WSB : POPULAR R1 ON THE PACE IN SUPERPOLE
25 February 2005 - Yamaha Racing

Yamaha riders will occupy four of the top seven places on the grid for tomorrow''s opening round of the Superbike World Championship at the Losail circuit in Qatar.

Yamaha Motor France''s Sébastien Gimbert was the early pace setter in a superpole session run under wet weather regulations, giving each rider a maximum of 12 laps in which to set their best lap. The arrival of the rain coincided with the start of the 50 minute session and consequently all the riders rushed to put in a quick lap before returning to the pit box. The Yamaha Motor France rider set a benchmark 2 1''889 before returning to his garage to wait and see if the weather would improve sufficiently to allow his rivals to challenge his lap times. Régis Laconi (Ducati) and Troy Corser (Suzuki) eventually put in quicker laps to relegate the Frenchman to third, with Yukio Kagayama (Suzuki) fourth.

Yamaha Motor Italia riders Andrew Pitt and Noriyuki Haga will start tomorrow''s opening round in fifth and seventh places respectively. Both riders made a good tactical decision, leaving the pits early to avoid the worst of the traffic and weather and establish an early lap time. Pitt''s best of 2: 02.670 was good enough to hold fourth place until Laconi put in his fast lap at the end of the session.

Sandwiched between the Yamaha Motor Italia duo is the R1 of Spanish privateer Jose Luis Cardoso. Gimbert''s team-mate Norick Abe was less fortunate in his timing and will start his first superbike race from the fourth row of the grid, in 15th place. Ivan Silva was another of the many Yamaha riders showing well in Qatar, the Spanish rider finished ninth fastest on his lightly modified R1.

Wet weather, a surprise for many at this desert location, has restricted running time for the riders and made it difficult to find ideal settings for tomorrow''s two 18 lap races. The morning session on both days has been run in wet conditions, meaning that qualifiers for today''s superpole session were based on yesterday''s qualifying times.

Grid positions for tomorrow''s Supersport World Championship round were determined by yesterday''s times. Although the track was drying out after the morning downpour, conditions did not improve enough to allow any of the front runners to improve their times. Yamaha Motor Germany''s Kevin Curtain did set the third fastest time of the session, but his best was still almost two seconds slower than yesterday''s time. He will start the race from fifth on the grid, with team-mate Broc Parkes alongside him on the second row of the grid, in seventh place.

Sébastien Gimbert (Yamaha Motor France IPONE) - third, 2: 01.641 ''I am used to working in endurance racing so the changeable conditions we had today are quite usual for me. The lap I put in at the beginning of the session was perfect, and on a race tyre too. I feel we have a good set-up for the race and good tyre life, so I am looking forward to tomorrow.''

Andrew Pitt (Yamaha Motor Italia) - fifth, 2: 02.670
''I am a little disappointed to have been knocked off the front row so late in the session but if someone had said to me this morning that I could qualify fifth then I would have gladly taken it. We made a lot of changes overnight. The team made some changes to the gearbox and we changed the engine mapping back to how it was at the test here last week. We''ve lost a lot of track time because of the weather but we have found a consistent race set-up and I am much happier with the bike today.''

Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha Motor Italia) - seventh, 2: 02.766
''Still the feeling from the front is not so good. The weather was difficult but we found a little improvement in superpole. I was using a qualifying tyre so I am not so sure how it will feel in the race. Tomorrow I hope it is sunny as we still have some things to try in warm-up. I still need to get a better feeling with the bike and we need a little more power but I will try to get the best possible result tomorrow.''

Norick Abe (Yamaha Motor France IPONE) - 15th, 2: 04.354
''This was my first superpole and the conditions were quite difficult. I was able to put in some consistent laps but I made a mistake and that possibly cost me a faster time.''

Round: 1 - Qatar
Circuit: Qatar
Circuit Length: 5400
Fastest Lap Ever: 2'' 1.244 (Troy Corser, 2005)
Date: 25 February 2005
Temp: 21ºC

Session 2 :
Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. 1st Qualifying 2nd Qualifying Superpole
1 R. Laconi Ducati FRA 2'' 1.980 2'' 23.844 2'' 1.593
2 T. Corser Suzuki AUS 2'' 1.244 2'' 25.345 2'' 1.641
3 S. Gimbert Yamaha FRA 2'' 2.217 2'' 24.187 2'' 1.889
4 Y. Kagayama Suzuki JPN 2'' 2.284 2'' 26.013 2'' 2.643
5 A. Pitt Yamaha AUS 2'' 2.769 2'' 25.419 2'' 2.670
6 J. Cardoso Yamaha ESP 2'' 1.388 N/A 2'' 2.745
7 N. Haga Yamaha JPN 2'' 2.687 2'' 25.941 2'' 2.766
8 C. Vermeulen Honda AUS 2'' 2.469 2'' 25.330 2'' 2.960
9 I. Silva Yamaha ESP 2'' 2.759 2'' 21.602 2'' 3.049
10 P. Chili Honda ITA 2'' 2.507 2'' 32.534 2'' 3.100
11 C. Walker Kawasaki GBR 2'' 2.921 2'' 23.646 2'' 3.138
12 G. Bussei Kawasaki ITA 2'' 3.268 2'' 37.644 2'' 3.189
13 D. Toseland Ducati ITA 2'' 2.754 2'' 26.992 2'' 3.357
14 M. Neukirchner Honda GER 2'' 2.236 2'' 28.398 2'' 3.671
15 N. Abe Yamaha JPN 2'' 2.868 2'' 26.584 2'' 4.354
16 M. Borciani Yamaha ITA 2'' 3.178 N/A 2'' 5.041
21 G. Vizziello Yamaha ITA 2'' 4.587 2'' 27.786
22 M. Praia Yamaha POR 2'' 4.627 N/A

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