Ducati challenged in Qatar WSB Superpole

A CHALLENGING SUPERPOLE FOR THE DUCATI XEROX TEAM Losail (Qatar), Friday 22nd February: Both Ducati Xerox Team riders Bayliss and Fabrizio took part in today's closely fought Superpole to take seventh and tenth place respectively on the grid for tomorrow's races. Another positive qualifying session this morning was followed by Superpole in which Bayliss failed to match the lap times he had recorded earlier. Team-mate Fabrizio improved on his best qualifying time but a competitive field and decisions regarding tyre usage meant that unfortunately neither rider was able to secure a front-row start. Troy Bayliss 1m59.2s "We changed bikes just before the session and I didn't feel totally happy. I think it would have been better to do Superpole on a race tyre. I was really happy earlier this afternoon when we used race tyres during the session so that's a positive thing. It doesn't take much for the lap to be less than perfect and there are several of us running with times that are really close , so the result is that I've taken seventh place which is not as good as I had hoped." Michel Fabrizio 1m59.4s "I hoped to do better today in Superpole but I wasn't feeling totally well, I have a bit of a temperature, so at the end of the day I'm quite happy with how I went. I'm ready for tomorrow, we seem to be ready with regard to the bike's settings so if we can get the right tyre combination then we should be able to do well. The wind was again an issue but now we just have to wait and see how it is tomorrow and whether I can get a good start from my place on the grid." TIMES (Superpole): Corser (Yamaha) 1m58.0s; Xaus (Ducati) 1m58.6s; Biaggi (Ducati) 1m58.7s; Neukirchner (Suzuki) 1m58.9s; Lanzi (Ducati) 1m58.9s; Haga (Yamaha) 1m59.0s; Bayliss (Ducati Xerox) 1m59.2s; Kagayama (Suzuki) 1m59.2s; Checa (Honda) 1m59.4s; Fabrizio (Ducati Xerox) 1m59.4s