Loris Baz takes Tissot-Superpole and sets new best lap at Jerez
An intense Tissot-Superpole second session has been won by Loris Baz (Kawasaki Racing Team) who claimed Pole Position today at Jerez. the young Frenchman will move off ahead of everyone else in the two Sunday races for the second time this year. Baz also recorded the new best lap of the track for the Superbike class in 1’40.298, beating the previous record by 0.322s.
Davide Giugliano (Ducati Superbike Team) and Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team) will join Baz on the front row for the two 20 lap races tomorrow. The top-3 riders were awarded with the Tissot-Superpole trophies by 2011 Superbike World Champion Carlos Checa. Row two will see the Aprilia Racing duo of Marco Melandri and Sylvain Guintoli as well as Eugene Laverty (Voltcom Crescent Suzuki) who was 6th.
Alex Lowes crashed his Voltcom Crescent Suzuki at turn two in the final 30 seconds and will start 9th behind Chaz Davies (Ducati Superbike Team, 7th) and Leon Haslam (Pata Honda World Superbike, 8th), and ahead of other Pata Honda rider Jonathan Rea.
The accolade of being the fastest of the EVO qualifiers went to Sylvain Barrier (BMW Motorrad Italia) who will start tomorrow’s races from 12th on the grid despite falling at turn 6 with two minutes to go.
Superpole 1 was as equally exciting with Sylvain Barrier (BMW Motorrad Italia) posting an incredible lap of 1.41.768s, a time that would have put him 3rd overall on the pre-Superpole classification. Leon Haslam (Pata Honda World Superbike Team) also made it through to Superpole 2 with his fastest lap of the weekend where they joined the automatically seeded top ten riders after free practice.
Loris Baz: “We changed something on the bike set-up for Superpole and it worked out well. I could have pushed a little bit more in the first split because I did not know how the bike would have reacted. I think I did the second part of the track really fast so it was a really good lap. My second pole this year but it is the first in fully dry conditions and I am really happy about that. This morning I was struggling a little with finding a quick lap but it was the same for everyone. When the conditions are hot here it can be a little strange. Allowing for this I think we have been strong from the beginning of the weekend, especially on fresh tyres. I am happy and confident for the races now.”
Tom Sykes: “I am happy enough because for me the target was the front row, to make sure we would get a good start tomorrow. We have tried a lot of things this weekend and now we have left ourselves in a good position for raceday. We know Jerez is a circuit where we have to work a lot compared to some other circuits but the times are very close. When you look at practice times many riders put in a soft tyre near the end of a session, so you can drop down the order because of that. In reality I think there are two or three riders who will be very strong on raceday. We will see how the two long races go and I am happy to be sitting where I am on the front row.”
Times: 1. Baz (Kawasaki) 1’40.298 average 158.755 kph; 2. Giugliano (Ducati) 1’40.533; 3. Sykes (Kawasaki) 1’40.561; 4. Melandri (Aprilia) 1’40.822; 5. Guintoli (Aprilia) 1’40.877; 6. Laverty (Suzuki) 1’41.092; 7. Davies (Ducati) 1’41.199; 8. Haslam (Honda) 1’41.338; 9. Lowes (Suzuki) 1’41.421; 10. Rea (Honda) 1’41.447; 11. Elias (Aprilia) 1’41.882; 12. Barrier (BMW) 1’42.928; 13. Salom (Kawasaki); 14. Canepa (Ducati); 15. Andreozzi (Kawasaki); 16. Morais (Kawasaki); 17. Guarnoni (Kawasaki); 18. Staring (Kawasaki); 19. Corti (MV Agusta); 20. Toth (BMW).
World Supersport
Michael van der Mark (Pata Honda World Supersport Team) has secured a front row start by claiming Pole Position at Jerez in a time of 1.44.293s with his nearest rival Jules Cluzel (MV Agusta Reparto Corse) only managing a fourth row start in 10th. Kenan Sofuoglu (San Carlo Puccetti Racing) was second in a close session that saw 13 riders covered by 0.958s. The recently married former champ will however have to start from the pitlane according to article 1.21.20 of the regulations. Completing… (read more).
Times: 1. Vd Mark (Honda) 1’44.293 average 152.674 kph; 2. Sofuoglu* (Kawasaki) 1’44.433; 3. Zanetti (Honda) 1’44.489; 4. Marino (Kawasaki) 1’44.699; 5. Jacobsen (Kawasaki) 1’44.745; 6. Wilairot (Honda) 1’44.745; 7. Kennedy (Honda) 1’44.788; 8. De Rosa (Honda) 1’44.838; 9. Rolfo(Kawasaki) 1’44.986; 10. Cluzel (MV Agusta) 1’44.996; 11. Coghlan (Yamaha) 1’45.146; 12. Schmitter (Yamaha) 1’45.163; 13. Nocco (Kawasaki) 1’45.251; 14. Tamburini (Kawasaki) 1’45.414; 15. Roccoli (MV Agusta) 1’45.556; etc.
*Will start the race from the pit-lane for exceeding the engine allocation quota
Superstock 1000
Leandro Mercado (Barni Racing) will start the penultimate race of the STK1000 Cup from Pole Position after laying down the gauntlet in official qualifying at Jerez.
