BAYLISS MASTERS TRICKY CONDITIONS TO TAKE PROVISIONAL POLE WEATHER THE MAIN FACTOR ON OPENING DAY With early morning rains continuing for most of the day at Losail, the first untimed session proved to be fully wet, even though the timed afternoon session was held in slowly drying conditions. Troy Bayliss (Ducati Xerox) proved to be the rider with the greatest feel in the semi-wet track surface, scoring provisional pole with a time of 2’17.326. His team-mate Lorenzo Lanzi played it safe on day one, with better conditions expected on the second and final day, scoring 27th fastest time. An eclectic provisional front row included the PSG-1 Kawasakis of Regis Laconi (2nd) and Chris Walker (4th), with third place taken by the reigning World Champion, Tory Corser (Alstare Suzuki). BARROS TOP HONDA RIDER ON DAY ONE Riders with long experience, or accustomed to riding in a wide variety of extreme weather conditions, performed well on the ever-changing surface at Losail, as Yamaha Motor France IPONE rider Sebastien Gimbert proved by going fifth fastest on his R1. Gimbert’s team-mates, Norick Abe and Shinichi Nakatomi, went 12th and 24th fastest respectively. An SBK ‘rookie’ but the most experienced former MotoGP rider of all, Alex Barros (Klaffi Honda) was an impressive sixth fastest in his first competitive session, putting good knowledge of Qatar to the best possible use. Yamaha Motor Italia riders, Andrew Pitt and Noriyuki Haga took their red and white Yamaha R1s to seventh and eighth places, each handling the transitional track conditions with a cool head. KAWASAKI RIDERS MAKE GOOD EARLY STARTS IN LOSAIL New SBK™ inductee Franco Battaini (Kawasaki Bertocchi) may be riding a privateer 2005-spec ZX-10R for the first time this year, but his knowledge of Losail, allied to his impressive abilities, delivered him to ninth place on the provisional front row. A great opening day for Kawasaki riders in general put third Kawasaki PSG-1 rider, Fonsi Nieto, just behind Battaini, making him the fourth ZX-10 rider inside the top ten. CHILI LEADS MIDFIELD HONDA RIDERS DFX Treme Honda rider Pierfrancesco Chili called on all his seasons of experience to finish 11th fastest, with his young rookie SBK™ team-mate, Michel Fabrizio, in 20th place. Going the wrong way with settings in the changeable track conditions, the Winston Ten Kate Honda duo of Karl Muggeridge and James Toseland had an unhappy first day. Muggeridge scored 13th place, with Toseland 18th. DUCATI MAN ROLFO FORGES ON Another SBK™ ‘new boy’ Roberto Rolfo (Ducati SC Caracchi 999) made an assured debut for his team, finishing 14th out of 29 entrants, and ahead of Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra second rider, Yukio Kagayama. The top 16 was rounded out by a second year SBK™ rider, Max Neukirchner (Pedercini Ducati), competing in his first competitive Ducati session. The Petronas duo of Steve Martin and Craig Jones scored 17th and 23rd respectively. Despite still recovering from a broken leg, Ruben Xaus (Sterilgarda Berik Ducati) scored 21st best time, putting in 17 laps in the hour-long session. More, from a press release issued by Ducati Corse: BAYLISS (DUCATI XEROX) POWERS TO THE TOP ON HIS RETURN TO WORLD SUPERBIKES Losail (Qatar), Thursday 23 February: 2001 champion Troy Bayliss (Ducati Xerox) made a sensational return to World Superbikes by powering to the top of the timesheets in the opening qualifying session of 2006 at the Losail International Circuit in Qatar. Both the morning’s free practice session and afternoon qualifying were held in wet and rainy conditions, but the 36 year-old Australian was in terrific form on his Xerox Ducati 999, and he ended the session a full 1.7 seconds ahead of second-placed Régis Laconi (Kawasaki). “I’m not surprised to be up at the front to be honest” declared Troy, “and I’m really pleased with the way it went because it was the first time I’ve tried the Pirelli wets and I was happy with them. The bike worked well and we’re still using the basic set-up we’ve had since testing started. I expected to go a little bit faster before the end when we had an intermediate in the rear. Maybe it would have been