Two dry days of qualifying saw each PSG-1 Kawasaki Corse rider, Régis Laconi and Makoto Tamada, qualify with ease for the Superpole session, with Tamada eventually finishing up 12th on the grid.
Tamada had also found himself 12th going into Superpole but on qualifying tyres he set a weekend best of 1’34.930 in the final one-lap contest that determines the front four rows of the grid, putting down a good marker for raceday.
Around the 4.005km Valencia circuit in Spain, Laconi was 13th before Superpole and 15th afterwards, earning a fourth row start - one row behind his team-mate. He did not enjoy the same level of gradual improvement in his machine set-up as Tamada at this race and had to fight hard, particularly when running a qualifying spec.
The races at Valencia will be run over 23 laps, with the first starting at 12 noon, the second at 15.30 local time.
Makoto Tamada:
“The biggest satisfaction we can take from today was the battle in Superpole. I’m happy about the progressive improvement that I made together with the team. We worked very well and achieved a balanced machine. I’m sure that the hard work and the continuous support we have from Kawasaki will soon bring us our rewards. I know this circuit and a good start can make the difference, so realise I have to get off the line well and gain some early positions.”
Régis Laconi “I cannot say that I’m that happy even though I improved my time a bit. Today, track conditions were different from yesterday and the bike started to chatter again. We have to adapt the bike to make me able to push the way I really want. Right now I cannot do it because as soon as I try to make up a few tenths the bike starts to chatter. Tomorrow we’ll try different solutions during warm-up in order to improve our race times.”
