Team BMW Motorrad Motorsport will start the second round of the FIM Superbike World Championship 2011 at Donington (GBR) from the front row. Local works rider, Leon Haslam (GBR), secured the second best qualifying result ever for the team, finishing second in today’s Superpole Qualifying. His team mate Troy Corser (AUS) will start tomorrow’s races from tenth position.
Leon Haslam:
Fastest lap Qualifying Practices: 1:29.472 min (P7) / Fastest lap FP: 1:28.968 min (P2) / Fastest lap Superpole 3: 1:28.365 min (P2)
“I am really looking forward to tomorrow now. We wanted a front row start and we have got that. We definitely made good progress from Australia to this event. Hopefully it is a dry day tomorrow, and I will try to beat the others this time. In a race anything can happen, but we are making steps in the right direction. If we can get a good start and have consistent races, we will be in with a good shot.”
Troy Corser:
Fastest lap Qualifying Practices: 1:29.476 min (P8) / Fastest lap FP: 1:29.861 min (P10) / Fastest lap Superpole 2: 1:28.836 min (P10)
“We had no serious issues, but there were some small vibrations in the rear tyre on the second qualifier. We are still just trying to find a good set-up. The cold weather was no problem, just a bit hard on the tyre. It seems to be tearing up quite a bit with the cold, but that is okay. Overall I am happy, but not with the qualifying result. The race tyre is quite good and consistent. We just need to get a good start and then we will see what is possible.”
Rainer Bäumel (Head of Race Operations):
“On the whole I am happy with how Superpole has turned out for us. Troy was unlucky; he was suffering from some vibration issues which prevented him from taking full advantage of the qualifying tyre and stopped him from progressing into Superpole 3. Even so, heading up the third row is not so bad. We know Troy can get good starts and his race pace is good so we are confident. With regard to Leon we are all really happy. He has good pace on a race tyre and he will be pushing for the front tomorrow for sure.”
Source: MotoMatters