OK if I had stayed out longer but I didn’t give it enough chance and put a harder rain tyre on which wasn’t quite as good as what I did two-thirds through the session. But all in all it turned out well and I hope we’re finished with the rain for this weekend and can move on to some dry weather”. Lorenzo Lanzi, who preferred not to go out in the morning’s free practice session, was not entirely at ease in today’s wet and slippery conditions. The Italian recorded a time of 2m26.171s, which put him in a provisional 27th slot. “I didn’t want to push too hard on the first day” declared Lorenzo, “because I’m pretty sure tomorrow it will be dry. I know that’s not much of an excuse because we’re in a world championship and so you should be present in all conditions, but it was the first day and I didn’t want to crash or do anything silly. It was difficult out there, you could lap quicker in the wet than on the damp track so I started off slowly just to check the conditions. Then when I began to push harder the track dried and it was slippery to the point that virtually no one was able to improve in the final part of the session. The other guys went out in the morning session and I didn’t so I wasn’t quite on the pace today but tomorrow for sure I will be present”. TIMES: 1. Bayliss (Ducati Xerox) 2m17.326s; 2. Laconi (Kawasaki) 2m19.064s; 3. Corser (Suzuki) 2m19.614s; 4. Walker (Kawasaki) 2m19.684s; 5. Gimbert (Yamaha) 2m19.687s; 6. Barros (Honda) 2m19.834s; 7. Pitt (Yamaha) 2m19.991s; 8. Haga (Yamaha) 2m20.164s; 9. Battaini (Kawasaki) 2m20.200s; 10. Nieto (Kawasaki) 2m20.469s; More, from a press release issued by Winston Ten Kate Honda: TRACK CONDITIONS DECIDE ALL IN FIRST 2006 SEASON QUALIFYING SESSION With the heavy rains that characterised most of the opening day of track action at Losail stopping before the end of the first timed Superbike session, Winston Ten Kate Honda rider Karl Muggeridge and James Toseland had to work hard to try and get into contention. With wet weather settings in place at the start of the one-hour timed session, but a drying line appearing slowly, the riders had no opportunity to adjust their machines to match the new conditions. Each rider is aware that today’s results may count for little, with the advent of better weather expected in the final qualifying and Superpole sessions on Friday. Muggeridge and Toseland opted not to take part in the morning session, held in fully wet conditions, but on the drying track in the afternoon Muggeridge was 13th fastest, Toseland 18th. An indication of the prevalent track conditions comes from the fact that fastest rider Troy Bayliss was still some 16 seconds from the previous track best. Ronald Ten Kate Team Manager “Today did not work out the way we wanted. The boys went out in timed qualifying but did not feel too comfortable on the bikes. We adjusted their bikes to make softer settings and then a dry line started to appear, so the adjustments proved to be the wrong way. Towards the end they could not improve their lap times, as the bikes were set-up for a wet track. Tomorrow will be dry and we will be moving up quite a bit then.” Karl Muggeridge SBK Winston Ten Kate Honda Rider (13th 2’21.152) “Not the best start but the good thing is we tried something we had never tried before in the wet. In the beginning it was not too bad, but in the end, when the track dried out, the feeling was terrible. By that stage, we had no time left to change. So we crossed paths, but we know how to improve in the dry tomorrow. I am not too bothered about today, the bike is running well and we are looking to tomorrow. No drama.” James Toseland SBK Winston Ten Kate Honda Rider (18th 2’21.732) “It took me a little while to get used to the conditions today. We put a softer spring in and put the ride height up, but maybe a bit too much. Going into the corners we had very little grip. We just ran out of time at the end to adjust the bike, and when you don’t have the right set-up in those conditions life is very difficult. To only be four seconds off, the way I was sliding and struggling, I felt that I would be ten seconds off. Tomorrow should be dry and Saturday