World SuperSport 2002 - Round 10 - Oschersleben - Qualifying 2

Fuchs Kawasaki's Andrew Pitt will start round ten of the World Supersport Championship from the third row of the grid tomorrow, after finishing ninth fastest during this afternoon's final qualifying session at Oschersleben.

Despite the problems associated with his starting position, the 26-year-old reigning World Champion remains confident of a good result in tomorrow's 28-lap race.

'We had a couple of niggling problems with rear chatter during qualifying, which meant I didn't finish as high as I was hoping, but we'll definitely have everything sorted for tomorrow's race,' explained Pitt. 'For sure it's not going to be easy starting from the third row of the grid, especially at this circuit, where it's so difficult to make a pass, but I'm still fairly confident of running with the leading group if I can get away from the line cleanly. I need to win here if I'm to be in with a shout at the championship title, and that's exactly what I'll be going out to do tomorrow.'

Having made changes to the set-up of his Fuchs Kawasaki ZX-6R overnight, James Ellison continued to improve throughout today's practice and qualifying sessions, eventually finishing 22nd fastest and securing a sixth row start for tomorrow's race.

'The changes we made overnight definitely improved things with the bike, but I'm still struggling to get it to change direction through the chicane,' said Ellison. 'I have to take a completely different line to everyone else, and that's what is losing me the most time. I guess the strategy for tomorrow's race will have to be just to get my head down and go as hard as I can.'