Young British rider and World Supersport rookie Cal Crutchlow put in an impressive performance in his first ever qualifying session for the Yamaha World Supersport team and will start the opening race of the season from the front row of the grid in 4th position. Crutchlow proved his worth as a contender, taking on the experienced Honda team for his front row start. French team-mate Fabien Foret had an unfortunate fall early in the qualifying session, however a strong ride in the first qualifying session means he still holds 6th position on the grid for tomorrow.
Cal Crutchlow, Yamaha World Supersport Team
“I’m looking forward to the races tomorrow, it’s going to be a hard battle and it’s going to be close. I’m looking forward to see how we fair up, and I’m going to be fighting for position from the off. Qualifying was good, I got 4th, think I should have been further up the grid but am happy with the front row and looking forward to having a close race. Qualifying is nothing, it’s all about the race so we’ll see what happens tomorrow!”
Fabien Foret, Yamaha World Supersport Team
“It’s been a very disappointing for me today. We’ve been making excellent progress in qualifying and I’ve been very happy with my speed and consistency after my crash last year. I was having a really good lap but unfortunately when I got on the power the rear stepped away quite violently and I was unable to catch it. I’m very sore right now but hoping to race tomorrow.”
Wilco Zeelenberg, Yamaha World Supersport Team manager
“Cal did really well, the feeling is good and we know we can improve with Cal quite a bit, he’s feeling confident and putting in consistent lap times, and is very eager to race tomorrow. Fabien crashed on his first flying lap, he had a big high-side and so didn’t the finish first lap, which was very hard for everybody to see. He’s hurt his shoulder and briefly dislocated it but it’s ok. As a result of the crash he couldn’t ride anymore in the session but has qualified to start from sixth on the grid from the first session. We don’t know if he can ride tomorrow or not yet, the shoulder is on ice. He’ll see overnight how the shoulder is holding so we should know in the morning. Luckily nothing is broken so hopefully he can race tomorrow and take some points away!”
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