the same, but even if it is wet, we now know how adjust the bike to suit now.” More, from a press release issued by Foggy Petronas Racing: Rain spoils first day action in Qatar Wet conditions on the first day of the new Superbike World Championship season hindered meaningful progress for Steve Martin and his new Foggy PETRONAS Racing team-mate Craig Jones. Craig showed encouraging early form in finishing the first practice session, ruined by the first rain in Qatar since last season’s SBK round, in sixth place. But as the track dried slightly for afternoon qualifying, and as times dropped, the FPR pair concentrated on set-up issues with typically dry and sunny conditions forecast for tomorrow and Saturday’s races. Troy Bayliss, returning to the series after a three-year absence, set the pace with a time of 2:17.326, while Steve was 17th with a fastest lap of 2:21.505. Craig finished his first day of Superbike World Championship competition in 23rd with a time of 2:24.221. Craig said: “I was pleased with the way this morning went and to get a feel for it straight away. It was awesome to be so high up so early and it was a big confidence booster to be ahead of the likes of Barros. That really gets your blood pumping. We had a stability problem this afternoon that we hadn’t managed to dial out from the morning session. I am hoping it will be dry tomorrow so that I can find a set-up, get stuck in and show what I can do.” Steve said: “I was happy with the handling of the bike when it was very wet. However, we hadn’t really run this new engine configuration in those conditions and we found some problems with the set-up. We know we can fix them and know which direction to go in, by adding some more weight to the front to make steer better. It was good to get the first day of the new season out of the way and I can’t wait for tomorrow.” Friday qualifying, Superbike World Championship, round 1, Losail, Qatar: 1 Bayliss (Ducati Xerox) 2:17.326; 2 Laconi (PSG-1 Kawasaki) 2:19.064; 3 Corser (Alstare Suzuki Corona) 2:19.614; 4 Walker (PSG-1 Kawasaki) 2:19.684; 5 Gimbert (Yamaha France) 2:19.687; 6 Barros (Klaffi Honda) 2:19.834; 7 Pitt (Yamaha Italia) 2:19.991; 8 Haga (Yamaha Italia) 2:20.164; 9 Battaini (Kawasaki Bertocchi) 2:20.200; 10 Nieto (PSG-1 Kawasaki) 2:20.469; 17 Martin (Foggy PETRONAS Racing) 2:21.505; 23 Jones (Foggy PETRONAS Racing) 2:24.221 Friday morning free practice, Superbike World Championship, round 1, Losail, Qatar: 1 Gimbert (Yamaha France) 2:25.734; 2 Bayliss (Ducati Xerox) 2:26.705; 3 Laconi (PSG-1 Kawasaki) 2:27.269; 4 Chili (DFX Treme) 2:28.761; 5 Nieto (PSG-1 Kawasaki) 2:29.145; 6 Jones (Foggy PETRONAS Racing) 2:29.997; 7 Battaini (Kawasaki Bertocchi) 2:30.403; 8 Rolfo (Ducati SC – Caracchi) 2:30.417; 9 Barros (Klaffi Honda) 2:30.437; 10 Abe (Yamaha France) 2:30.711; 11 Martin (Foggy PETRONAS Racing) 2:31.996 More, from a press release issued by Scuderia SC Caracchi: WET DEBUT FOR WORLD SUPERBIKE IN QATAR (Doha 2006, February 23) An heavy rain shower on the first day troubled the new 2006 WSBK Championship’s debut round in Qatar. On the 5380 meters of Qatarin track took shape a slippery mixture of water and sand that penalized the riders during the today’s practice, and several of them renounced to the morning’s free practice session. Roberto Rolfo on the Ducati 999F05 recorded the 14th fastest on the first, provisional starting grid. “I’m quite satisfied because we worked in an interesting way today, developing the job of the morning in wet conditions.” said rejoining the pit Roberto Rolfo. “This has been actually the first occasion to use the F05 in wet conditions and that’s been important. I had good sensations from the beginning, I only missed the lap performance because, when at the end of the session I rejoined the track to improve my lap time I found a lot of trafic and the racing lines were not free. Now we must go on with the qualifying setting in dry conditions that we started with success during Valencia’s test. I’m pretty sure tomorrow the track will be dry, as well for the race day forecast, and it means that tomorrow’s work will be very important.” In Supersport the couple