BMW Motorrad Motorsport - WSBK - Brno - Superpole
Brno – Qualifying Practice 2 & Superpole.
Saturday, 09 July 2011.
Weather conditions: Sunny.
Temperature: Air: 26 – 31 °C, Track: 43 – 51 °C
Number of riders participating: 22 from 14 teams
Fastest lap Qualifying Practices: Carlos Checa (Althea Racing) 1:59.322 min
Fastest lap Superpole 3: Max Biaggi (Aprilia Alitalia Racing Team) 1:58.580 min
Team BMW Motorrad Motorsport experienced a disappointing Saturday. Factory rider Leon Haslam (GBR) will start the eighth round of the 2011 FIM Superbike World Championship in Brno (CZE) from the fourth row. Leon finished the Superpole qualifying in 13th, missing the second Superpole session only by 0,047 seconds . His team mate Troy Corser (AUS) is with the team at Brno but is not racing in order to give his fractured left forearm time to heal.
Ayrton Badovini (ITA) from the BMW Motorrad Italia SBK Team will start with his BMW S 1000 RR from ninth. His team mate Lorenzo Lanzi (ITA) qualified 15th.
Leon Haslam:
Fastest lap Qualifying Practices: 2:00.164 min (P9) / Fastest lap FP: 2:00.949 min (P10) / Fastest lap Superpole 1: 2:00.252 min (P13)
“As soon as we have rear grip on the bike we come across a lot of issues. The bike gets better the older the tyre gets, but with a new grippy tyre the issues start. The engine still accelerates into the corners, which on this circuit is quite difficult. The rear grip with the bike was really good with the qualifying tyre. I made a mistake on that lap with the engine push. So less than a tenth again and we are out. Our race pace is quite good, and this circuit is a bit wider and flowing, so we just need another good start and then we will try to get the best result we can.”
Rainer Bäumel (Head of Race Operations):
“It was a disappointing day. This is our worst Superpole result for Brno, as we always started here from the first or second row. Leon reported some issues with the qualifying tyre. This tyre had more grip and we struggled getting into the corners. In the races we will now try to make the best out of our grid position.”
