This afternoon’s first qualifying session at the Nurburgring circuit went to Carlos Checa who jumped to the top of the timesheets with his last flying lap after his team mate Davide Giugliano (fastest this morning in FP1) and Tom Sykes dominated the entire session.
Checa’s blistering lap was in 1.55.307 on a very hot track (47°C) and he left Giugliano in second and 0.433s adrift - the 1098R doesn’t seem so handicapped as Genesio Bevilacquawants us to believe - while from the second to the eight spot lap the gap between the riders were covered by a little more than a tenth of second, with Sykes ending up in third, followed by Eugene Laverty, none for the worse following this morning’s crash, Leon Haslam and Max Biaggi, Jonathan Rea and Leon Camier.
Chaz Davies was ninth and he was one second off pace and according to the Italian media he will be joining Marco Melandri on the BMW machine next season, after Ben Spies decided to stay in MotoGP afterall. Melandri had a crash in the opening minutes at turn 1 and he finished in 12th and could only improve two tenths of second after he had to spend time waiting for his S1000RR to be repaired. Closing out the top ten was Lorenzo Zanetti for Pata Racing who finished ahead of team mate Sylvain Guintoli.
WSBK Nurburgring QP1 results:
01- Carlos Checa – Althea Racing – Ducati 1198 – 1’55.307
02- Davide Giugliano – Althea Racing – Ducati 1198 – + 0.443
03- Tom Sykes – Kawasaki Racing Team – Kawasaki ZX-10R – + 0.495
04- Eugene Laverty – Aprilia Racing Team – Aprilia RSV4 Factory – + 0.506
05- Leon Haslam – BMW Motorrad Motorsport – BMW S1000RR – + 0.521
06- Max Biaggi – Aprilia Racing Team – Aprilia RSV4 Factory – + 0.531
07- Jonathan Rea – Honda World Superbike Team – Honda CBR 1000RR – + 0.584
08- Leon Camier – FIXI Crescent Suzuki – Suzuki GSX-R 1000 – + 0.642
09- Chaz Davies – ParkinGO MTC Racing – Aprilia RSV4 Factory – + 1.092
10- Lorenzo Zanetti – PATA Racing Team – Ducati 1198 – + 1.154
11- Sylvain Guintoli – PATA Racing Team – Ducati 1198 – + 1.158
12- Marco Melandri – BMW Motorrad Motorsport – BMW S1000RR – + 1.190
13- Loris Baz – Kawasaki Racing Team – Kawasaki ZX-10R – + 1.674
02- Davide Giugliano – Althea Racing – Ducati 1198 – + 0.443
03- Tom Sykes – Kawasaki Racing Team – Kawasaki ZX-10R – + 0.495
04- Eugene Laverty – Aprilia Racing Team – Aprilia RSV4 Factory – + 0.506
05- Leon Haslam – BMW Motorrad Motorsport – BMW S1000RR – + 0.521
06- Max Biaggi – Aprilia Racing Team – Aprilia RSV4 Factory – + 0.531
07- Jonathan Rea – Honda World Superbike Team – Honda CBR 1000RR – + 0.584
08- Leon Camier – FIXI Crescent Suzuki – Suzuki GSX-R 1000 – + 0.642
09- Chaz Davies – ParkinGO MTC Racing – Aprilia RSV4 Factory – + 1.092
10- Lorenzo Zanetti – PATA Racing Team – Ducati 1198 – + 1.154
11- Sylvain Guintoli – PATA Racing Team – Ducati 1198 – + 1.158
12- Marco Melandri – BMW Motorrad Motorsport – BMW S1000RR – + 1.190
13- Loris Baz – Kawasaki Racing Team – Kawasaki ZX-10R – + 1.674