of 749R’s of Scuderia Caracchi had a black and white day. Joshua Brookes was tenth fastest until the last minute of the practice session, then he lost a few positions in the final laps, but he knows that in wet conditions he was not comfortable, so he prefers to wait better tracks conditions to make some important change on the bike setting. More unlucky has been Luka Nedog, stopped during the session by some technical problem on the nr.1 bike, while the second bike did reveal not very fast. “There’s nothing to say, the lap time boards speaks by itself.” commented Brookes at the end of the qualifying session “I have no much reference in wet conditions and the bike hadn’t a good set up for that condition. However to do any important change it would be better to wait dry conditions because the weather forecast said that we’ll have good weather both tomorrow as well on Saturday, the race day. Only tomorrow we’ll be able to see something good.” Really disappointed at the end of the session Luka Nedog: “That’s actually discouraging. The best bike stopped suddenly after half an hour and the spare bike was not fast at all, so everybody were passing me on the line. Now we have a lot of work to make everything all right, but above all I hope that tomorrow the track will be dry.” Actually the weather broadcast says for tomorrow, final practice day, a partly cloudy sunny day, then for Saturday, race day, is waiting a full sunny day. More, from a press release issued by Yamaha Racing: Yamaha Motor Italia riders Andrew Pitt and Noriyuki Haga got their seasons underway by posting the seventh and eighth fastest times in today’s first qualifying session for round one of the 2006 Superbike World Championship at the Losail circuit in Qatar. For the second year in a row, riders arrived at the Losail circuit to find themselves faced with a wet opening practice, ironic considering that the country’s annual rainfall is less than 130mm per year. The rain stopped prior to the timed afternoon session and, although the track was to dry out in places the Yamaha Motor Italia riders opted to save their tyre allocation and run just one set of wet-weather tyres each throughout the day. Having tested at the circuit just over two weeks ago, Haga sat out of the wet morning free practice session with Pitt completing just a handful of laps. With teams restricted to just nine front and 13 rear tyres throughout the weekend, the squad decided to preserve their rubber allocation for tomorrow’s expected dry session. Even so, both riders were able get their first feel of the 2006-version YZF-R1 in wet conditions and carry out further work on the new engine management system. Yamaha Motor France rider Sebastien Gimbert, fastest of the 17 riders who ventured out in the soaked morning practice, continued his record strong performances around the Middle Eastern venue in today’s opening practice. The Losail lap record holder ended the day in fifth position and keen to replicate the front row start he gained in Qatar last year during tomorrow’s superpole session. Team-mate Norick Abe took no risks to end the day in 12th place while Shinichi Nakatomi was probably the rider most badly affected by the morning wash out. One of seven championship rookies this year, the Japanese newcomer is one of only three riders never to have ridden at the Losail circuit. The 27-year-old clocked 35 laps over the two sessions, making him the day’s most active rider. He ended the day 24th in the overnight standings. Former world champion Troy Bayliss (Ducati) was the fastest man on track today, setting a 2:17.326 lap late in the session. Regis Laconi (Kawasaki) was second on 2:19.064 with Pitt and Haga less than a second behind, recording 2:19.991 and 2:20.164 respectively. Sebastien Gimbert (Yamaha Motor France) “This has been a good track for me in the past. I was on the front row here last year and also got the lap record, so I know that I can be strong. I am usually quite good in these wet conditions but I hope that it is dry tomorrow and we can get a good setting for the race.” Andrew Pitt (Yamaha Motor Italia) “We learned a lot today. This year’s bike is definitely much better to ride in the wet (compared to last year’s version) and we were able to work on the electronics again today and make some further improvements there. If the session had gone on for another 10 minutes then we could have gone out on intermediates but as it was we just used the one set of tyres for the morning and afternoon sessions. Even with a fresh set of wets I could have gone quicker but we didn’t want to use up a set of tyres unnecessarily.” Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha Motor Italia) “We did what we could to improve the bike in the conditions but really I wanted it to be dry today. We already have a base from our test here but I want to work a little bit more on improving the set-up and choosing our tyre for the race.” Norick Abe (Yamaha Motor France) “Twelfth is neither bad nor good, in fact it’s not really important. Tomorrow the conditions will change and everyone will go faster, so today I treated qualifying as a warm-up session for my body and to get a feel for riding the bike again.” Shinichi Nakatomi (Yamaha Motor France) “Today is my first visit to this circuit so I had to make as many laps as possible to learn the layout. I hope that it is dry tomorrow and we can make some faster lap times.” Massimo Meregalli (Team Coordinator – Yamaha Motor Italia) “Overall it has been a positive day for us. We had no problems and both riders are happy with the bike in wet conditions. We decided not to use up any more of our tyre allocation than necessary in these conditions. Hopefully it will be dry tomorrow and we can work on finding the best tyres for the race. Pirelli has brought along one option which is new to us, so we must try this out in the dry.” Session 1 : Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. 1st Qualifying 1 T. Bayliss Ducati AUS 2′ 17.326 2 R. Laconi Kawasaki FRA 2′ 19.064 3 T. Corser Suzuki AUS 2′ 19.614 4 C. Walker Kawasaki GBR 2′ 19.684 5 S. Gimbert Yamaha FRA 2′ 19.687 6 A. Barros Honda BRA 2′ 19.834 7 A. Pitt Yamaha AUS 2′ 19.991 8 N. Haga Yamaha JPN 2′ 20.164 9 F. Battiani Kawasaki ITA 2′ 20.200 10 F. Nieto Kawasaki ESP 2′ 20.469 11 P. Chili Honda ITA 2′ 20.695 12 N. Abe Yamaha JPN 2′ 20.720 13 K. Muggeridge Honda AUS 2′ 21.152 14 R. Rolfo Ducati ITA 2′ 21.233 15 Y. Kagayama Suzuki JPN 2′ 21.234 16 M. Neukirchner Ducati GER 2′ 21.491 24 S. Nakatomi Yamaha JPN 2′ 24.788 29 T. Al Naimi Yamaha QAT 2′ 46.833 More, from a press release issued by Team Suzuki: Reigning World Champion Troy Corser and Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra team mates Yukio Kagayama and Fabien Foret started today’s first day of qualifying for the opening round of the 2006 World Superbike Championship in Qatar cautiously because of the uncharacteristically-wet conditions. Not wanting to take chances in the morning un-timed session, they waited for an improvement in the weather, but the afternoon timed session was also blighted by rain so they had no choice but to venture out onto the slippery 5.380 kilometre Losail circuit. Towards the end of the session, a dry line started to appear, but it was too little too late but Corser still ended the day third quickest behind Troy Bayliss (Ducati) and Regis Laconi (Kawasaki). Kagayama suffered electronic problems and ended 15th fastest with Foret 28th. Troy Corser – 3rd, 2:19.614: “I really thought that it would be dry in the afternoon session, so I decided not to go out in the morning and maybe do something silly. But then it rained during the lunch break and the track was wet again for our timed session. I’ve ridden around here in the wet before, so I have an idea of how the track feels. “I took things pretty steadily – I wanted a top-four finish and that’s what I got. Towards the end, a dry line sort of appeared, but there were still a few places with standing water so there was no point taking any risks. I haven’t been on a bike for a while so I didn’t push at all hard. ” Yukio Kagayama – 15th, 2:21.234: “Like Troy, I did not go out in the morning – no point. In the afternoon timed practice, I had some electronic problems and so I couldn’t get a chance to push so hard. Every lap I did, the