Yamaha Motor Italia rider Noriyuki Haga shone in first qualifying at a damp and windy Silverstone today, ending the day in fourth place with team-mate Andrew Pitt an equally strong sixth. Morning practice took place in wet conditions and although the track was mostly dry for the one-hour afternoon qualifying, the tricky conditions caught out many big name riders and led to two stoppages caused by riders crashing. Haga, who gave the Yamaha YZF-R1 its first world superbike podium finish at Silverstone 12 months ago, looked comfortable in both the wet and dry conditions, setting the third fastest time in the rainy morning session. The Japanese rider declared himself happy with the basic set-up of his Yamaha but will work overnight with his team to further improve the machine ahead of Sunday's two 28-lap races. Pitt made a big improvement in the closing stages of the session to end as the day's sixth fastest rider at one of his least favourite circuits. Having spent the session experimenting with the set-up of his YZF-R1, the Australian effectively switched back to his base settings to jump up the grid. With quarter of an hour to go Yamaha Motor France's Sebastien Gimbert topped the leader board. The Frenchman had suffered a spectacular crash in the morning practice, when he slid off his R1 going down the start-finish straight. The accident wrecked his machine and left him with abrasions on his back. Despite the handicap he finished the day 11th. Yamaha Motor France's Japanese duo had tougher days, with Norick Abe 16th and Shinichi Nakatomi 20th on his first visit to the circuit. Local wild-card Tommy Hill was 12th on another YZF-R1. Grid positions will be decided in tomorrow's superpole session for the top 16 riders from qualifying. With rain a strong possibility tomorrow morning, the superpole participants could well be decided on today's times. Fastest rider today was championship leader Troy Bayliss (Ducati), ahead of world champion Troy Corser (Suzuki) and Fonsi Nieto (Kawasaki). Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha Motor Italia) "Not so bad although I am a little bit angry not to get pole as I had a small problem on what should have been my fastest lap. The feeling with the bike is already good in both the wet and dry but we will work more tomorrow to try and make it better for the races." Andrew Pitt (Yamaha Motor Italia) "The track was a bit patchy: you'd go in on the dry but then hit a wet bit, but it went ok for us and I'm quite happy. We started the session off well but got a bit lost with the changes we made, before going back to basics to get the lap time. We've still got a bit of a problem with the bike wheelying too much but that's the only point where I think I'm losing some time." Sebastien Gimbert (Yamaha Motor France) "I am happy with how things have gone today. The times are very close with just 0.7 second between me and the pole. It was good to be at the top of the timesheets but at the end I went out to test the race tyre rather than going for an improved time. Norick Abe (Yamaha Motor France) "This morning the feeling with the bike was not so good, but then I have never been able to feel comfortable with the superbike in wet conditions. The afternoon was not so bad but the conditions were quite strange, with many riders going down at one corner. Every lap I would see someone else go down there and as a result I was not able to fully attack that corner until the very end. I am still having some problems with the right hand I injured in Monza. This might cause me some problems in the race, as there is a lot of hard braking at this circuit. I am happy to be in the top 16 as I will be in superpole if it rains tomorrow morning, although I hope it is dry and I can show my best." Shinichi Nakatomi (Yamaha Motor France) "I had a crash at the same corner as all the other riders and this meant I could not be as high as I like. I went out on a different tyre option and it caught me out but I am not