Mitigated 1st session: Barrier 8th and Savary 15th
The winner of the first race in Portimão Ayrton Badovini (BMW Italia) was the fastest in the first qualifying practice session in Valencia in front of Maxime Berger (Honda Ten Kate). Sylvain Barrier finished in eight position and his team mate Michaël Savary was fifteenth.
Right now, the strong man of the category is Badovini, 0.8 in front Berger and 1.1 in front of Giugliano. This is an important gap, even if the times will probably be quicker tomorrow and maybe even faster than the record of 1’36.6 by Brendan Roberts in 2008.
For Sylvain and Michaël, the situation is progressing in the right direction. There is still some work to do to improve the performance, like it is the case on any racing Friday. What is important is that it is all going in the right direction, which may be positive for a good second qualifying session and the race.
Michel Garnier (team manager): “We had some little technical problems this morning which things difficult. Now the track is hot and Sylvain and Michaël have a lack of feeling with the front end. We still have things to improve. Everything goes well. We hope to do well in qualifying.”
Sylvain Barrier: “In the beginning of the session, I was trying to have a good rhythm. I still have a problem with the front. I lack a good feeling with it, it’s not stuck to the ground. We work on that. It’s beginning to go well but we still have things to improve. We know which way we have to go.”
Michaël Savary: “I didn’t do many laps this morning. The gearing is better now, but the front end seems too loose. I went two seconds quicker than during the winter tests. I still need to be more than one second faster to qualify on the third row. Every time we are going out, we are improving.”
Results of the 1st qualifying practice session:
1 86 Badovini A. (ITA) BMW S1000 RR 1′36.952
2 21 Berger M. (FRA) Honda CBR1000RR 1′37.801
3 34 Giugliano D. (ITA) Suzuki GSX-R 1000 1′38.100
4 65 Baz L. (FRA) Yamaha YZF R1 1′38.139
5 11 Tutusaus P. (ESP) KTM 1190 RC8 R 1′38.251
6 53 Lammert D. (GER) BMW S1000 RR 1′38.347
7 8 Antonelli A. (ITA) Honda CBR1000RR 1′38.415
8 20 Barrier S. (FRA) BMW S1000 RR 1′38.470
9 93 Lussiana M. (FRA) BMW S1000 RR 1′38.484
10 119 Magnoni M. (ITA) Honda CBR1000RR 1′38.491
11 14 Baroni L. (ITA) Ducati 1098R 1′38.548
12 47 La Marra E. (ITA) Honda CBR1000RR 1′38.581
13 7 Mähr R. (AUT) Suzuki GSX-R 1000 K9 1′38.746
14 9 Petrucci D. (ITA) Kawasaki ZX 10R 1′38.773
15 30 Savary M. (SUI) BMW S1000 RR 1′38.915…
