Parkalgar Honda’s pairing of Eugene Laverty and Miguel Praia put in a solid performance during first qualifying for round two of the World Supersport Championship at Losail in Qatar, with Laverty grabbing seventh and Praia finishing in fourteenth position.
Both riders vastly improved their lap times from free practice and have a direction in which to go for tomorrow’s second qualifying where they are hoping to secure front-row starts. Yamaha’s Cal Crutchlow took provisional pole position with a time of 2min 2.634secs. The World Supersport race starts at 11:25 CET on Saturday 14th March.
Eugene: “The session finished well as I am seventh and, provisionally, on the second row of the grid. I’m happy with how things are progressing as we have been working through different tyre options. I started out on a hard tyre and then went for the softer one which was an improvement. I took a big chunk off my lap time from free practice this morning and I’ve dropped my time by around three seconds, so we are definitely getting there. We have a few changes to make to the front end of my Parkalgar Honda and I know once we get that how I want it I will feel even more confident than I do at the moment. I’m looking forward to tomorrow.”
Miguel: “All of the session I was pretty competitive and I stayed near the front for a long time, it was only at the end that I dropped my position. We were working on adjusting the bike for the race and I put in a lot of fast, consistent laps at a good pace. My Parkalgar Honda is fast and I know I can run race distance. Tomorrow we will concentrate on lap times. I’m very happy with the session, my position of fourteenth isn’t so good but I will work on that tomorrow.”
Simon Buckmaster, Team Manager Parkalgar Honda: ”That session went well for us. Eugene is just 0.48secs off pole, we are just chipping away at the lap times and we are looking in good shape for the race. Miguel is just 0.7secs off the pace and I know he will improve tomorrow. This circuit improves on the second day and we have a few changes to try so we will be improving too. We will be aiming for the front row tomorrow and I think we are in good shape.”
First Qualifying
1 C. Crutchlow (GBR) Yamaha YZF R6 2′02.634
2 F. Foret (FRA) Yamaha YZF R6 2′02.772
3 K. Sofuoglu (TUR) Honda CBR600RR 2′02.883
4 M. Lagrive (FRA) Honda CBR600RR 2′02.950
5 M. Aitchison (AUS) Honda CBR600RR 2′03.065
6 J. Lascorz (ESP) Kawasaki ZX-6R 2′03.111
7 E. Laverty (IRL) PARKALGAR HONDA CBR600RR 2′03.114
8 G. McCoy (AUS) Triumph Daytona 675 2′03.177
9 A. West (AUS) Honda CBR600RR 2′03.253
10 A. Pitt (AUS) Honda CBR600RR 2′03.282
14 M. Praia (POR) PARKALGAR HONDA CBR600RR 2′03.410
