American Jacobsen Takes Career-First World Supersport Pole Position, In Malaysia

American Jacobsen Takes Career-First World Supersport Pole Position, In Malaysia

© 2015, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

FIM Supersport World Championship

Sepang International Circuit, Malaysia

August 1, 2015

Qualifying Results (All on Pirelli tires):

1. PJ JACOBSEN, USA (Honda CBR600RR), 2:08.244

2. Kenan SOFUOGLU, Turkey (Kawasaki ZX-6R), 2:08.424

3. Jules CLUZEL, France (MV Agusta F3 675), 2:08.462

4. Roberto ROLFO, Italy (Honda CBR600RR), 2:09.159

5. Lorenzo ZANETTI, Italy (MV Agusta F3 675), 2:09.246

6. Gino REA, UK (Honda CBR600RR), 2:09.246

7. Kyle SMITH, UK (Honda CBR600RR), 2:09.361, crash

8. Alex BALDOLINI, Italy (MV Agusta F3 675), 2:09.393

9. Christian GAMARINO, Italy (Kawasaki ZX-6R), 2:09.472

10. Marco FACCANI, Italy (Kawasaki ZX-6R), 2:10.010

11. Martin CARDENAS, Colombia (Honda CBR600RR), 2:10.244

More, from a press release issued by CIA Landlords Insurance Honda:

Scintillating sixth for Gino

CIA LANDLORDS INSURANCE HONDA’S Gino Rea left it until the last lap to post his fastest time and secure sixth on the grid for tomorrow’s ninth round of the World Supersport Championship at Sepang in Malaysia.

Gino said: “I posted a fast lap right at the end and it felt good. I think I can follow the guys ahead of me on the grid. I am comfortable on my CIA Landlords Insurance Honda; the team has done a fantastic job this weekend. It’s going to be another hard race and I’ll be giving it my all.”

Martin Cardenas qualified in 11th place and has shown good speed all weekend. Aiden Wagner is an impressive 15th, only one position ahead of teammate Ratthapong Wilairot in 16th, both doing good jobs on their first weekend with the CIA Landlords Insurance Honda team.

There is a warm up in the morning ahead of the race at 1500 local time on Sunday, August 2nd.

CIA Landlords Insurance Honda’s Simon Buckmaster said: “We worked hard through practice in the two dry sessions to get the balance right for Gino. He had to work hard to get on the pace himself as well. At the end he put in a good lap for the second row of grid. It is a decent confidence boost for him and we are looking strong for a top five in the race.

“It was a good session for Martin after a fast off in FP3. When you crash you always lose a little momentum, so it is not so bad, he can challenge inside top 10.

“Aiden and Ratthapong are doing well, it is always hard to come into the World Championship late in the season when everyone is riding fast. They lost a session in the wet where they are both strong. Both made big step forward today that is good to see and we can expect them to challenge in the points tomorrow.”

More, from a press release issued by Kawasaki:

Sofuoglu Second On The Sepang WSS Grid

Ninja ZX-6R rider Kenan Sofuoglu (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) scored second place after an intense qualifying session in the FIM Supersport World Championship round at Sepang in Malaysia, putting him in the front row starting position he always aims for at each round.

The weather conditions were dry for the lone WSS qualifying session and the usual championship top three contenders – points leader Sofuoglu, Jules Cluzel and PJ Jacobsen – fought it out for pole, with Sofuoglu 0.180 seconds from the very top.

Working as always towards raceday Sofuoglu and his team made real improvements on the second day of practice and qualifying. After morning warm-up is completed on Sunday Kenan will aim for his fifth win of the season to extend his current championship lead of 20 points.

Christian Gamarino (Go Eleven Kawasaki) was second best Kawasaki qualifier, going ninth on the grid for a third row start. One place and one row behind, Marco Faccani (San Carlo Puccetti Racing Kawasaki) is now looking forward to his first WSS race start at Sepang. Dominic Schmitter (Team Go Eleven Kawasaki) placed himself 14th after qualifying.

Kenan Sofuoglu: “The team did a really good job today and compared to yesterday they found some big improvements. This is not an easy track for our bike as it is does not like a bumpy circuit so much, but the team managed to find a good setup and we achieved a good lap time. I think for the race tomorrow it will not be easy but I will fight for the win and the 25 points because I really need them.”

More, from a press release issued by Pata Honda:

Seventh for Smith in Sepang

Kyle Smith will start tomorrow’s ninth-round World Supersport championship race from the third row of the grid after setting the seventh fastest time in this afternoon’s qualifying session at Sepang in Malaysia as fellow Honda CBR600RR rider P J Jacobsen took his maiden pole position.

The Pata Honda rider had a good debut at the 5.543km Sepang circuit yesterday but struggled with inconsistent grip levels today, and found it difficult to improve his lap times in spite of a fully dry circuit compared to yesterday’s variable conditions.

Halfway through the 45-minute qualifying session, having just set the second fastest time, Smith, 23, crashed his CBR but was able to return to his box for repairs. However, with just ten minutes remaining in the session, the British rider was unable to improve and slipped to seventh place in the rankings.

Smith and his team are confident of a good pace for tomorrow’s 14-lap race and will be aiming to return to the podium for the first time since April.

Kyle Smith – P7, 2m09.361s

We had big problems with tyre grip today, with one tyre working OK and giving good grip and then another with exactly the same compound giving no grip and just spinning up a lot. I did my best lap of the weekend on a good tyre and then I crashed the following lap when I was trying to push a little bit harder. Luckily there wasn’t much damage so I was able to get out again with ten minutes to go. We used exactly the same specification tyre but, again, there was no grip. Apart from that, and the position we’re in, everything’s pretty good!

Pieter Breddels – technical co-ordinator

Today was not what we really expected after a positive day yesterday. We had some issues with tyre grip today and Kyle suffered a bit from that. His small crash in qualifying didn’t help and he ended up seventh. We’re not sure yet which tyre to pick for the race so we’ll have another look at that in the morning. Then we’ll hope for a good start and for Kyle to be battling near the front in the race.

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