Castrol Suzuki Takes World Endurance Pole Position In Germany

Castrol Suzuki Takes World Endurance Pole Position In Germany

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Suzuki Castrol Pole Position Yamaha Austria Second, Yamaha Phase One Third Provisional pole position for tomorrow’s Oschersleben 24 Hours round of the FIM World Endurance Championship has been taken by Suzuki Castrol’s Matthieu Lagrive with a time of 1:29.960. He beat his team mate Vincent Philippe normally the star of world endurance qualifying by just one hundredth of a second. Second place went to Yamaha Austria’s Gwen Giabbani, half a second behind Suzuki Castrol and just under a tenth of a second faster than third placed Damian Cudlin for Yamaha Phase One Endurance. Tomorrow’s race looks set to be a battle between these three teams, with fourth in qualifying Kawasaki Bolliger fighting for fourth place in the race. Suzuki Fagersjo-el.se were fifth and JLC Ultimateam sixth. The latter bike is a Suzuki engined special with a radical hub-centre-steering front suspension system. Shell Endurance Academy’s Calvin Hogan was seventh, Yamaha Racing Team Hepelmann eighth, Ducati Spring Team ninth and Suzuki Bridgestone Bikers Profi tenth. Only three of the top ten teams’ first riders were fastest this morning, suggesting that the track may have warmed up over the course of the qualifying sessions. Crashers so far have included Fagersjo-el.se’s Paul Young during first qualifying, Aprilia Motociclismo Test Team who have had to source a new frame from a local dealer, and Suzuki No Limits & RT who returned from the first night practice session on the back of the recovery truck. Qualifying Quotes Matthieu Lagrive, Suzuki Castrol, first place: “I’m very happy; I’m doing this for the team and for the championship. I’m just doing my job; I came here for a ride and”¦ For sure I wanted to go faster; it’s very hard here because there is a lot of traffic and I lost time on a lot of laps. I wanted to do a 1:28. The bike is okay for the race, Vincent and Keiichi are okay, we will ride easy for the finish.” Gwen Giabbani, Yamaha Austria, second place: “Qualifying was okay. I aimed for a better result, to be closer to Suzuki Castrol, but second place on the grid is not so bad; I’m happy with that. I am confident for the race because I know the team is good in the pits, for refuelling and everything, and my team mates and I are all doing the same lap times.” Damian Culdin, Yamaha Phase One Endurance, third place: “Qualifying went to plan, really. I struggled a lot with the set-up of the bike when I first turned up here; it’s different to what it’s been all year and I wasn’t here for the testing. We tried something last night in the night practice session, and I found some more speed today. I managed to do the team’s quickest lap of the weekend; I actually feel like I’ve got a 1:29 in my bones, but when I was on a good lap I had to pass people.” Provisional Qualifying Top Ten 1st 2 – Suzuki Castrol Team FRA Suzuki GSX-R1000 M.Lagrive 1:29.960 2nd 7 – Yamaha Austria 7 AUT Yamaha YZF-R1 G. Giabanni 1:30.517 3rd 3 – Yamaha Phase One Endurance GBR Yamaha YZF-R1 D.Cudlin 1:30.608 4th 8 – Bolliger Team Switzerland SUI Kawasaki ZX10R R.Stamm 1:31.128 5th 12 – Suzuki Fagersjo-el.se SWE Suzuki GSX-R1000 M.Christer 1:31.687 6th 45 JLC Moto Ulteamatum FRA JBB Suzuki A.Delhalle 1:31.702 7th 6 Shell Endurance Academy GBR Yamaha YZF-R1 C.Hogan 1:32.368 8th 92 Racing Team Hepelmann GER Yamaha YZF-R1 R.Kraechter 1:32.405 9th 10 Ducati Team Spring ITA Ducati 999RS L.Mauri 1:32.719 10th 5 Suzuki Bridgestone Bikers GER Suzuki GSX-R1000 T. Roethig 1:32.875 More, from a press release issued by Team Suzuki: Team Suzuki Castrol’s Matthieu Lagrive has taken pole position for tomorrow’s World Endurance fourth round at Oschersleben in Germany with a time of 1:29.960 after beating team-mate Vincent Philippe by a hundredth-of-a-second. The World Championship-leading GSX-R1000-mounted SERT team headed Yamaha Austria’s Gwen Giabbani by half a second with third-placed Damian Cudlin of the Yamaha Phase One Endurance squad a tenth-of-a-second further back. Tomorrow’s race looks set to be a battle between these three teams with Kawasaki Bolliger fighting for fourth place. Suzuki Fagersjo-el.se was fifth and JLC Ultimateam sixth riding a Suzuki-engined special with a radical hub-centre-steering front suspension system. Shell Endurance Academy’s Calvin Hogan was seventh, Yamaha Racing Team Hepel-mann eighth, Ducati Spring Team ninth and Suzuki Bridgestone Bikers Profi tenth. Only three of the top 10 teams’ first riders were fastest this morning, suggesting that the track may have warmed up over the course of the qualifying sessions. Crashers so far have included Fagersjo-el.se’s Paul Young during first qualifying, Aprilia Motociclismo Test Team who have had to source a new frame from a local dealer and Suzuki No Limits & RT who returned from the first night practice session on the back of the recovery truck. Said Lagrive: “I’m very happy. I’m doing this for the team and for the championship. I’m just doing my job. I came here for a ride and, for sure, I wanted to go faster. It’s very hard here because there is a lot of traffic and I lost time on a lot of laps. I wanted to do a 1:28. The bike is ok for the race, Vincent and Keiichi are okay and we will ride easy for the finish.” Suzuki Castrol team manager Dominique Meliand added: “We will race for the Championship, not just for a win at Oschersleben tomorrow. The World Endurance Championship is very important for the Suzuki factory.” Provisional Qualifying: 1 Suzuki Castrol Team – FRA – (Suzuki GSX-R1000) – M.Lagrive – 1:29.960. 2 Yamaha Austria 7 – AUT – (Yamaha YZF-R1) – G. Giabanni – 1:30.517. 3 Yamaha Phase One Endurance – GBR – (Yamaha YZF-R1) – D.Cudlin – 1:30.608. 4 Bolliger Team Switzerland – SUI – (Kawasaki ZX10R) – R.Stamm – 1:31.128. 5 Suzuki Fagersjo-el.se – SWE – (Suzuki GSX-R1000) – M.Christer – 1:31.687. 6 JLC Moto Ulteamatum – FRA – (JBB Suzuki) – A.Delhalle – 1:31.702. 7 Shell Endurance Academy – GBR – (Yamaha YZF-R1) – C.Hogan – 1:32.368. 8 Racing Team Hepelmann – GER – (Yamaha YZF-R1) – R.Kraechter – 1:32.405. 10 Ducati Team Spring – ITA – (Ducati 999RS) – L.Mauri – 1:32.719. 10 Suzuki Bridgestone Bikers – GER – (Suzuki GSX-R1000) – T. Roethig – 1:32.875.

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