BAYLISS AND LANZI CLAIM FANTASTIC SUPERPOLE 1-2 FOR THE
DUCATI XEROX TEAM IN QATAR
Losail (Qatar), Friday 24 February: Troy Bayliss and Lorenzo
Lanzi got the Ducati Xerox Team's 2006 World Superbike Championship
campaign off to a fantastic start when they set first and
second quickest time in the opening Superpole session of the
year at Losail, in Qatar.
Australian former world champion Bayliss, who returned to
Superbikes this year after three seasons in MotoGP, was the
only rider to dip under the two minute mark as he powered
his 999 to a time of 1m59.696s to take the first pole of the
year, while his Italian team-mate Lanzi more than made up
for yesterday's qualifying session by grabbing the second
place grid slot, three-tenths behind Bayliss. Both riders
took the unusual step of running race tyres in the one-lap
Superpole dash, because Ducati Corse engineers had correctly
judged that the performance of the Pirelli race tyre on the
999 was better than the qualifying tyre over the entire lap.
"It feels great to be back in Superbikes and it's always
nice to have pole position" declared Troy. "I did
three years in MotoGP and it did me a lot of good so now I've
come back as a stronger all round rider. I actually expected
to do a little better in Superpole but I did enough to get
pole and I'm happy with that. We'll see how things are looking
tomorrow, but I'll try and get the best possible start and
then play it by ear. There are two or three guys who can give
me a few problems, starting with Lorenzo, who's going well
at the moment but we mustn't underestimate Corser and Pitt
as well.
"It feels great to start on the front row alongside
Troy" declared Lorenzo, "and we couldn't have asked
for a better start for the Ducati Xerox Team in this year's
championship. Yesterday we had a few problems with the wet
conditions and I was very careful not to ruin things by making
silly mistakes, but today I immediately got on the pace and
I believe that I showed in qualifying and the Superpole that
I can be up there at the front. The bike is going great and
the suspension modifications really help me to have a good
feeling. Tomorrow I'm sure that the two races will be really
difficult because there are a lot of aggressive riders out
there but I am really satisfied with my performance today".
TIMES: 1. Bayliss (Ducati Xerox) 1m59.696s;
2. Lanzi (Ducati Xerox) 2m00.028s; 3. Pitt (Yamaha) 2m00.110s;
4. Toseland (Honda) 2m00.112s; 5. Corser (Suzuki) 2m00.206s;
6. Haga (Yamaha) 2m00.613s; 7. Kagayama (Suzuki) 2m00.895s;
8. Muggeridge (Honda) 2m00.745s; 9. Martin (Petronas) 2m00.940s;
10. Barros (Honda) 2m00.960s; etc.
TV COVERAGE : Eurosport 2 (Pan European):
Friday 24 February - 1400 Superpole (live); Saturday 25 February
- 1000 SBK race 1 (live), 1330 SBK race 2 (live). La7 (Italy):
Saturday 25 February - 0945 SBK race 1 (live) + 1650 (delayed),
1725 SBK race 2 (delayed).
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