YAMAHA MAKES A POSITIVE START AT WET QATAR
23 February 2006 - Yamaha Racing

Yamaha Motor Italia riders Andrew Pitt and Noriyuki Haga got their seasons underway by posting the seventh and eighth fastest times in today''s first qualifying session

Round one of the 2006 Superbike World Championship at the Losail circuit in Qatar.

Round: 1 - Qatar
Circuit: Losail Circuit
Date: 23 February 2006
Temp: 22ºC
Weather: Wet

For the second year in a row, riders arrived at the Losail circuit to find themselves faced with a wet opening practice, ironic considering that the country''s annual rainfall is less than 130mm per year.

The rain stopped prior to the timed afternoon session and, although the track was to dry out in places the Yamaha Motor Italia riders opted to save their tyre allocation and run just one set of wet-weather tyres each throughout the day.

Having tested at the circuit just over two weeks ago, Haga sat out of the wet morning free practice session with Pitt completing just a handful of laps. With teams restricted to just nine front and 13 rear tyres throughout the weekend, the squad decided to preserve their rubber allocation for tomorrow''s expected dry session. Even so, both riders were able get their first feel of the 2006-version YZF-R1 in wet conditions and carry out further work on the new engine management system.

Yamaha Motor France rider Sebastien Gimbert, fastest of the 17 riders who ventured out in the soaked morning practice, continued his record strong performances around the Middle Eastern venue in today''s opening practice. The Losail lap record holder ended the day in fifth position and keen to replicate the front row start he gained in Qatar last year during tomorrow''s superpole session. Team-mate Norick Abe took no risks to end the day in 12th place while Shinichi Nakatomi was probably the rider most badly affected by the morning wash out. One of seven championship rookies this year, the Japanese newcomer is one of only three riders never to have ridden at the Losail circuit. The 27-year-old clocked 35 laps over the two sessions, making him the day''s most active rider. He ended the day 24th in the overnight standings.

Former world champion Troy Bayliss (Ducati) was the fastest man on track today, setting a 2:17.326 lap late in the session. Regis Laconi (Kawasaki) was second on 2:19.064 with Pitt and Haga less than a second behind, recording 2:19.991 and 2:20.164 respectively.

Sebastien Gimbert (Yamaha Motor France)
''This has been a good track for me in the past. I was on the front row here last year and also got the lap record, so I know that I can be strong. I am usually quite good in these wet conditions but I hope that it is dry tomorrow and we can get a good setting for the race.''

Andrew Pitt (Yamaha Motor Italia)
''We learned a lot today. This year''s bike is definitely much better to ride in the wet (compared to last year''s version) and we were able to work on the electronics again today and make some further improvements there. If the session had gone on for another 10 minutes then we could have gone out on intermediates but as it was we just used the one set of tyres for the morning and afternoon sessions. Even with a fresh set of wets I could have gone quicker but we didn''t want to use up a set of tyres unnecessarily.''

Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha Motor Italia)
''We did what we could to improve the bike in the conditions but really I wanted it to be dry today. We already have a base from our test here but I want to work a little bit more on improving the set-up and choosing our tyre for the race.''

Norick Abe (Yamaha Motor France)
''Twelfth is neither bad nor good, in fact it''s not really important. Tomorrow the conditions will change and everyone will go faster, so today I treated qualifying as a warm-up session for my body and to get a feel for riding the bike again.''

Shinichi Nakatomi (Yamaha Motor France)
''Today is my first visit to this circuit so I had to make as many laps as possible to learn the layout. I hope that it is dry tomorrow and we can make some faster lap times.''

Massimo Meregalli (Team Coordinator - Yamaha Motor Italia)
''Overall it has been a positive day for us. We had no problems and both riders are happy with the bike in wet conditions. We decided not to use up any more of our tyre allocation than necessary in these conditions. Hopefully it will be dry tomorrow and we can work on finding the best tyres for the race. Pirelli has brought along one option which is new to us, so we must try this out in the dry.''

Round: 1 - Qatar
Circuit: Losail Circuit
Circuit Length: 5380
Lap Record: 2'' 1.852 (Sebastien Gimbert, 2005)
Fastest Lap Ever: 2'' 1.244 (Troy Corser, 2005)
Date: 23 February 2006
Temp: 22ºC

Session 1 :
Pos. Rider Manufacturer Nat. 1st Qualifying
1 T. Bayliss Ducati AUS 2'' 17.326
2 R. Laconi Kawasaki FRA 2'' 19.064
3 T. Corser Suzuki AUS 2'' 19.614
4 C. Walker Kawasaki GBR 2'' 19.684
5 S. Gimbert Yamaha FRA 2'' 19.687
6 A. Barros Honda BRA 2'' 19.834
7 A. Pitt Yamaha AUS 2'' 19.991
8 N. Haga Yamaha JPN 2'' 20.164
9 F. Battiani Kawasaki ITA 2'' 20.200
10 F. Nieto Kawasaki ESP 2'' 20.469
11 P. Chili Honda ITA 2'' 20.695
12 N. Abe Yamaha JPN 2'' 20.720
13 K. Muggeridge Honda AUS 2'' 21.152
14 R. Rolfo Ducati ITA 2'' 21.233
15 Y. Kagayama Suzuki JPN 2'' 21.234
16 M. Neukirchner Ducati GER 2'' 21.491
24 S. Nakatomi Yamaha JPN 2'' 24.788
29 T. Al Naimi Yamaha QAT 2'' 46.833

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