Troy Corser equalled his second best grid position of Foggy PETRONAS Racing’s debut season by qualifying in sixth place for tomorrow’s two World Superbike races at Imola, Italy.
The Australian had finished seventh fastest as the highest-placed non-Ducati rider in the final morning qualifying session. But he went one better in the one-lap Superpole shoot-out for grid positions in setting his best lap time of the weekend, with 1:49.880. Troy, who qualified on the front row at the first round in Valencia and was sixth in the following round in Australia, was pleasantly surprised with the performance of the FP1, the Malaysian superbike, at the testing and bumpy Enzo and Dino Ferrari Circuit.
He said: “Sixth is better than I expected as I thought the bike would struggle through the uphill sections, but the engine is pulling fairly well. We altered the cam timing overnight to produce a bit more torque and acceleration. We have also been playing with the rear shock and have a pretty good set-up, especially over the bumpy sections. Unfortunately we were unable to try another qualifying tyre before Superpole because of the restrictions on the number of rears. So that lap was my first lap on a new tyre and every time I came out of the corner I felt that I might have been able to turn the throttle harder. I could perhaps have done a 49.5 but we would still have been on the second row. I want to work a bit more on the throttle connection off the bottom, which would help in the three chicanes.”
Team-mate James Haydon, missed out on Superpole by two places, despite improving his best first day time by nearly a second in morning qualifying. A stop-start afternoon session, hampered by mechanical problems, prevented further progress. He said: “It’s frustrating not to be using engines with the cylinder head modifications. I wanted to try Troy’s set-up this afternoon but did not really get a chance. Troy’s doing a fantastic job but I still can’t slide the bike or push the front like I want to and I’m disappointed I haven’t been able to made progress.”
Superpole results, World Superbike championship round 11, Imola, Italy: 1 Xaus (Ducati Fila) 1:48.636; 2 Laconi (NCR) 0.406; 3 Hodgson (Ducati Fila) 0.415; 4 Toseland (HM Plant Ducati) 0.592; 5 Chili (PSG-1) 0.609; 6 Corser (Foggy PETRONAS Racing) 1.244; 7 Martin (DFX) 1.285; 8 Borja (DFX) 1.552; 9 Lavilla (Alstare Suzuki) 1.682; 10 Walker (HM Plant Ducati) 1.777; 11 Clementi (Kawasaki Bertocchi) 2.167; 12 Pedercini (Team Pedercini) 2.213; 13 Borciani (DFX) 2.783; 14 Sanchini (Kawasaki Bertocchi) 3.198; 15 Garcia (NCR) 3.470; 16 Fuertes (MIR) 5.207
Free Practice times: 1 Xaus 1:48.919; 2 Toseland 1:49.075; 3 Hodgson 1:49.249; 4 Chili 1:49.482; 5 Walker 1:49.827; 6 Clementi 1:50.206; 7 Laconi 1:50.430; 8 Martin 1:50.474; 9 Lavilla 1:50.510; 10 Sanchini 1:51.111; 11 Corser 1:51.614; 20 Haydon 1:54.493