Regis Laconi (PSG-1 Kawasaki Corse Ninja ZX-10R) was in dazzling form in pre-Superpole qualifying, setting a new track best and qualifying fastest rider before Superpole decided the final grid positions. His best ever time stood until eventual Superpole winner Noriyuki Haga set an even faster lap. Laconi’s lap time in the pre-Superpole session was better than his Superpole mark, and thus Laconi dropped down from provisional pole to seventh on the grid for Sunday’s two 18-lap races.
Fonsi Nieto (PSG-1 Kawasaki Corse Ninja ZX-10R) was 13th before Superpole and stayed in that position after Superpole. Both Laconi and Nieto used new specifications of engines at Monza, because of all the high-speed sections, with Laconi feeling the most benefit.
A third rider joined the team for this race, with Mauro Sanchini(PSG-1 Kawasaki Corse Ninja ZX-10R) qualifying 19th out of 25 riders, just missing out on Superpole qualification.
Regis Laconi: “The crash in the afternoon free session just shouldn’t have happened! It’s a miracle that my foot is not broken because it was trapped under the bike and the pain was bad. Because of this accident I couldn’t try the qualifying tyre before Superpole and this penalized my final time a lot. Then I made some mistakes in the Superpole lap because my psychological condition was not ideal after the crash. Anyway I think that getting onto the second row was not a bad result. The new engine has a good top speed, this is what we need in this kind of circuit.”
Fonsi Nieto: “Of course I am not satisfied with the result of Superpole but I feel the race pace I have is good. I tried our new engine spec but without feeling the difference that Regis felt. We have problems entering the corners right now, as the bike wants to go wide. We have to concentrate on that during warm-up tomorrow to be able to play my cards during the races.”
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