Team BMW Motorrad Motorsport started with high hopes in today’s Superpole qualifying at Magny-Cours (FRA). In the previous practice and qualifying sessions, factory riders Leon Haslam (GBR) and Troy Corser (AUS) were close to the top on their BMW S 1000 RRs. But in the deciding Superpole qualifying both of them experienced some issues that prevented them from qualifying at the very front. Leon finished seventh and will start the penultimate round of the 2011 FIM Superbike World Championship from the second row. Troy qualified 12th and on the third row. Ayrton Badovini (ITA) from the BMW Motorrad Italia SBK Team will start with his RR from 16th. His team mate Xavi Fores (ESP) qualified 17th.
Leon Haslam
“We had a few issues in Superpole, which made the bike quite difficult to ride. If we can sit down now and solve these issues before tomorrow then a podium finish is certainly what we are aiming to achieve. We have been strong so far this weekend and the times are good on race tyres, but we just need to make some small improvements then we will be in a good position for the races. Right now starting positions and lap times are not what I am thinking about because we know if everything falls into place then we can be right up there.”
Troy Corser
“It was a tough session. The qualifying tyres didn’t really improve my time as I was able to do the same times on race tyres, and that cost us in the end. It is a little frustrating because in order to qualify well you need to be going faster on the softer tyres, otherwise you won’t be able to match the speed of the other guys who can. But on race tyres the bike is working really well and I am happy with the set-up, so let see what happens tomorrow. Around here you need to get away well and run with the leaders, otherwise it can become very difficult to make up the time. A lot will depend on the first lap tomorrow. We have been in the top five all weekend so we are optimistic.”
Rainer Bäumel (Head of Race Operations)
“Leon did a good job. In Superpole 3 he did not have a qualifying tyre left. In view of this he did a good lap time. All the riders are very close and in Superpole 1 we had to send out both riders on qualifying tyres. Nearly everybody in the field did that, as one tenth of a second more or less means five places higher or lower. Troy unfortunately had some issues with his tyres in Superpole 2 that led to small mistakes. That is a shame, because otherwise he would also have made it to the next session.”
