Leon Haslam takes Magny-Cours Superpole
Leon Haslam (Aprilia Racing Team – Red Devils) has taken the penultimate Tissot-Superpole of the 2015 season, the first fully wet qualifying of the year after the heavens opened at the Circuit Nevers de Magny-Cours shortly before Superpole 1 began.
Despite ending the session in the gravel after crashing in the final moments of SP2, the Briton edged out the newly crowned World Champion Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team) by 0.004s. This is the second pole position for Haslam this year and only the third of his long World Superbike career.
Joining Haslam and Rea on the front row of the grid for tomorrow’s 21-lap races will be, for the second consecutive round, Niccolò Canepa (Althea Racing), after the wet conditions threw up some surprises at the front of the grid.
Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team), Sylvain Guintoli (Pata Honda World Superbike Team), Chaz Davies (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati SBK Team) and Alex Lowes (Voltcom Crescent Suzuki) all crashed, Lowes’ incident bringing out the red flags. The session restarted with two minutes and 46 seconds remaining meaning that it was a one lap shoot-out to decide the grid.
Row two will see Davies, Guintoli and Luca Scassa (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati Superbike Team), while a competitive Leon Camier heads up the third row that also comprises Ayrton Badovini (BMW Motorrad Italia) and Tom Sykes. Scassa and Camier were the two riders who made their way through Superpole 1 and into the final session.
Tenth on the grid will be Markus Reiterberger (VanZon Rehema BMW), with Alex Lowes and Jordi Torres (Aprilia Racing Team – Red Devils) rounding out row the top 12.
WorldSBK Magny-Cours – Tissot-Superpole
1 – Leon Haslam Aprilia Racing Team – Red Devils 1’56.404
2 – Jonathan Rea Kawasaki Racing Team +0.004
3 – Niccolò Canepa Althea Racing Ducati +0.508
Leon Haslam – P1 – “The last lap in Superpole I was determined to push. I thought a lot of others would be improving. I left a lot of space between me, Scassa and Jordi, but I caught them up faster than I had expected and when I tried to overtake them I ended up on the kerb and took a slide. I didn’t think I had held onto first place. I realized it only because the track marshals took me to the winner’s circle instead of the garage! I had a good feeling in the wet. Throughout the weekend we’ve been close to the top times despite focusing on our race pace. The guys at Aprilia did a brilliant job. I’m sure that tomorrow we’ll be able to make a play for it no matter what the weather brings.”
Jonathan Rea – P2 – “I was so nervous because going down the last hill into the final complex it is like a sheet of water and there were no riders in front to make a line. I saw on the big screen that my sectors were red, red, red, meaning I was fastest but I just bottled it in the last part! Everything was going good earlier in Superpole and I was P2, P2 and then the red flag came. The problem is keeping heat in the tyres.I had some moments on my out lap under deceleration, which is the main issue we need to improve in wet conditions. But it was fun. To be on the front row is good because we have done a lot of work over the weekend in dry conditions.”
Niccolò Canepa – P3 – “I was really nervous before Superpole because after the good performances in free practice I knew I could have been very fast in dry conditions. It was very difficult as we had a new wet tyre to try, which we never used before. I had to adjust to the track under these conditions and do my best to get to grips with the tyre. I did my best on my last lap and I’d say third place is an amazing result for us. I will do my best tomorrow to get a good result, my pace is not bad!”
Sylvain Guintoli – P5 – “Fifth is OK I guess, especially after crashing. I was improving during the session and getting the lap time down, so it’s not so bad, but it might have been better without the crash. In the wet so you have to keep going, build the temperature in the tyres and build your confidence at the same time, step by step. You can very easily make a mistake, but to be fair the bike felt quite good. I was just building the session towards the end but then we couldn’t restart after the red flag because the handlebars were broken. It’s a shame about the little slide, but no damage and no injuries, so we’ll be alright for tomorrow.”
Luca Scassa – P6 – “I’m very happy with sixth as a result. I hadn’t ridden in the rain for five years and so it was all new, a new bike and in wet conditions. In Superpole 1 I decided to follow Englishman Camier to gain a little confidence. I made my fastest lap right at the end of the session, despite having limited visibility due to a fogged-up visor. In Superpole 2 I had more confidence, having already completed the first session. I made a couple of mistakes, but for me it was important to do as well as possible while keeping calm and trying to avoid a crash. I’m really pleased with the result and hope we can continue like this tomorrow.”
Tom Sykes – P9 – “It was such a shame to fall but we did not have the initial grip in the first two laps and I was waiting for the tyre to come to me. I had a crash with no warning so it is just one of those things. The track grip was at a low level and the temperature was very low. It was a very fast crash and there was no time to save it. With the one bike rule, it was game over, so I was disappointed with that. After the fall I was expecting to be last in the session so I was much better off than I thought. From the third row tomorrow it will be a little bit harder in the beginning. Tough, but not impossible. At the start you are only a few metres off the leading bike so we just need to make it count in the first few laps.”