conditions felt different to the time before, so I was very careful. I hope tomorrow will be dry and I can get in a lot of laps.” Fabien Foret – 28th, 2:33.307: “Today was not a good day to start my Superbike career because I wasn’t able to learn a lot. About the only thing I could learn is which way round the track went! I missed the morning session because I thought the afternoon would be dry, but it wasn’t! This track is very slippery in the wet and I didn’t want to start with a crash, so I was pretty cautious. I hope tomorrow will be dry and I can begin to push harder and understand my bike more.” WSB Thursday qualifying: 1 Bayliss (Aus-Ducati) 2:17.326, 2 Laconi (F-Kawasaki) 2:19.064, 3 Troy Corser (Aus-Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra) 2:19.614, 4 Walker (GB-Kawasaki) 2:19.684, 5 Gimbert (F-Yamaha) 2:19.687, 6 Barros (Bra-Honda) 2:19.834, 15 Yukio Kagayama (J-Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra) 2:21.234. 28 Fabien Foret (F-Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra) 2:33.307. More, from a press release issued by Team Klaffi Honda: Barros Successful induction into the Championship at Losail This was one of the most interesting events at Losail. Everybody was curious about Alex Barros’ first entry into World’s Superbike Championship. And the Brazilian did not disappoint his fans. His induction today was perfect! Though the weather conditions were rather bad continuous rain in the desert of Katar! Alex did an impressive 2’19.834 lap time with his Klaffi Honda Fireblade. In Qualifying I he finished 6th. Alex Barros: “Whether rain or sunshine – I accept the conditions as they are. In the desert you don’t expect rain and in the Free Practice this morning I had to get to know the Klaffi Fireblade on a wet track. In the afternoon things worked out very well. It was quite okay I’m content with the result of the first day!” Team Manager Klaus Klaffenböck: “žThough the weather was really horrible we had a perfect day. Alex is so professional. To work together with him is a pleasure for the team! Due to the rain it was a little bit uncomfortable today. Butt he weather forecast for Friday and Saturday is not so bad. Then we have to make new arrangements for a dry track. But I think this will be no problem! ” Qualifying I 23.02.2006 1 Bayliss (Ducati) 2’17.326 2 Laconi (Kawasaki) 2’19.064 3 Corser (Suzuki) 2’19.614 4 Walker (Kawasaki) 2’19.684 5 Gimbert (Yamaha) 2’19.687 6 Barros (Klaffi Honda) 2’19.834 More, from a press release issued by Troy Corser’s publicist: Cautious start for Troy Losail circuit may be in the desert, but this morning the travelling World Superbike band of riders found themselves in a torrential downpour before the start of morning practice. Troy was one of many riders who decided not to go out on the slippery track in the morning, hoping that conditions would be better in the afternoon (timed) session. But although the rain eased late morning, another downpour in the lunchbreak meant that the track was still soaking wet by the time the 29 riders began their one hour timed session. Troy understandably took things steadily, but still finished with the third quickest time, behind fellow countryman Troy Bayliss (Ducati) and Frenchman Regis Laconi (Kawasaki). Troy Corser – 3rd, 2:19.614 I really thought that it would be dry in the afternoon session, so I decided not to go out in the morning and do something silly. What did I know, eh? I’ve ridden round here in the wet before and I have a pretty good idea of how the track behaves in these conditions, so this afternoon was all about getting back on a bike after a while and easing into it. Bayliss went pretty quick, but I knew that I wouldn’t be far off and all I wanted was to finish in the top four or so – mission accomplished. The track began to dry out towards the end and, for a while, it loooked as if we might get a dry line before the end. But there were still some patches of water about – particularly on the back part of the track – so it wasn’t possible to push too hard. The weather forecast for tomorrow is a lot better, so I think we are all wishing for a couple of good, dry days.