James Toseland (Winston Ten Kate Honda) and Karl Muggeridge (Winston Ten Kate Honda) found light smatterings of rain to be the main problem in the opening session of qualifying action at Monza, when a smattering of light rain first fell at the Ascari chicane, to be followed by spits on other parts of the track. The difficult conditions claimed a few riders as the speeds increased, but Toseland still managed to set a best of 1’47.751, less then a second from the existing fastest lap, and good enough for an overall fourth best ranking. He is now guaranteed a Superpole start if the final timed session on Saturday morning proves to be fully wet.

Muggeridge, making his return to competitive action after a recent back injury, qualified 22nd fastest, finding that the changeable conditions of the opening qualifying session at the fastest circuit of the year detrimental to his good early pace in the dry untimed morning session.

Weather forecasts for the rest of the Monza weekend indicate further rains are a high possibility over race weekend.

Ronald Ten Kate - Team Manager
“That was a difficult situation due to the conditions on the track. It was hard to do the first qualifying like that. James did very well to get into the top four, and this morning, when it was fully dry Karl was going really well. He was even mixing it with the top ten guys. In the afternoon those conditions didn’t help him get his confidence back. But the performance he showed this morning was very good. Let’s hope it will be dry tomorrow, at least for one of the session, to get things worked out for his set-up and get him even further up the field.”

James Toseland – Winston Ten Kate Honda Rider
(4th position – 1’47.751)
“A pretty good qualifying session but I just had to be careful with the rain. There wasn’t enough to wet the track but just enough to make you think about it. Fourth on the grid is pretty good but the weather outlook for the weekend doesn’t look so good. We have good dry settings, just a couple of little things on the bikes, and the package is very strong here, so all things are pretty good. Around here is not so bad in the wet, quite a lot of grip.”

Karl Muggeridge – Winston Ten Kate Honda Rider
(22nd position – 1’49.764)
“Not the way I wanted to finish the day. It started OK but with some spots of rain out there I just didn’t feel comfortable on the bike. I tried and tried and then I missed the gap when the track was driest. I should have gone quicker then. At this point I just have to see what tomorrow brings. The forecast is rain, which won’t help!”

Supersport

Sebastien Charpentier (Winston Ten Kate Honda) once more demonstrated why he and his team are reigning World Champions, and current championship leaders, after a masterful display of pace on the opening day at Monza. He set a new best lap in the unofficial morning practice session, with a 1’51.424, before beating it once more in official qualifying, setting a provisional pole time of 1’51.061 – a time which now stands as the overall track best in the Supersport class. Charpentier’s team-mate Kenan Sofuoglu (Winston Ten Kate Honda) earned himself a provisional front row start with the fourth quickest Friday qualifying time, a 1’52.313

With rain falling shortly after the end of the timed session, and with poor weather a distinct possibility over the rest of the weekend, today’s times may stand as the ones which will determine the shape of the final WSS grid for Sunday’s races. If fair weather graces Saturday’s final 45-minute qualifying session, then Charpentier and Sofuoglu will have one further opportunity to up the pace even more.

Ronald Ten Kate - Team Manager
“To have both our riders on the provisional front row is a good start, especially if there will be rain tomorrow. It seems likely it will. Once again Sebastien did a perfect job, setting a new best lap around here, smashing the old record by four tenths. He set the time pretty early in the session so we also spent a lot of time riding on race settings, and then he was setting regular 1’51 second lap times. All pretty good, so we’ll see what tomorrow brings. For Kenan I am particularly pleased because he had some disappointing races in Phillip Island and Valencia, but now he is back in a more mature way. He has learned a lot and he is taking those lessons very well at this moment. We will be ready for tomorrow.”

Sebastien Charpentier – Winston Ten Kate Honda Rider
(1st position – 1’51.061)
“It was a good day for us because immediately in the first session we went fast. We got a new track record to finish the day and for sure this is a good start. Immediately the machine was fast; so good, but the end of the afternoon session was strange. Many, many crashes finished the session, and the last lap was a 1’51.061, to get my best lap. My ideal time, adding the best times in each section of the track, was a 1’50.7, so I hope I can get something like that tomorrow – if it is dry. Pole position at the moment is good for the team and we have worked well, in a good direction. Not bad for a first day.”

Kenan Sofuoglu – Winston Ten Kate Honda Rider
(4th position – 1.52.313)
“I am running in the top five and that is good. I think it is possible to have set a better lap time but it is OK for me. After a big crash in the last Valencia race I adopted a different approach to the free practice, building up to speed again. If there is dry weather tomorrow I can improve my lap time but it also gives everyone else the opportunity to improve their times. If it is wet tomorrow and Sunday it will be OK. I like to show myself in the dry but if we have rain then everybody has rain.”