World Supersport Championship
Round five: Assen Circuit, The Netherlands
Qualifying report one
Charpentier on a mission for HANNspree Ten Kate Honda
 HANNspree
Ten Kate Honda's home round of the 2007 World Supersport Championship
began in style today as inujred rider Sébastien Charpentier
made an impressive comeback. The Frenchman set the fastest
lap time in the first qualifying session, while team-mates
Kenan Sofuoglu and Andrew Pitt finished in third and ninth
places respectively.
Having missed out on the fourth round race in Valencia due
to his pelvic injuries, Charpentier was determined to prove
his fitness at his team's home track. He set about doing this
by securing the fastest lap in both the free practice and
the official qualifying session. His final time was 1'42.174
- just 0.268 seconds behind the Supersport best lap at Assen,
set by Charpentier in 2006.
Sofuolglu was on top form once again as he secured the fastest
lap five times during the morning free practice. He followed
this up in the official session by shaving almost a full second
off his practice time and qualifying in third position with
a best lap of 1'42.482.
Temporary rider Andrew Pitt experienced problems when he
got caught up in slow traffic towards the end of the 45-minute
session. However, he is happy with the set-up of the CBR600RR
and looks forward to improving on his position tomorrow.
Ronald ten Kate, Team Manager:
"We've had a good start to the weekend today. I am truly
happy to see Sébastien on top of the timesheets again.
His new helmet says 'on a mission' and that is exactly what
he is! It is nice to have him back with us in the garage.
Kenan did a good job today and has made good progress in getting
onto the provisional front row.
With Andrew, everything was looking fine. We did a long run
on race tyres, then we wanted to test a softer tyre but unfortunately
he got stuck in traffic. We are confident that he can move
up the timesheets tomorrow. The team has quite a bit of work
to do because we still have to shave around half a second
off the time of the boys - we have made good progress but
we are not done yet."
Sébastien Charpentier:
"I am really happy to come back at Assen because it
is the home race of the Ten Kate team and we are lucky to
have good conditions today. I worked really hard after my
crash and for the moment I am ok. The bike is running well,
the team has worked hard and they have managed to improve
the new CBR600RR even further. For tomorrow we will make some
small changes, but nothing special - I am ok, the bike is
ok and I am happy to be back with my team."
Kenan Sofuoglu:
"Today was not too bad. I am happy because we have been
trying something new with the clutch on the bike and it seems
to be working very well. I have had problems with the clutch
since the beginning of the season but now we seem to be sorting
that out and it gets better every time I use it. I am pleased
with the lap times as I am getting faster with each lap. Tomorrow
morning I will go race distance. My ambition is the same as
usual - to be in the front row. This is always where I want
to be and that is what I will set my sights on tomorrow."
Andrew Pitt:
"We put the soft tyre on the end there and I just got
caught up with a lot of guys on the track. By the time I got
a clear lap it was lap four or five on the tyre and it was
starting to move around a bit. Anyway, we did a long run and
we have ruled out the tyre that we don't want to use so it's
ok. We won't be changing the bike too much - I just need to
do some more laps."
Qualifying times:
1 S. Charpentier 1'42.174
2 B. Parkes 1'42.191
3 K. Sofuoglu 1'42.482
4 F. Foret 1'42.755
5 V. Kallio 1'42.773
6 B. Veneman 1'42.875
7 D. Salom 1'43.000
8 M. Roccoli 1'43.010
9 A. Pitt 1'43.040
10 K. Fujiwara 1'43.167
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