Carlos Checa led a close session on Friday that saw the top-12 riders run within a second of each other.
Althea Racing Ducati's
Carlos Checa posted the fastest lap during Friday’s World Superbike qualifying at the Silverstone circuit. The Spaniard was 0.393 seconds faster than Supersonic Racing’s Maxime Berger, who recorded the second-best time of the day with his lap of 2'05.870.
“Today went well," Checa said. "We have already improved with respect to last year. With the soft tyre we were able to make some very fast laps and we’re satisfied. The problem may arrive tomorrow as temperatures will probably be warmer and we’ll have to see how the tyres go in different conditions. All in all, seeing as this is one of the more difficult tracks for us, we are happy. We just have to minimize the disadvantage that we have along the straight but I think we can do it; we’ll see tomorrow but I’m pretty confident.”
Kawasaki Racing’s
Tom Sykes was only 0.029 seconds behind the Frenchman, getting an excellent start to the weekend at his home track with third on the timesheets. Aprilia Alitalia’s
Leon Camier earned fourth to claim a spot on the provisional front row, the 24-year-old being only 0.038 seconds behind Sykes. Samsung Crescent
Suzuki’s John Hopkins got his wild-card ride started in good fashion by posting the fifth-quickest time ahead of Alstare Suzuki’s Michel Fabrizio. Czech rider Jakub Smrz was just more than half a
Tom Sykes claimed the third-best lap during qualifying at his home track and was less than half a second behind Checa.
second off the lead pace with seventh in the charts. Yamaha’s Eugene Laverty was right behind Smrz in eighth, followed by Aprilia’s Max Biaggi.
“We encountered some small problems here last year as well," said Biaggi. "The Ducati bikes are doing very well as always and the home riders always give a bit more here, so we need to concentrate on details to pull out the tenths of a second which are lacking. With this temperature the higher performance tires don't last too many laps. Tomorrow and the next day the temperature is supposed to go up, so we'll evaluate softer solutions hoping to have a real benefit in terms of lap time."
BMW Motorrad Motorsport’s Leon Haslam rounded out the top-10 times on Friday with a lap of 2'06.116. Team Effenbert-Liberty Racing’s Sylvain Guintoli recorded 11th in the qualifying order just ahead of BMW Motorrad Italia’s James Toseland. The Brit was followed by teammate Aryton Badovini in 13th, the Italian finishing more than a second off the lead pace. Meanwhile it was a rough start for Yamaha’s Marco Melandri, who placed 14th and 1.220 seconds behind Checa. Castrol
Honda also struggled with fill-in rider Alex Lowes taking 15th in the charts.
Silverstone World Superbike Friday Qualifying Results 2011:
1. Carlos Checa (Ducati) 2'05.477
2. Max Berger (Ducati) 2'05.870
John Hopkins earned the fastest time during free practice and nabbed fifth in the timesheets during qualifying on Friday.
3. Tom Sykes (Kawasaki) 2'05.899
4. Leon Camier (Aprilia) 2'05.899
5. John Hopkins (Suzuki) 2'05.974
6. Michel Fabrizio (Suzuki) 2'06.023
7. Jakub Smrz (Ducati) 2'06.029
8. Eugene Laverty (Yamaha) 2'06.037
9. Max Biaggi (Aprilia) 2'06.044
10. Leon Haslam (BMW) 2'06.116
11. Sylvain Guintoli (Ducati) 2'06.176
12. James Toseland (BMW) 2'06.316
13. Aryton Badovini (BMW) 2'06.647
14. Marco Melandri (Yamaha) 2'06.697
15. Alex Lowes (Honda) 2'06.740
World Supersport
Step Racing Honda’s Gino Rea posted the best time during provisional qualifying in the World Supersport class. Finishing the hour-long session 0.228 seconds ahead of Parkalgar Honda’s Sam Lowes, Rea is off to an excellent start at his home circuit. Yamaha ParkinGO’s Luca Scassa recorded the third-fastest lap of the day 0.442 seconds off the pace, with Ten Kate Honda’s Fabien Foret rounding out the provisional front row for Sunday’s race.
Silverstone World Supersport Friday Qualifying Results:
1. Gino Rea (Honda) 2'09.362
Step Racing Honda's Gino Rea posted the best lap in World Supersport with a time of 2'09.362.
2. Sam Lowes (Honda) 2'09.590
3. Luca Scassa (Yamaha) 2'09.804
4. Fabien Foret (Honda) 2'10.004
5. Robbin Harms (Honda) 2'10.414
6. Roberto Tamburini (Yamaha) 2'10.789
7. James Ellison (Honda) 2'10.951
8. David Salom (Kawasaki) 2'10.972
9. Florian Marino (Honda) 2'11.181
10. Chaz Davies (Yamaha) 2'11.217
11. Massimo Roccoli (Kawasaki) 2'11.285
12. Balazs Nemeth (Honda) 2'11.323
13. Alexander Lundh (Honda) 2'11.544
14. Imre Toth (Honda) 2'11.567
15. Broc Parkes (Kawasaki) 2'11.634
