Superbike

In warm sunshine, Karl Muggeridge set the sixth fastest time in today’s opening qualifying session for Sunday’s two fifth round World Superbike championship races at Silverstone, GB. With Frenchman Regis Laconi setting the provisional pole time, Muggeridge’s Winston Ten Kate Honda team-mate Chris Vermeulen was eighth fastest.

Following the Australian duo’s strong performances last time out at Monza in Italy, Muggeridge and Vermeulen spent most of today’s free practice and qualifying time continuing their development work for Silverstone’s 3.56km International circuit, which is being used by the championship for the first time this weekend.

Ronald ten Kate – team manager:
“Everything is looking fairly OK on race tyres here as we continued the progress that earned us those good results in Monza. Chris spent most of the qualifying session on race tyres and was running consistently in third or fourth place; but we weren’t able to match that pace when we put in a qualifier towards the end of the session, which surprised us, I must say. Karl is still making good progress and I’m sure there will be more to come tomorrow – I’m happy with our development of the CBR1000RR’s chassis and suspension, which is working well on the short circuit here.”

Karl Muggeridge – sixth fastest, 1m28.189s:
“I definitely prefer the old circuit here but I guess the challenge with this shorter version is the same for everyone. We’re still trying to get the grip down on the tarmac effectively and there’s a bit of work to do in that direction. We tried a heap of different things this morning – shocks, linkages and so on – and tried to put the best bits on the bike for this afternoon. One thing I have to say is that the brakes are lots better – Nissin has brought a selection of pads for us to try here. We’re aiming to just keep improving things tomorrow to give us a good starting position for Sunday’s races.”

Chris Vermeulen – eighth fastest, 1m28.310s:
“I put a qualifier in towards the end of the session but it was just spinning up everywhere and was still pretty fresh after two laps – it didn’t feel right at all. Everything was feeling fine on race tyres and I was pretty comfortable with the progress we were making. It’s important to start near the front here and get away well because for sure there’s going to be some action going into that hairpin for the first time – there was quite a few out-braking themselves there this morning!”

Supersport

Despite the switch to the shorter International circuit, Winston Ten Kate Honda’s Sébastien Charpentier set the fastest provisional qualifying time in today’s opening qualifying session for the fifth round World Supersport championship encounter at Silverstone GB.

High temperatures did not prevent a rain shower interrupting the 45-minute session but Charpentier’s team-mate, Katsuaki Fujiwara, maintained the team’s domination of this year’s championship by setting the second fastest time at the 3.56km Northamptonshire circuit.

Ronald ten Kate – team manager: “I’m pleased that both riders were able to maintain their concentration during that short break for the rain. In spite of other riders being faster at the time, there was no panic in the garage and Sébastien and Katsuaki went about their business with normal efficiency. We started today with some settings from the last round at Monza but we had to guess a little at the gearing for the new circuit here at Silverstone, especially through the kinks at the back of the track.”

Sébastien Charpentier – fastest, 1m29.558s - “The weather didn’t seem to know what it was doing here this afternoon. It has been very warm all day and then it decided to rain on our qualifying session. Luckily the track temperature was very high so the water quickly evaporated and we were able to set the fastest time again. We still have some work to do on the chassis tomorrow but we have decided which tyres to run with on Sunday after we spent most of the time on them today. My quick lap was really good fun – there was no traffic and I was enjoying sliding the rear everywhere!”

Katsuaki Fujiwara – second fastest, 1m29.911s - “I had a little bit of chatter problems this afternoon. It was nothing serious but was happening in some places as I opened the gas. We’ll have a look at that and try to solve the problem. Otherwise everything was pretty much OK. We’re improving the bike all the time and the new circuit didn’t cause too many problems. Half of it is the same as before so I am quite comfortable. We’ll work to improve certain areas tomorrow but everything is pretty good so far.”