Tom Sykes on provisional pole at Magny Cours

with Twowheelsblog

Tom Sykes was the fastest rider in this afternoon’s first qualifying practice the French circuit of Magny-Cours. The British rider who is wearing a new helmet design based on Joan Lascorz’s sticker with #17 and Power for Lascorz on it put his Kawasaki on the top of the charts with a best lap of 1.38.200 and also broke the 2009 race lap record that was held by Noriyuki Haga.

Carlos Checa was second fastest but he was already more than four tenths of a second adrift from Sykes, while the gap with rest of the field was much tighter. Marco Melandri was third followed by Althea’s Davide Giugliano and Jonathan Rea who jumped up the charts in the final minutes.

Michel Fabrizio made a vast improvement with his satellite BMW machine to edge out Max Biaggi for sixth place by just 0.005s. Leon Haslam, none the worse after his morning highside followed both Italians in eighth. Sylvain Guintoli put his Ducati in 9th making it three Ducatis in the top ten and the Frenchman was the last rider to be within a second from Sykes, while Leon Camier (who should be reconfirmed for the 2013 season with FIXI Suzuki) rounded out the top ten.…

WSBK Magny-Cours QP1 results:

1. Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team) Kawasaki ZX-10R 1′38.200
2. Carlos Checa (Althea Racing) Ducati 1098R 1′38.648
3. Marco Melandri (BMW Motorrad Motorsport) BMW S1000 RR 1′38.742
4. Davide Giugliano (Althea Racing) Ducati 1098R 1′38.962
5. Jonathan Rea (Honda World Superbike Team) Honda CBR1000RR 1′39.014
6. Michel Fabrizio (BMW Motorrad Italia GoldBet) BMW S1000 RR 1′39.139
7. Max Biaggi (Aprilia Racing Team) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 1′39.144
8. Leon Haslam (BMW Motorrad Motorsport) BMW S1000 RR 1′39.149
9. Sylvain Guintoli (PATA Racing Team) Ducati 1098R 1′39.186
10. Leon Camier (FIXI Crescent Suzuki) Suzuki GSX-R1000 1′39.285