Yamaha Motor Italia strong in first practice

Yamaha Motor Italia riders Andrew Pitt and Noriyuki Haga gave a strong showing in Friday's qualifying for this weekend's world superbike round at EuroSpeedway Lausitz, ending the day fourth and seventh after the first qualifying.

Having attended July's Pirelli test at the same venue, the squad arrived in Germany with good base settings for their YZF-R1s and spent the day working to further refine the machine performance for Sunday's two 24 lap races.

Pitt's best time of 1:38.871 was just half a second down on provisional pole sitter Troy Bayliss (Ducati), who was over a second quicker than Ruben Xaus' four year old lap record. Suzuki team-mates Troy Corser and Yukio Kagayama complete the provisional front row.

The Australian was largely satisfied with his day's work. With lower temperatures and higher winds requiring a slightly different machine setting from last July's test, Pitt and his crew made subtle changes to his machine throughout the sessions. The team will make a few more changes, including revised gearing, tomorrow in a bid to give their man the best possible machine for Sunday's races.

Haga spent the day's two one hour sessions switching between his two machines, completing more laps than any other rider in the afternoon session. The Japanese rider has often ran with two differing specification machines on a race weekend but, with the team now certain of their best set-up, Haga worked on fine-tuning his 'spare' machine to give the same feeling as his number one bike. As always, the Japanese stuck worked on finding a good race tyre and suspension setting but still managed to set a lap time less than eight tenths of a second behind Bayliss.

Norick Abe was the leading Yamaha Motor France rider in 18th place, while team-mate and countryman Shinichi Nakatomi ended the day 26th on his competitive debut at the twisting Lausitz circuit.

Noriyuki Haga   

Yamaha Motor France's Sebastien Gimbert misses the Lausitz race after injuring his back in Assen last weekend, however the R1 ranks are boosted by the inclusion of last year's FIM Superstock 1000 Cup winner Didier van Keymeulen. The Belgian is entered as a wildcard on board the YZF-R1 he normally campaigns in the German championship and ended first qualifying in 22nd position.

Final practice and the grid deciding superpole session takes place tomorrow (Saturday) with the races scheduled for Sunday.

Andrew Pitt (Yamaha Motor Italia) "Not a bad day. The bike feels a little different from when we tested here, which I think could be down to the higher winds today. We've got a few things to try out for tomorrow. The bike's working well so we are just trying to make it a little easier and more consistent to ride. The rear tyre is the critical thing just now. The temperatures are lower today than when we tested and as a result we're seeing much higher wear today."

Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha Motor Italia) "The feeling with the bike is good but the lap time could be better, so maybe I must ride faster! I did a lot of long runs today and also did quite a lot of laps on my number two bike. We came here with a good setting and now both bikes have the same feeling, so I am happy. I have a few things to try tomorrow and I am confident that we can be in good condition before superpole."

Norick Abe   

Norick Abe (Yamaha Motor France) "We still have a few things to try and make the bike better for tomorrow but overall it's not too bad. The times are all very close so if we can make a small improvement then we can make it into superpole."

Shinichi Nakatomi (Yamaha Motor France) "This is a very tight circuit so I am learning all the time. Normally I can expect to make an improvement for Saturday and I think that the more I learn the faster I can go."

Massimo Meregalli (Team Coordinator - Yamaha Motor Italia) "Both riders had a good practice today. The riders are all working on finding a good race setting and they are quite happy with how it went. We will make a few small adjustments to the settings for both riders tomorrow but today we did a good job and hope to continue that tomorrow."

Circuit Length: 4265 Weather: Dry     2006 WSB Lausitzring 08/09/2006 Qualifying 1 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Troy Bayliss Ducati AUS 1'38.331 2 Troy Corser Suzuki AUS 1'38.550 3 Yukio Kagayama Suzuki JPN 1'38.869 4 Andrew Pitt Yamaha AUS 1'38.871 5 Karl Muggeridge Honda AUS 1'38.948 6 Lorenzo Lanzi Ducati ITA 1'39.048 7 Noriyuki Haga Yamaha JPN 1'39.101 8 James Toseland Honda GBR 1'39.347 9 Alex Barros Honda BRA 1'39.572 10 Chris Walker Kawasaki GBR 1'39.591 11 Michel Fabrizio Honda ITA 1'39.609 12 Fonsi Nieto Kawasaki ESP 1'39.709 13 Steve Martin Petronas AUS 1'39.771 14 Ruben Xaus Ducati ESP 1'40.041 15 Regis Laconi Kawasaki FRA 1'40.149 18 Norick Abe Yamaha JPN 1'40.732 26 Shinichi Nakatomi Yamaha JPN 1'41.786

QUALIFYING 1 REPORT 08/09/2006 Curtain quickest in opening Lausitz practice   Kevin Curtain   

Championship leader Kevin Curtain continued his fine run of form in opening practice for Sunday's tenth round of the Supersport World Championship at EuroSpeedway Lausitz, setting the fastest time in today's first qualifying session.

The Australian Yamaha Motor Germany rider was almost seven tenths of a second quicker than second placed Kenan Sofuoglu (Honda) in the 45 minute session. Johan Stigefelt and Sebastien Cherpentier (both Honda) complete the provisional front row ahead of tomorrow's final session.

Yamaha Team Italia's Gianluca Vizziello ended the day in eighth position, just three tenths of a second slower than third placed Stigefelt. Fabien Foret, standing in for the injured Broc Parkes on the second Yamaha Motor Germany machine, ended his first day on the YZF-R6 in 14th, one place ahead of Massimo Roccoli on the other Yamaha Team Italia bike.

Circuit Length: 4265 Weather: Dry     2006 WSS Lausitzring 08/09/2006 Qualifying 1 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Kevin Curtain Yamaha AUS 1'41.167 2 Kenan Sofuoglu Honda TUR 1'41.862 3 Johan Stigefelt Honda SWE 1'42.569 4 Sebastien Charpentier Honda FRA 1'42.571 5 Robbin Harms Honda DNK 1'42.613 6 Yoann Tibero Honda FRA 1'42.706 7 Kai Borre Andersen Suzuki NOR 1'42.712 8 Gianluca Vizziello Yamaha ITA 1'42.866 9 Katsuaki Fujiwara Honda JPN 1'42.921 10 Gianluca Nannelli Ducati ITA 1'42.956 11 Christian Zaiser Ducati AUT 1'43.039 12 Matthieu Lagrive Honda FRA 1'43.106 13 Stephane Chambon Kawasaki FRA 1'43.171 14 Fabien Foret Yamaha FRA 1'43.239 15 Massimo Roccoli Yamaha ITA 1'43.485 20 David Checa Yamaha ESP 1'44.227