From a press release issued by FGSPORT GROUP:

Grid Positions and Race Warm Up

Zongshen first and second – Yamaha Austria third – Phase One fourth

Final Qualifying

As predicted, the cooler temperatures allowed many riders to improve on yesterday’s times. Zongshen No.1’s Warwick Nowland shaved 0.17 seconds off his fastest lap time to hold pole position with a lap time of 2:06.624 .

Piergeorgio Bontempi moved the Zongshen No.2 bike up into second place only a tenth of a second behind Nowland, and third place on the grid has gone to Yamaha Austria’s Karl Truchsess with a time of 2:06.949 – almost 1.5 seconds faster than yesterday.

Phase One have managed to hold onto fourth place despite a crash by Jason Pridmore in the closing laps of his session. Their spare bike was prepared in time for Jimmy Lindstrom to go out in the following session; Lindstrom immediately declared the “T” bike significantly better than the one that was crashed.

Race Build Up

In the warm-up session that followed an hour after qualifying, Zongshen 1 were again the fastest, with Phase One second, Zongshen 2 third, Police Nationale fourth and Ducati DRE fifth. The warm-up is probably more representative of the performance teams can expect during the race as final adjustments are made to suspension and tyres, and the bikes are tested with full fuel loads.

The weather may well play a part in this evening’s first race session. Heavy showers are forecast for between six and seven o’clock – around the time when the first rider changes will be taking place. None of the teams have been able to test in wet conditions this weekend, so the timing of pit-stops and the ability of the riders to adapt to the conditions could have a big impact on the race result.

At the end of this evening’s three hour race session the bikes will be left overnight in a parc-ferme before the race restarts tomorrow. The grid for the race restart will be based on the positions at the end of the first race session.

2003, June 14

Rider Quotes

Warwick Nowland – Zongshen 1: We didn’t get the right tyre for qualifying, but the race tyres seem good so we can do consistent 2:08s or maybe 2:07s. I hope we can improve our pit stops. The main threat will be Phase One; the other teams are catching up so I need to go quicker, but I don’t think anyone can run with us…”

Piergeorgio Bontempi – Zongshen 2: “We have tried to improve the set up today, and I hope the bike will come even better in the race. A tenth of a second is only a small gap behind pole position – I feel a little bit lucky today, so maybe we can win.”

Christophe Guyot – GMT94: “I think we can battle with the number 2 Zongshen bike – we are improving the Yamaha step by step.”

Jason Pridmore –Suzuki GB Phase One: It’s been a bad day. The team have accepted responsibility for the crash but it’s my fault as well. I was so intent on trying to get some good lap times in the last ten minutes that I didn’t check the brakes myself. I can’t do the start because my legs are hurt, so Olivier will do the first session. He’s going well today and we’re both on the same pace.”

Karl Truchsess – Yamaha Austria: “Yesterday I was doing 2:08s okay – I knew today would be faster. When we got the set-up right we put a qualifier on and went for it. I know the circuit well – I’ve been racing here for 18 years – and I think we can get a podium.”

Michael Bursa – KFM Herber Endurance: “Everything is working well this morning; the track is good, the weather is good and the bike is good.”

Gwen Giabbani – Police Nationale: “We still have problems with the set-up, we won’t be able to fix it before the race. It’s either the frame or suspension; at Assen it was okay but here we have big problems. I hope we do some testing between here and Albacete but there’s not much time.”

Bernard Cuzin – Yamaha Endurance Moto 38: “Six hours is a better race distance for us than 200 miles. We will do well in this race. Albacete is twelve hours, so we will be even better there.”

Dario Marchetti – DRE Ducati: “I’m very satisfied with Garcia’s time, but the chain broke during the last session so we couldn’t improve. Our engine loses power compared to the Suzuki 1000s but it is easier to ride so I think in the race we will be okay.”

Olivier Four – Suzuki GB Phase One: “We’ve only used race tyres and I could do consistent 2:07s this morning on the replacement bike. I think the race will be very close…”

Top ten grid positions:

1st: Zongshen No.1 – Warwick Nowland – 2:06.624

2nd: Zongshen No.2 – Piergeorgio Bontempi – 2:06.728

3rd: Yamaha Austria – Karl Truchsess – 2:06.949

4th: Suzuki GB Phase One – Jason Pridmore – 2:06.982

5th: GMT94 – William Costes – 2:07.510

6th: Police Nationale – Gwen Giabbani – 2:07.575

7th: Trackdaze 11 – Mike Edwards – 2:08.110

8th: Yamaha Endurance Moto 38 – Laurent Brian – 2:08.139

9th: Ducati DRE – Marc Garcia – 2:08.602

10th: KFM Herber Endurance – Michael Bursa – 2:09.533