Acting as stand in for regular team rider Karl Muggeridge at this race, Giovanni Bussei (Winston ten Kate Honda) had his first ride on the CBR1000RR in the morning untimed session, before setting 25th fastest time out of 33 entrants. It was the Italian riders first outing since the final race of 2005, and he spent the day easing himself back up to full racing speed.

With the threat of rain a constant concern to all the riders at Valencia, the afternoon qualifying session was a tense affair, and the weather predictions for the entire weekend allow for the possibility of rain at any stage.

Ronald Ten Kate - Team Manager
“Not an easy day for us. This morning, at the beginning of the session, and again this afternoon, we encountered the same problems as we had in our recent tests here. Towards the end we changed things a little bit and made some steps forward. We can improve tomorrow for sure. Giovanni is taking it step-by-step, and I am really pleased that he is approaching it, having been off a bike since Magny Cours last year. That’s a long time to be out, but he is doing well so far, constantly improving. If it is dry again tomorrow he will improve quite a bit, I’m sure of it.”

James Toseland – Winston Ten Kate Honda Rider
(11th position – 1’36.116)
“Not such an easy day but basically because we have been testing things we did not get the chance to at the Misano test we missed. Not new parts or anything, just a different setting to solve a problem we have. We have tried a lot of things here and one bike is quite a lot different to the other bike, just to see how this affects the problem we have. We tried another tyre which proved to be better, and a new rear shock as well, and the final time was nearly a second faster. But I am not so sure how much was in the tyre and how much in the rear shock. It was one of those days where we had to try a lot of things, even if we didn’t have much success with most of them. At the end were doing consistently good lap times, and we have a pretty good base to work on for tomorrow, when I’m sure we can erase all the things from today. Our position in the times does not tell you where we really stand and I feel quite comfortable with our settings.”

Giovanni Bussei – Winston Ten Kate Honda Rider
(25th position – 1’37.520)
“That was not so easy, and it has been quite along time for me without riding a race bike. So coming here in Valencia, where all the riders tested quite recently, was not so easy. This morning I was just trying to get comfortable as I built up speed. We looked for balance on the bike and we found some good improvements. I hope that it will not rain tomorrow, so that I can continue to improve. I look forward to being competitive on Sunday, although it is not going to be simple. But this afternoon was a lot more comfortable than this morning.”

Supersport

Sebastien Charpentier (Winston Ten Kate Honda) continued to demonstrate his peerless pace in the World Supersport championship after dominating the opening qualifying session, setting a new qualifying record of 1’36.913 on his way to provisional pole. His team-mate Kenan Sofuoglu (Winston Ten Kate Honda) had an eventful first day in Spain, crashing heavily in the opening WSS session, before recovering to take fifth best time overall, earning a provisional second row grid position.

Charpentier, 2005 World Champion for the Winston Ten Kate Honda team, has won the opening pair of 2006 races, and scored pole on each occasion. His best time today was 1.029 seconds faster than his closest challenger, Broc Parkes.

Today’s times may be of particularly great significance if the predicted weather patterns drop rain on the second day of qualifying, preventing any of the riders from improving their current best lap times.

Ronald Ten Kate - Team Manager
“Usually, after Sebastien has a good result, we say ‘not so bad’, but it was a blistering time that he set, the first man into the 1’36s around here, making it a new best lap. So it is all going quite well. This morning we confirmed a couple of items on the machine, some new parts we wanted to test, so that this afternoon we would know exactly where we were going. We’re really happy and tomorrow it doesn’t matter to us if it is raining or there is sunshine, because we are up top. On the other side of the garage it was a difficult day. We already had a fall early this morning in free practice, which destroyed one of Kenan’s machines. The damage was so severe that we could not rebuild the machine in time for the afternoon session, and having one bike for the qualifying session is not the best position to start from. But he still showed he is up there with the fastest guys, so for sure in the race, depending on what happens tomorrow of course, he is also in a good position.”

Sebastien Charpentier – Winston Ten Kate Honda Rider
“A good day and for sure I am happy. I tried hard here every time I went out and to pass into the 1’36s was good. Every time we did laps they were 1’37.1, 1’37.4, all in that area, so today I was ready for a new lap record. The new best lap was a really good time and this morning was also positive, because our times were fast in the cooler conditions. My bike was very good today and the Pirelli tyres worked very well. I am ready for a good result and I hope it is dry for tomorrow and Sunday. We want dry weather to make a better race for everybody. It’s not good for the spectators in the rain and not easy for the riders.”

Kenan Sofuoglu – Winston Ten Kate Honda Rider
“I am not happy because in the morning I had a very big crash when I pushed too much in the beginning and then put too much pressure on myself to get onto the front row in qualifying. I also have a lot of pain in my back and my hand. I am fifth but I wanted to stay in the top four. I am sixth-tenths slower than I was in the tests here but everybody else has improved their times. I will ride again tomorrow and if we have good weather then maybe I can improve my time.”