FPR HAVE TOUGH FIRST DAY IN FRANCE
06 October 2006 - Foggy PETRONAS Racing

The first day of qualifying of Foggy PETRONAS Racing’s final outing in the Superbike World Championship at Magny-Cours in France provided a tough test for riders Steve Martin and Craig Jones.

Technical problems hindered afternoon progress after a promising morning, with Steve finishing in 21st following a minor crash and Craig in 25th as Noriyuki Haga set the early pace of 1:40.474.

Steve said: “Everything was going okay in the morning but the afternoon did not exactly go to plan. I lost the front end on my second lap, which was just one of those things. But it meant that I had to go out on my second bike, which is a different spec and did not feel as good, so we decided to fix my number one bike. I tried the tyre that was supposed to produce the better times but I think one of the other tyres that I had tried earlier will be better for doing times. We will have everything under control tomorrow and then I can set about getting the bike into Superpole if the weather stays fine.”

Craig said: “I really like the track. It’s nothing like Imola, where you have to just bite the screen and hold on. The surface is good and there are a lot of hairpins, which suits my style because I bring the bike to a halt well. So, considering it’s my first time here and the fact that we had a few problems throughout the day, I’m not too far away. I did not make that much time up in the afternoon but I was more than a second up on one lap before I made a mistake in the final sector. After that we struggled to get the bike running properly and people were crashing in front of me so I wasn’t able to improve. But I think I can easily get into the 42s in the morning and maybe even challenge for Superpole.”

Friday qualifying times, Superbike World Championship, round 12, Magny-Cours, France: 1 Haga 1:40.474; 2 Toseland 1:40.734; 3 Lanzi 1:40.821; 4 Pitt 1:40.872; 5 Corser 1:40.936; 5 Corser 1:40.936; 6 Kagayama 1:40.950; 7 Nieto 1:40.954; 8 Bayliss 1:41.006; 9 Muggeridge 1:41.044; 10 Barros 1:41.184; 21 Martin (Foggy PETRONAS Racing) 1:42.479; 25 Jones (Foggy PETRONAS Racing) 1:44.020

Free practice times: 1 Corser (Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra) 1:41.049; 2 Toseland (Winston Ten Kate Honda) 1:41.255; 3 Haga (Yamaha Italia) 1:41.312; 4 Bayliss (Ducati Xerox) 1:41.385; 5 Pitt (Yamaha Italia) 1:41.451; 6 Walker (PSG-1 Kawasaki) 1:41.531; 7 Muggeridge (Winston Ten Kate Honda) 1:41.609; 8 Nieto (PSG-1 Kawasaki) 1:41.796; 9 Gimbert (Yamaha France) 1:42.066; 10 Lanzi (Ducati Xerox) 1:42.085; 11 Martin (Foggy PETRONAS Racing) 1:42.202; 25 Jones (Foggy PETRONAS Racing) 1:44.561

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