After a two day test in the run up to race weekend, and an intervening spell of hot dry weather, the inaugural Losail race weekend was punctuated by frequent bouts of wet weather, highly uncharacteristic for this normally arid region. This made the work of tyre selection, and many of Pirelli’s pre-race plans, a game finally played by intuition and reaction to change – despite extensive preparations. With only one of each Superbike and Supersport qualifying sessions held in dry conditions, the Superpole competition proved dry-wet-dry, meaning that many big names were caught out by conditions and failed to make the Superpole cut.

Race 1
TRACK CONDITION Dry AIR HUMIDITY 84%
TRACK TEMPERATURE 23° AIR TEMPERATURE 22°

With all riders on the hardest front tyres and the softest rears, the first race was a predictable triumph for the Alstare Suzuki riders, who proved to be fast in both sessions of what was a halted and re-started event, due to rain after ten laps. The aggregate race showed the same top three as race one ending on top, with Troy Corser winning from Yukio Kagayama and Ducati rider Regis Laconi.

Race 2
TRACK CONDITION Dry AIR HUMIDITY 75%
TRACK TEMPERATURE 29° AIR TEMPERATURE 22°
An uninterrupted run of all 18-laps of the 5.380km Losail circuit in race two saw some riders make better use of their tyre selections than others. Front tyre wear was a significant factor for those with less set-up and testing time in pre-season, and thus the Suzuki duo were once more to the fore, with Kagayama winning on a hard front and a hard rear, Troy Corser ruing his choice of a “medium” rear as he finished third behind Laconi’s Ducati.

Pirelli Racing Manager Giorgio Barbier, stated, “We have had a very hard time here and the first two days were particularly difficult. But at the finish we have good results from the Superbike product. The first race was stopped early due to rain, so we do not have much evidence of tyre endurance, but in the second race there were a lot of riders on a good lap times, even at the end of the race. For sure the front tyre is our first priority for the future at this track. It appears that day by day the track has improved, even race by race, the track has improved."

Supersport
TRACK CONDITION Dry AIR HUMIDITY 84%
TRACK TEMPERATURE 23° AIR TEMPERATURE 23°

Front tyre wear, on this peculiar circuit, was of concern to all WSS runners, but with many riders opting for the softer option after long runs in training, the top two trophies were won by riders with identical tyre choices. Winston Ten Kate runner Katsuaki Fujiwara reeled in his team-mate Sebastien Charpentier in the later stages of the race, with another Honda rider, Michel Fabrizio in third.

Pirelli Racing Manager, Giorgio Barbier, stated, “The only problem we have experienced on track was during the Supersport race. This track was quite hard on the front and in the end the riders who won proved to be those who had their bike set-up in the best condition after practice. We did not get so much time to work on the set-up of the bikes, because of the rains coming and going. The rain actually cleans the track so this morning it was in a worse condition than it is now."