TOSELAND SECOND FASTEST IN PECULIAR MAGNY-COURS CONDITIONS
James Toseland (Winston Ten Kate Honda) made a very positive
start to the final round of the championship, running out
second fastest at the same circuit he won the 2004 title on,
despite concentrating more on machine set-up for race conditions
than going for a single blitzing lap. The track was wet in
the first session and delivered less grip than during a recent
test in the timed session in the afternoon. Toseland is out
to score an overall second in the championship in 2006, and
a grandstand battle is promised, as his rival for that placing
was the quickest rider on day one, Noriyuki Haga.
Karl Muggeridge (Winston Ten Kate Honda) set ninth quickest
time on his second machine, another strong result as it was
running an experimental set-up, and yet the Aussie rider was
still firmly in the top ten.
Ronald Ten Kate – Team Manager
“Quite a good first day for us, because we did quite
a lot of work with the electronics on James’s machine,
and with the set-up side of the bike we have not pushed too
much to make a single fast lap; we are concentrating on the
race set-up more. We are immediately at the top of the sheets
anyway, so we didn’t have to worry about the lap times
too much. We know the direction now, and the track conditions
were quite particular today, different to the test we had
here three weeks ago. The surface looks in really strange
shape, but it might improve for tomorrow, so we will have
to see what happens. At the moment, race set-up is the main
issue to work on.”
James Toseland – Winston Ten Kate Honda Rider
(2nd Position – Fastest Lap 1’40.734 - 25 laps)
“It was a strange day on track, first of all with the
grip level and then the wind picking up at the end there.
In testing we did 1’40, 1’40, 1’40, so it
was quite frustrating for me today. But we still ended up
second. Because of the track conditions, the bike felt quite
a lot different to ride, and not as easy to be consistent.
I was running wide and I wondered why it was difficult to
stop. Plus, the rear grip goes down quite a lot as the tyre
goes down, and that made it very difficult to stop the bike
into the corner. More so than any other track. I put new tyres
in, so I know why we have these problems now. For Sunday and
the race, we need to make a change, because now we understand
why things are the way they were.”
Karl Muggeridge – Winston Ten Kate Honda Rider
(9th Position – Fastest Lap 1’41.044 - 24 laps)
“My first bike had something interesting happening
with the gearbox, so we had to move to the second bike. That
had a completely different chassis setting, an experimental
one, so we put some tyres in and we went out, with only 20-minutes
left. The first lap was OK, in the low 1’41s. I could
see the time ticking away but it was more important for us
now to get the bike right if that is the bike we end up using.
So just continued with the tyre I had, and did quite a few
laps, and I feel confident with it. As far as the time is
concerned, I am sure we can go faster. Sometimes things happen
for a reason.”
FIRST QUALIFYING:
1. Haga - Yamaha - 1'40.474
2. Toseland - Winston Ten Kate Honda - 1'40.734
3. Lanzi - Ducati - 1'40.821
4. Pitt - Yamaha - 1'40.872
5. Corser - Suzuki - 1'40.936
9. Muggeridge - Winston Ten Kate Honda - 1'41.044
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