injured and hope we can have some dry conditions tomorrow." Massimo Meregalli (Team Coordinator - Yamaha Motor Italia) "A good day. Nori's lap times are very consistent and he seem to be as fast as anyone, while Andrew made just a few changes to the set-up we have used at Monza and Mugello, suggesting that he has found a base setting that really works for him. He started out by following Toseland for a few laps but found that he could pass and go faster on his own. Compared with last year he is looking very strong and I'm pleased because both the riders are happy with their set-ups and seem to have good tyre life around this circuit." Round: 5 - United Kingdom Circuit: Silverstone Circuit Length: 3619 Lap Record: 1' 27.130 (Regis Laconi, 2005) Fastest Lap Ever: 1' 26.679 (Yukio Kagayama, 2005) Date: 26 May 2006 Temp: 17ºC Session 1 : Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. 1st Qualifying 1 T. Bayliss Ducati AUS 1' 27.011 2 T. Corser Suzuki AUS 1' 27.068 3 F. Nieto Kawasaki ESP 1' 27.205 4 N. Haga Yamaha JPN 1' 27.364 5 J. Toseland Honda GBR 1' 27.418 6 A. Pitt Yamaha AUS 1' 27.539 7 Y. Kagayama Suzuki JPN 1' 27.599 8 K. Muggeridge Honda AUS 1' 27.648 9 C. Walker Kawasaki GBR 1' 27.656 10 R. Laconi Kawasaki FRA 1' 27.721 11 S. Gimbert Yamaha FRA 1' 27.730 12 T. Hill Yamaha GBR 1' 27.807 13 R. Xaus Ducati ESP 1' 27.810 14 A. Barros Honda BRA 1' 27.940 15 M. Fabrizio Honda ITA 1' 28.078 16 N. Abe Yamaha JPN 1' 28.246 20 S. Nakatomi Yamaha JPN 1' 28.503 WSS : Curtain and Parkes shine in Silverstone gloom Round: 5 - United Kingdom WSS Circuit: Silverstone Date: 26 May 2006 Temp: 17ºC Weather: Cloudy Yamaha Motor Germany riders Kevin Curtain and Broc Parkes gave a good showing on the opening day of supersport action in Silverstone, ending a damp day second and third on the overnight grid. After a morning of rain, supersport qualifying started in damp conditions. Running dry weather tyres the fastest men lapped around two seconds off lap record pace in the difficult conditions. Despite a clear dry line having formed around the circuit, the riders were faced with standing water streaming across the circuit at several points and the mental problem of a light drizzle being blown into onto their visors. Fastest in the session was championship leader Sebastien Charpentier (Honda), who set a best lap of 1:30.516 - one-and-a-half seconds off his own lap record. Curtain set a best of 1:30.711 in the closing stages of the session, with Parkes a further three-tenths behind on 1:31.001. Both YZF-R6 riders declared themselves happy with their day's work, believing that they would have set quicker times had a red flag not stopped the session prematurely. Wild-card Pere Riba (Kawasaki) completes the provisional front row with Yamaha Team Italia rider Massimo Roccoli leading the second row. Spaniard David Checa was 13th fastest on the Yamaha GMT94 YZF-R6 with Gianluca Vizziello 15th on the other Yamaha Team Italia machine. Round: 5 - United Kingdom WSS Circuit: Silverstone Circuit Length: 3619 Lap Record: 1' 29.027 (Sebastien Charpentier, 2005) Fastest Lap Ever: 1' 28.750 (Sebastien Charpentier, 2005) Date: 26 May 2006 Temp: 17ºC Session 1 : Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. 1st Qualifying 1 S. Charpentier Honda FRA 1' 30.516 2 K. Curtain Yamaha AUS 1' 30.711 3 B. Parkes Yamaha AUS 1' 31.001 4 P. Riba Kawasaki ESP 1' 31.492 5 M. Roccoli Yamaha ITA 1' 31.657 6 M. Lagrive Honda FRA 1' 31.692 7 X. Fores Yamaha ESP 1' 31.963 8 J. Stigefelt Honda SWE 1' 32.136 9 K. Fujiwara Honda JPN 1' 32.320 10 Y. Tibero Honda FRA 1' 32.450 11 M. Sanchini Yamaha ITA 1' 32.533 12 K. Andersen Suzuki NOR 1' 32.595 13 D. Checa Yamaha ESP 1' 32.649 14 B. Veneman Suzuki NED 1' 32.732 15 G. Vizziello Yamaha ITA 1' 32.755 16 M. Berger Kawasaki FRA 1' 32.920 17 J. Enjolras Yamaha FRA 1' 32.995 27 A. Corradi Yamaha ITA 1' 34.645 29 V. Ivanov Yamaha RUS 1' 35.041 30 B. Martinez Yamaha ESP 1' 35.154
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