Cal Crutchlow (Yamaha Sterilgarda) set a blistering 2 minute 05.664 second lap at Silverstone to head up the first qualifying session at his home track. Next up was the Hannspree Ten Kate Honda of Jonathan Rea, a fraction in front of BMW Motorrad Motorsport man Troy Corser, then the first Aprilia Alitalia bike, ridden by another Brit, Leon Camier. Michel Fabrizio (Ducati Xerox) made it five different bikes in the top five places with one qualifying session to go.
Jonathan Rea finished second fastest in today’s opening qualifying session for Sunday’s two tenth round World Superbike championship races at Silverstone in the UK. The 23-year-old had topped the earlier free practice session but had to cede provisional pole position to fellow Brit, Cal Crutchlow.
After taking a win and a second place last time out at Brno in the Czech Republic, Rea’s good form continued into last weekend’s prestigious Suzuka 8 Hour race, where he finished on the podium, and the Northern Irishman relished Silverstone’s new 5.902km layout in today’s two sessions.
His Hannspree Ten Kate Honda team-mate, Max Neukirchner, also liked the new circuit, although, like many other riders, its bumps caused him some issues. The German rider finished 18th fastest today, after crashing unhurt at turn one towards the end of the qualifying session.
Neukirchner had just put in a new rear Pirelli fo r a faster lap but the crash ended his session. His Honda CRB1000RR righted itself, however, and went head on into a track-side barrier, causing extensive damage.
Jonathan Rea – P2 2’06.006s
I really enjoyed riding the circuit today – it’s like it fills me full of happy pills because it’s all new and fresh! The bike is working OK straight away and I got up to a good rhythm pretty much from the off and qualifying was good. We’ve still got some more work to do tomorrow but I’m looking forward to making improvements. The bumps are bumps and they’re same for everybody and we spent this afternoon working more on the gearing and trying to get the right compromise for that. But it’s always fun when you come to a new circuit – the layout’s really nice, but it’s just that the bumps and the surface isn’t great.
Troy Corser (AUS) finished the first qualifying session in third, setting a very good base for the weekend and showing the potential of the BMW S 1000 RR. His team mate, Ruben Xaus (ESP), also looked good with quick lap times in practice and qualifying, but got stuck in traffic on his last run. Ruben finished 16th. Both riders quickly got to grips with the new layout of the Silverstone circuit.
Troy Corser:
Fastest lap Free Practice: 2:07.689 min (5th) / Fastest lap Qualifying 1: 2:06.052 min (3rd)
“Silverstone is a completely new circuit for our team. The track is very bumpy, and you feel them a lot because it is quite a high speed track. There are a couple of corners that are bumpy at the entry. We still haven’t got the bike set-up right, as it is not really absorbing the bumps very well. Therefore I have to take a lot more risks than I like to set a good time. As usual, on a completely new track, we have to find the right braking points and the right lines. This can create some confusion for the engineers. But I am not too worried. The guys now have a lot of data to look at, and I know we can set good lap times. I am a 100 per cent fit and looking forward to tomorrow.”
Shane Byrne also likes the new-look circuit but, having recorded the sixth fastest time in free practice, he
dropped back a little in qualifying.
Both Ducati Xerox riders made continuous and steady improvement during the first practice session, concentrating on the "hard" rear tyres, but, perhaps inevitably, it was the British contingent who were quickest off the mark, all seven of them closing the first session in the top nine, ahead of Noriyuki in tenth and Michel in thirteenth.
Exchanging the rear for a softer compound at the start of first qualifying seemed to make a significant difference to lap times with an improvement of a second and a half for both Haga and Fabrizio. They remained in the top five for the best part of the session, during which various modifications were made to the set-up of the Ducati 1198 machines, with riders also trying different tyre configurations. A final fast lap for Michel saw him close first qualifying in fifth position but with the same lap time (2m06.0) as Rea, Corser and Camier, respectively second, third and fourth. Noriyuki, losing valuable tenths in the first split mainly due to problems with grip, eventually closed day one in twelfth place
Leon Haslam and Sylvain Guintoli gave the thumbs-up to the new British Silverstone circuit after spending the day learning the new layout - and look forward to improving their positions tomorrow at the 10th round of the World Superbike Championship.
Haslam finished eighth fastest and was the happier of the duo, although Guintoli is upbeat about his prospects tomorrow, despite ending the day 17th in the standings.
Carlos Checa completed twenty laps in qualifying and, having got to grips with the layout, was able to
push, finishing the session, as he did the free practice, inside the top ten.