Barrier 6th and Savary 15th
The practice sessions have not been the easiest for Sylvain Barrier and Michaël Savary, but the bikes have progressed all weekend long. So the race is looking good for the two riders.
Ayrton Badovini and his BMW led all the free and qualifying practice sessions and it looks like he will be very hard to beat in this Spanish round. The leader of the championship will start tomorrow from the pole position.
Barrier made a lot of progress with his BMW to adapt it to the Valencia circuit. He will start from the second row tomorrow on the starting grid. There was a broken exhaust pipe for Savary who could not use his sixth gear in the straight. He was only able to record the fifteenth time, but he is confident like Barrier to achieve a better result during the race tomorrow.
Michel Garnier (team manager): “Finally it is not so bad, considering that we had some trouble in the beginning of the weekend. The second row of the starting grid for Sylvain is a good position. We hope everything will go well to do a good race, with if possible a podium. It was a little bit harder for Michaël, but he is always good during the race so we can hope a place in the top 10.”
Sylvain Barrier: “We changed a few things on the bike, on the suspension and we put the rear wheel forward in the swinging arm. We made the bike shorter. Then when I put a new rear tyre and tried to go fast, a slower rider touched my foot peg and crashed. I lost a lap. Then I missed a gear going from 6th to 5th. The carcass of the tyre moved and I had to slow down. Thank you BMW for the traction control because I did 2 or 3 high sides and did not crash!”
Michaël Savary: “I have to push the bike hard entering the corners, the feeling is not good. So exiting the curves I have some problems to accelerate.”
Qualifying results:
1 86 Badovini A. (ITA) BMW S1000 RR 1′36.952
2 8 Antonelli A. (ITA) Honda CBR1000RR 1′37.418
3 21 Berger M. (FRA) Honda CBR1000RR 1′37.482
4 34 Giugliano D. (ITA) Suzuki GSX-R 1000 1′37.495
5 65 Baz L. (FRA) Yamaha YZF R1 1′37.502
6 20 Barrier S. (FRA) BMW S1000 RR 1′37.594
7 93 Lussiana M. (FRA) BMW S1000 RR 1′37.784
8 119 Magnoni M. (ITA) Honda CBR1000RR 1′37.841
9 53 Lammert D. (GER) BMW S1000 RR 1′37.886
10 5 Bussolotti M. (ITA) Honda CBR1000RR 1′37.984
11 47 La Marra E. (ITA) Honda CBR1000RR 1′38.072
12 11 Tutusaus P. (ESP) KTM 1190 RC8 R 1′38.097
13 14 Baroni L. (ITA) Ducati 1098R 1′38.247
14 7 Mähr R. (AUT) Suzuki GSX-R 1000 K9 1′38.445
15 30 Savary M. (SUI) BMW S1000 RR 1′38.454
