It all came down to Superpole today as the Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team battled to take third and fifth qualifying positions for tomorrow's race at Brands Hatch. Haga, using his usual wild riding style, put in a flying lap in Superpole to top the leader board. He was only beaten by Bayliss and Toseland, who went first and second respectively. He'd made steady progress throughout the day on his set-up and the improvement showed when he went second fastest in free practice just prior to Superpole.
Corser was on good form today, finishing this morning's qualifying session in second place overall. He then topped the board in the afternoon's practice, having completed a long run during the hour-long session.
The Team Yamaha YZF squad had success today with both their riders qualifying for Superpole. Steve Martin, who is due to ride in the next British Superbike round for the Virgin Media Optima Loans Yamaha team next weekend, has joined the team for this weekend to provide them with some comparison testing between the UK and French-run teams' R1s. Steve has a wealth of experience and this showed as he moved up through the leader board during the day. He went into Superpole in 11th and maintained this grid position to start ahead of Laconi. Shinichi Nakatomi put yesterday's crash behind him and took half a second off his time to qualify 16th.
A podium from either Haga or Corser tomorrow will give Yamaha its 150th WSB podium, an achievement narrowly missed out on at Brno two weeks ago.
Noriyuki Haga (3rd - Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team)"I'm disappointed to have missed out on pole today. I've struggled with finding some good rear feeling but we are getting there. I'm confident I can go faster with that resolved. Tomorrow is going to be a tough race; Toseland has a fast pace. But that doesn't mean I won't be up there on the podium!"
Troy Corser (5th - Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team)"Today's result is okay, obviously I'd like to be higher up the grid but I'm happier with fifth than fourth because it puts me on the outside and in a better position for the first corner. I didn't make any mistakes on my Superpole lap. We ran a slightly different torque setting to what we'd had in practice and maybe we could've done with less effect than we had but I'm comfortable with all the set-up progress we made today. My race times are pretty close to Toseland's and, if I can manage that again tomorrow I'll be looking good for a high finishing position."
Massimo Meregalli (Team Coordinator, Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team)
"We've solved most of the setting issues we had and we've made good progress today; better than yesterday. Corser did a good long run this afternoon and has chosen a tyre. Tonight, as we always do, we'll check everything and then we'll be ready for the race. I'm quite confident for tomorrow."
Steve Martin (11th - Team Yamaha YZF)
"Today I've tried both my Virgin Yamaha British Superbike and the Team Yamaha YZF bike and I feel that they both have the same potential. I'm looking forward to tomorrow."
Shinichi Nakatomi (16th - Team Yamaha YZF)"I changed some of my settings for today and, bit by bit, the bike's feeling better. I'm very pleased that I qualified for Superpole after all the lost time because of my crash yesterday. I'm hoping that I can have as good a race tomorrow as I had at Brno two weeks ago."
Martial Garcia (Team Manager, Team Yamaha YZF)"After yesterday's crash it was a pleasant surprise to see Tomi qualify for Superpole, especially as his back and feet are hurting. This reinforces to me that our Brno race result was not by chance and that the bike is getting better and better. Steve is a great rider with lots of experience and I'm pleased to have him working with us this weekend. He loves Brands and 11th position is a good reflection of the team work between us all."
Circuit Length: 4197
Temp: 24
Weather: Dry
2007 WSB Brands Hatch 04/08/2007:
Superpole:
1. Troy Bayliss - Ducati - AUS 1'25.607
2. James Toseland - Honda - GBR 1'25.635
3. Noriyuki Haga - Yamaha - JPN 1'25.878
4. Yukio Kagayama - Suzuki - JPN 1'25.961
5. Troy Corser - Yamaha - AUS 1'26.127
6. Max Biaggi - Suzuki - ITA 1'26.200
7. Ruben Xaus - Ducati - ESP 1'26.476
8. Lorenzo Lanzi - Ducati - ITA 1'26.488
9. Roberto Rolfo - Honda - ITA 1'26.717
10. Michel Fabrizio - Honda - ITA 1'26.946
11. Steve Martin - Yamaha - AUS 1'26.946
12. Regis Laconi - Kawasaki - FRA 1'27.260
13. Karl Muggeridge - Honda - AUS 1'27.343
14. Max Neukirchner - Suzuki - GER 1'27.449
15. Fonsi Nieto - Kawasaki - ESP 1'27.564
16. Shinichi Nakatomi - Yamaha - JPN 1'27.817
Related News