A steady opening day saw the young Argentine rider focus on race set up and after declaring himself satisfied unleashed a lap time 0.659s better than his nearest rival and current championship leader Lorenzo Savadori (Team Pedercini).
Joining Mercado and Savadori on the front row tomorrow will be Italian Fabio Massei (EAB Racing Ducati).
Matthieu Lussiana (Team Garnier by Aspi) will head row two where he will be joined by Kyle Smith (Agro-On Wil Racedays Honda) and David McFadden (MRS Kawasaki).
Times: 1. Mercado (Ducati) 1’45.018 average 151.620 kph; 2. Savadori (Kawasaki) 1’45.677; 3. Massei (Ducati) 1’45.818; 4. Lussiana (Kawasaki) 1’45.840; 5. Smith (Honda) 1’45.902; 6. McFadden (Kawasaki) 1’46.080; 7. Nemeth (Kawasaki) 1’46.141; 8. Jezek (Ducati) 1’46.317; 9. Lanusse (Kawasaki) 1’46.336; 10. Metcher (Ducati) 1’46.563; 11. D’Annunzio (BMW) 1’46.570; 12. Sandi (BMW) 1’46.723; 13. Muresan (BMW) 1’46.867; 14. Day (Honda) 1’46.957; 15. Suchet (Kawasaki) 1’47.027; etc.
Superstock 600 – Race
Marco Faccani (San Carlo Team Italia) has won today’s European Superstock 600c race at Jerez and with it the 2014 championship.
Starting from Pole Position he and Federico Caricasulo (Evan Bros Racing Team) were soon over three seconds clear of the chasing pack, leaving the duo to fight for the victory.
In the end it was Faccani who has been at the front of all of the races bar one this year who claimed his fifth win of the year ahead of his compatriot who himself notched up his 3rd podium of the season.
The final podium place was decided in favour of Gauthier Duwelz (MVR Racing Team) after a race long duel saw him edge out Andrea Tucci (San Carlo Team Italia) who finished 4th.
Wayne Tessels (Wayne’s Racing Team) and Michael Rinaldi (G.A.S Racing Team) completed the top six.
Stefano Casalotti (VFT Racing), Guillaume Raymond (Team Garnier by Aspi) and Julian Puffe (MTM Racing Team all crashed on the opening lap, thankfully without injury.
Marco Faccani: “It has been a tough race, probably the toughest of the season. I felt some pressure to deliver the results everybody expected but fortunately, I made no mistakes. We worked very hard and it’s only thanks to Team Italia and our partners and sponsors that I got here. I would like to race in World Supersport next year and I think I can do well there, too.”
Results: 1. Faccani (Kawasaki) 13 Laps/57.499 km in 23’30.082 average 146.797 km/h; 2. Caricasulo (Honda) 2.562; 3. Duwelz (Yamaha) 7.563; 4. Tucci (Kawasaki) 8.055; 5. Tessels (Suzuki) 11.840; 6. Rinaldi (Yamaha) 15.510; 7. Bodis (Honda) 19.187; 8. Mikhalchik (Kawasaki) 19.322; 9. Caruso (Kawasaki) 19.946; 10. Baken (Yamaha) 20.396; 11. Marchal (Yamaha) 22.518; 12. Rouse (Honda) 23.544; 13. Manfredi (Honda) 29.452; 14. Lahti (Yamaha) 33.537; 15. Lagonigro (Yamaha) 35.303; etc.
Standings (Round 6 di 7): 1. Faccani 131; 2. Tessels 83; 3. Tucci 68; 4. Caricasulo 66; 5. Tuuli 58; 6. Mikhalchik 48; 7. Salvadori 42; 8. Duwelz 39; 9. Manfredi 38; 10. Rinaldi 29; 11. Casalotti 27; 12. Lahti 24; 13. Bodis 20; 14. Nestorovic 19; 15. Stirpe 16; 16. Zaccone 16; 17. Marchal 15; 18. Hartog 13; 19. Puffe 12; 20. Sabatino 11; 21. Morrentino 10; 22. Rouse 9; 23. Caruso 7; 24. Baken 6; 25. Mercandelli 5; 26. Gobbi 5; 27. Lewis 5; 28. Pittet 5; 29. Zeelen 5; 30. Canducci 3; 31. Monti 2; 32. Lagonigro 1; 33. De Gruttola 1; 34. Patronen 1.
European Junior Cup
Illan Fernandez (Evo Kids Racing) has secured pole position for tomorrow’s 10 lap Pata European Junior Cup, powered by Honda race at Jerez. The young Spanish rider, who turned 16 today, has edged out compatriot Javier Orellana (Europ Food SL) by only 0.024s in the second qualifying session, with other Spaniard Mika Perez (Cuna de Campeones) to complete the front row. Points leader Augusto Fernandez (Wil Sport) will move off from the second row, sixth spot on the grid.
Times: 1. Fernandez 1’59.613 average 133.119 kph; 2. Orellana 1’59.637; 3. Perez 1’59.715; 4. Harland 1’59.876; 5. Licciardi 2’00.388; 6. Fernandez 2’00.472; 7. Wilford 2’00.644; 8. Geissler 2’00.659; 9. Lujan Soto 2’00.726; 10. Hill 2’00.821; etc.
