The Nürburgring (Germany) : today’s Superpole took place in relatively warm conditions (air temperature 16°C, track 28°C) but for the Ducati Xerox riders Noriyuki Haga and Michel Fabrizio it was not an easy afternoon; at the end of the three hard-fought phases, Haga took sixth position and Fabrizio, having registered some almost identical lap times, ninth.

The morning’s second qualifying turned out to be fairly positive for both Ducati Xerox factory riders. Noriyuki immediately improved on his best time set yesterday, by recording an impressive 1m55.4. He made a string of laps with similar times and closed the session in second position, which meant an overall qualifying position of third for this afternoon’s Superpole. Michel was able to improve by a tenth of a second which left him with the fifth fastest time ahead of the Superpole.

Superpole 1: the two factory riders chose different strategies for phase 1, Norikyuki taking to the track on race rubber, Michel opting for the first of two qualifiers. Both strategies worked, in that neither rider needed to make a second exit and at the end of the first mini-session, Michel was in fifth and Noriyuki tenth, results that allowed both riders to progress to the next stage.

Superpole 2: this time Haga went for a “Q” while Fabrizio used a race tyre. The Japanese rider recorded a very fast lap which put him well within the top eight but nevertheless decided to make a second exit, as did his Italian team-mate. By the end of the session, both riders had recorded almost identical best times (Nori – 1m55.233s, Michel – 1m55.264s) but it was Haga who obtained eighth position and a place in the final phase, Michel pushed out by a fraction of a second, to close today’s Superpole in ninth position.

Source: http://www.ducatipress.com/index.php?id=173

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