Jacobsen claims Magny-Cours pole on his final lap
PJ Jacobsen (CORE Motorsport Thailand) kept the pressure on Champion elect Kenan Sofuoglu (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) by leaving it until his final lap to steal the WSS Pole Position at Magny-Cours. Lucas Mahias (MG Competition) bounced back from an early session tumble to snatch the final spot on the front row of the grid after some great repair work by his team. Jacobsen will start a World Supersport race from pole for the second time this year; his maiden front-grid start was at Sepang two months ago.
Despite an early crash, Kyle Smith (Pata Honda World Supersport Team) was able to salvage a fourth-place start in the final moments of the session, before he tumbled off again. The Briton will be joined on the second row by Italian Alex Baldolini, aboard his privately entered Race Department ATK#25 MV Agusta, and compatriot Gino Rea (CIA Landlords Insurance Honda), who took an impressive sixth. Rea heavily damaged his bike in FP1 yesterday and missed the whole second free practice session as his team raced to fix the #4 CBR600RR.
Lorenzo Zanetti (MV Agusta Reparto Corse) finished seventh ahead of the CIA Landlords Insurance trio of Martin Cardenas, Kevin Manfredi and Aiden Wagner, who rounded out the top 10.
Wet track conditions heavily affected the qualifying proceedings as seventeen individual crashes were recorded during the 45 minutes of track-time available to the riders.
World Supersport Magny-Cours – Qualifying
1 – PJ Jacobsen CORE” Motorsport Thailand Honda 2’00.197
2 – Kenan Sofuoglu Kawasaki Puccetti Racing +0.040
3 – Lucas Mahias MG Competition Yamaha +1.352
Jeremy Guarnoni (FRA) on pole in front of his home crowd
The final FIM Superstock 1000 Cup Pole Position of the season was taken by Frenchman Jeremy Guarnoni (Team Trasimeno) after difficult and tricky conditions saw the two title contenders Lorenzo Savadori (Nuova M2 Racing) and Roberto Tamburini (Team MotoxRacing) qualify 8th and 17th respectively.
The session was a crash-strewn affair as many riders fell, as they tip-toed their way around the slippery French circuit.
Wrestling his Yamaha throughout, Guarnoni eventually took the Pole by 0.324s from Bryan Staring (Team Pedercini) and Ondrej Jezek (Triple-M by Barni) who complete the front row for tomorrow’s 15-lap encounter. Jezek crashed on his final lap whilst on a potential pole setting lap but nevertheless retains his front row spot despite falling.
Row two is headed by Matthieu Lussiana (Team ASPI), who also fell, Kevin Calia (Nuova M2 Racing) and Lukas Trautmann (MRS Racing).
Trautmann’s teammate Matthieu Gines was seventh after setting the pace early on. The Frenchman heads up row 3 where he will be joined by Savadori and Raffaele de Rosa (Althea Racing) who was another of the leading riders to fall.
Superstock 1000 Magny-Cours – Qualifying
1 – Jeremy Guarnoni Team Trasimeno Yamaha 1’57.937
2 – Bryan Staring Team Pedercini Kawasaki +0.324
3 – Ondrej Jezek Triple-M by Barni Ducati +0.791
Fernandez wins the final STK600 race of the year in France
The final 13-lap race in the 2015 FIM Europe Superstock 600cc Championship was won in style by last year’s EJC winner Augusto Fernandez (Pata Honda Junior Team).
Axel Bassani (Berclaz Racing Team) took the lead on lap two and was never headed, until a heart stopping moment on lap 7 saw him relinquish a 1.5s lead to Augusto Fernandez, the Spanish rider claiming an emotional first victory in the series ahead of podium debutant, who clung on for second at the flag.
In wet and slippery conditions following an earlier downpour, the race saw many of the leading protagonists fall out of contention including the riders fighting for second in the overall standings.
The final podium position went to Turkish rider Toprak Razgatliogliu (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing), the 2015 champion riding a sensible race to claim another podium finish.
Luca Vitali (G.A.S Racing Team), Ilya Mikhalchik (DS Junior Team) and Hugo Clere (MG Competition) completed the top 6.
Superstock 600 Magny-Cours – Race
1 – Augusto Fernandez Pata Honda Junior Team
2 – Axel Bassani Berclaz Racing Team +8.205
3 – Toprak Razgatlioglu Kawasaki Puccetti Racing +18.865
Final Standings
1 – Toprak Razgatlioglu Kawasaki Puccetti Racing 157
2 – Michael Ruben Rinaldi San Carlo Team Italia Kawasaki 98 (-59)
3 – Federico Caricasulo Pata Honda Junior Team 86 (-71)
