BMW Motorrad Motorsport - WSBK - Moscow - Qualifying Practice 1
Moscow – Free Practice & Qualifying Practice 1.
Friday, 24th August 2012.
Weather conditions: Overcast and windy.
Temperature: Air: 18 °C, Track: 22 – 27 °C
Number of riders participating: 21 from 12 teams
Fastest lap Free Practice: Marco Melandri (BMW Motorrad Motorsport) 1:35.799 min
Fastest lap Qualifying Practice 1: Davide Giugliano (Althea Racing) 1:35.074 min
Team BMW Motorrad Motorsport began the first ever Russian round of the FIM Superbike World Championship by qualifying for the provisional first and third row. The eleventh round of the 2012 season is being held at the brand new “Moscow Raceway” near Volokolamsk (RUS). On Wednesday the team took part in the official Infront testing to get familiar with the track. Today, the normal race weekend began. Factory rider Marco Melandri (ITA) finished the first qualifying practice in fourth after having set the fastest lap in the free practice this morning. His team-mate Leon Haslam (GBR) qualified provisional ninth on his BMW S 1000 RR. Ayrton Badovini and Michel Fabrizio (both ITA) of the BMW Motorrad Italia GoldBet SBK Team finished 15th and 16th respectively.
Marco Melandri:
Fastest lap Free Practice: 1:35.799 min (P1)/Fastest lap Qualifying Practice 1: 1:35.772 min (P4)
“It is difficult because the conditions are changing very quickly. We have to try to understand which is the best tyre for the race and the best one for a lap time. Unfortunately we are struggling with the soft tyre. We get a lot of chatter and it is difficult to ride. But I am quite happy about the race. It will be difficult to fight for victory because the twin cylinder bikes are very fast on this track. They ride very easily in the first section. In the short tight corners there they gain four to five tenths on us so it will not be easy for us. For sure we will do our best.”
Leon Haslam:
Fastest lap Free Practice: 1:36.720 min (P8)/Fastest lap Qualifying Practice 1: 1:36.039 min (P9)
“In comparison to the test we had some issues today. It was difficult to find the same feel as we had on Wednesday. We worked on this all day and also tried the different tyres that Pirelli have given us for the weekend. Our pace on race tyres was pretty good. We just need to fine tune so we can get the same feel we had here at the test. We definitely need to improve but overall it was a normal Friday.”
Andrea Dosoli (Head of Race Operations):
“We are making progress with our work. We have improved the set-up and our knowledge of the track compared to the Wednesday test. Both riders improved their performance with the race tyre but we are struggling with the soft tyre and this could be an issue in the Superpole. We think the SC1 does not work properly for us. It will be tough against the twin cylinder bikes which evidently have an advantage in the first section and we have to work hard to reduce the gap to them on that part of the track. There is still room for improvement and we are confident that we will be ready for tomorrow’s qualifying and Superpole to fight for the front row.”
