Petronas WSBK Qualifying
 

FPR riders set up for qualifying challenge at Phillip Island

Foggy PETRONAS Racing riders Chris Walker and Troy Corser were separated by just four hundredths of a second after the first day of action at round two of the World Superbike championship, at Phillip Island, Australia.

With just half a second separating Noriyuki Haga in fifth and Troy in 12th, both riders were confident that further set-up changes would maximise the performance of the Pirelli tyres and further close the gap on pace-setter Regis Laconi, who set a blistering time of 1:34.068.

Chris finished the first free practice session in 8th, the first of the non-Ducati riders, with Troy in 11th. Then, while the notorious wind picked up at the picturesque coastal circuit and prevented significant improvements in lap times, Chris shaved a tenth off to record his best time of 1:35.832, with Troy hot on his tail with a lap of 1:35.871.

Chris said: "I didn't have the best of sessions in the afternoon as the bike was overheating. And, when I did try a qualifying tyre, I got stuck in a bit of traffic with one guy wobbling into the pits on the racing line and ignoring the blue flags, while oil flags were also out after Leon Haslam had crashed. I have done a bit of work on what we think will be the race tyre but I am hoping to get a bit more out of it tomorrow. If I can lap consistently half a second faster, then we will have a chance for the race. My ideal lap time - which combines the best splits - is 1:35.3, so we are not too far away."

Troy said: "I improved my set-up in the afternoon by changing the internals in the front forks, which seemed to help the bike turn better. We also altered the rear ride height which gave us a bit more grip. Considering I was down on top speed, there is nothing in it from 5th to 12th so, with a different engine for tomorrow, I am hoping to make up some more time. I wanted to save my qualifiers until tomorrow and, while I have chosen my race tyres, I was still getting some chatter although the set-up changes did improve it. The wind also picked up in the afternoon and was blowing you all over the track, which probably limited the improvements I could make."

Friday qualifying times, World Superbike championship round two, Phillip Island, Melbourne, Australia

1 Laconi (Ducati Fila) 1:34.068; 2 McCoy (Xerox Ducati) 1:34.494; 3 Martin (DFX) 1:35.028; 4 Borciani (DFX) 1:35.080; 5 Haga (Renegade Ducati) 1:35.346; 6 Pedercini (Team Pedercini) 1:35.443; 7 Vermeulen (Ten Kate Honda) 1:35.614; 8 Chili (PSG-1) 1:35.633; 9 Haslam (Renegade Ducati) 1:35.743; 10 Toseland (Ducati Fila) 1:35.752; 11 Walker (Foggy PETRONAS Racing) 1:35.832; 12 Corser (Foggy PETRONAS Racing) 1:35.871

Free practice: 1 Laconi (Ducati Fila) 1:33.969; 2 Haga (Renegade Ducati) 1:35.140; 3 McCoy (Xerox Ducati) 1:35.287; 4 Toseland (Ducati Fila) 1:35.385; 5 Martin (DFX) 1:35.508; 6 Chili (PSG-1) 1:35.520; 7 Haslam (Renegade Ducati) 1:35.583; 8 Walker (Foggy PETRONAS Racing) 1:35.905; 9 Vermeulen (Ten Kate Honda) 1:35.959; 10 Borciani (DFX) 1:36.180; 11 Corser (Foggy PETRONAS Racing) 1:36.206


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