PARKALGAR HONDA’S Eugene Laverty is in provisional second place and Miguel Praia eighth after the first qualifying session for the opening round of the World Supersport Championship at Phillip Island in Australia.
Searing temperatures meant a hot start to the track action although the forecast for Sunday’s race is provisionally for rain. There is another practice and final qualifying session tomorrow followed by the race at 1330 local time on Sunday, 28th February.
Eugene: “It was a really good day and we worked hard on the settings of my Parkalgar Honda from the test earlier in the week. We made a big change to the bike towards the end when we knew we had the right direction – we put more weight on the front – and it worked. I’ve done my fastest lap time since coming here and I think we have a good race pace although it will be close with Sofuoglu and Lascorz. There is a clear indication on who the favourites are and it will be important to look after our tyre. I got with the Kawasaki on track and it has good acceleration but all three of our bikes are similar in performance. Tomorrow I am going for a front row start and also to put in a few long runs to check tyre life and longevity.”
Miguel: “I worked with Eugene on track and followed him out of the final corner to try and improve my drive down the straight and it helped. I am very pleased to get into the 35s as that was our target today and the temperature was very high so we struggled for grip on the smaller tyre. On the bigger tyre we need to work more on bike set-up for consistency. Second row is my aim for the grid; it is very close between sixth and ninth.”
Simon Buckmaster, Parkalgar Honda Team Manager: “It has been hot here today with a track temperature of 54 degrees at one stage. Eugene towed Miguel several times and it certainly helped. There is nothing wrong with Miguel’s set-up and he is doing very well on the provisional second row in eighth, there is a chance he can improve on that either tomorrow or in the race. Eugene has been working on the balance of his Parkalgar Honda and has excellent race pace. It is a strong opening day for Parkalgar Honda but it will be a tough race.”
First Qualifying
1 26 Lascorz J. (ESP) Kawasaki ZX-6R 1′34.629
2 50 Laverty E. (IRL) PARKALGAR HONDA CBR600RR 1′34.634
3 54 Sofuoglu K. (TUR) Honda CBR600RR 1′34.683
4 37 Fujiwara K. (JPN) Kawasaki ZX-6R 1′34.783
5 51 Pirro M. (ITA) Honda CBR600RR 1′34.918
6 7 Davies C. (GBR) Triumph Daytona 675 1′34.939
7 99 Foret F. (FRA) Kawasaki ZX-6R 1′35.233
8 117 Praia M. (POR) PARKALGAR HONDA CBR600RR 1′35.762
9 16 Charpentier S. (FRA) Triumph Daytona 675 1′36.039
10 40 DiSalvo J. (USA) Triumph Daytona 675 1′36.208
