From a press release issued by FGSPORTGROUP, organizers of the FIM Endurance World Championship:

Imola 200 Final Qualifying

2002 World Champions Take Pole Position

Today’s two qualifying sessions for the 200 Miglia di Imola saw a succession of blistering fastest laps from the leading contenders. After the first session Zongshen No.1’s Warwick Nowland was a mere two hundredths of a second ahead of Piergiorgio Bontempi on the Zongshen No.2 bike, with Mike Edwards in third place on the Trackdaze No.11 machine only four tenths adrift.

Nowland went out at the end of the second session with a special Dunlop tyre fitted, and trimmed half a second off his time, putting the No.1 Zongshen bike firmly into pole position. Suzuki GB Phase One’s Olivier Four and James Ellison managed to refine their bike’s set-up and Four was able to go nearly two seconds faster, moving up to second on the grid. Third place went to Bontempi and the Zongshen 2 machine, with Edwards managing to hold onto fourth place despite the Trackdaze Suzuki being virtually standard.

Fifth place went to Ducati Cuneo, with Foti a clear four seconds faster than his team mates Gerbaudo and former world champion Lucchinelli. In sixth place was Yamaha Austria. They had suffered an engine problem earlier in the day when a number of cam retaining bolts failed, but will be back to full power for the race.

Police Nationale took seventh, a real achievement by the team who have had very little time to prepare their bikes. Yamaha Endurance Moto 38 were eighth, Bolliger Kawasaki ninth and Ducati DRE 101 tenth.

Warwick Nowland – Zongshen No.1: Everything has gone well; this is our first race since Vallelunga but everyone has worked very hard. The race tomorrow will probably be between us and the other Zongshen bike. We’re the two most consistent team, but anything can happen in a race.

Stephane Mertens – Zongshen No.1: I feel like I’ve come back very well after recovering from my injuries over the winter. I can smile now because my lap times are getting close to Warwick and I’m happy with the team.

James Ellison – Suzuki GB Phase One No.3: We were working on race set-up rather than going for the fastest lap, and we’re not using qualifying tyres. There’s still more to come from Olivier and I.

Piergiorgio Bontempi – Zongshen No.2: I tried to push very hard today because it’s a long race tomorrow.

Mike Edwards – Trackdaze No.11: I thought we’d be happy with a top ten position because the bike is completely standard. We’re trying to get a set up that suits all three of us; as my team mates get quicker the settings we’re using get closer to my ideal.