The Ducati 1198R's straightaway speed is perfectly suited to Monza's long stretches. Ducati Xerox riders Michel Fabrizio and Haga took first and third during Practice.
Factory Ducati rider Michel Fabrizio (1’45.447) led the World Superbike practice session in Monza, Italy while his Ducati 1198R teammate Noriyuki Haga (1’45.758) took third behind Yamaha’s Tom Sykes (1’45.758). For the American riders Ben Spies (1’46.013) clocked seventh, but John Hopkin’s replacement, Jake Zemke, was not up-to-speed on the Stiggy Honda CBR1000RR, finishing 23rd.
Jonathan Rea was two-tenths of a second behind Haga in fourth in a better-than-usual showing for Ten Kate Honda. Max Neukirchner and Yukio Kagayama performed well for Suzuki Alstare Brux on the warm Monza track that reached temperatures as high as 116 °F during the afternoon qualifying session. The Roman rider Max Biaggi was the last of the provisional Row-2 runners on the Aprilia RSV4.
Michel Fabrizio – Ducati Xerox Team – 1st, 1’45.447
“Fastest in both the free practice and first qualifying, yes I’d say it’s all going well so far. This weekend will be hard and Nori and Spies are on the pace but I’d really love to score my first win here at Monza and think that I can do a good job this weekend. In these last two weeks I have really thought hard about what’s needed and what’s needed is a win, to relieve some pressure, to boost by confidence and help take me to that next level. I’m looking forward to tomorrow’s sessions.”
Tom Sykes - Yamaha World Superbike Team -2nd, 1'45.758
"A fairly decent day to day to be honest, we came here with a big change from the test we had here which has taken a fair bit of balancing but I think we've done it. Overall I'm very happy with my race tires, we're doing consistent fast laps over race distance so I'm confident in the team's ability and tomorrow I think we'll come out even stronger. I'm going to have a good sleep tonight and come back tomorrow with a fresh head and be even better!"
Noriyuki Haga – Ducati Xerox Team – 3rd, 1’45.758
"It’s gone very well today yes. Unfortunately the track conditions are not as good as they were during testing here a couple of weeks ago but finally we got under the 1m45 barrier and feeling has improved throughout the day even if I hope to find more improvements tomorrow by changing a few things. We’re still not sure about the tires but it will be interesting to see how we go tomorrow morning. So far, so good I think.”
Ben Spies - Yamaha World Superbike Team – 7th, 1'46.013
"It was a really good session for us. We pretty much found our race tires, we only ran one set for the whole session and put in some really good lap times. We weren't really worried about fast lap times today; we just wanted to get consistent laps so we should be good for Sunday. It's an 18 lap race and our fastest lap today was the 22nd one so it's looking good. The bike's working really well so we'll step it up tomorrow and see what happens."
World Superbike Monza Friday Practive Results:
1. Michel Fabrizio (Ducati) – 1’45.447
2. Tom Sykes (Yamaha) – 1’45.758
3. Noriyuki Haga (Ducati) – 1’45.790
4. Jonathan Rea (Honda) – 1’45.919
5. Max Neukirchner (Suzuki) – 1’45.962
6. Yukio Kagayama (Suzuki) – 1’45.985
7. Ben Spies (Yamaha) – 1’46.013
8. Max Biaggi (Aprilia) - 1’46.054
9. Carlos Checa (Honda) – 1’46.140
10. Shane Byrne (Honda) – 1’46.164
11. Ryuicki Kiyonari (Honda) – 1’46.171
12. Leon Haslam (Honda) – 1’46.208
13. Jakub Smrz (Ducati) – 1’46.363
14. Ruben Xaus (BMW) – 1’46.545
15. Troy Corser (BMW) – 1’46.565
16. Luca Scassa (Kawasaki) – 1’46.566
22. Jake Zemke (Honda) – 1’47.751
