Yamaha World Supersport Team riders Cal Crutchlow and Fabien Foret got straight down to business in Valencia today. Under the revised 2009 schedule there was no qualifying session and only one free practice session to work out the set-up today. Despite this both riders got onto the pace quickly and echoed their Superbike counterparts, ending their session in the top five.
Crutchlow ran the entire session without changing tyres, ending just 0.75 of a second behind leader Lascorz (Kawasaki) who had changed to fresh tyres for the final laps. Crutchlow’s team-mate Foret was happy with a good session, working on his set-up and finishing in 5th position 0.3 seconds behind 4th placed Sofuoglu (Honda).
Cal Crutchlow, Yamaha World Supersport Team (2nd, 1’37.343)
“It was good enough today. I think consistently over the whole session we were fast enough. Our pace is good, even after a lot of laps on the same tyres and we’re confident with our Yamaha. Lascorz had a big advantage as he went out with a new tyre at the end which we could have done but we chose not to. I was happy enough with the pace and the bike is working really well for me. I’m disappointed with the schedule as it is, I think not having two practice sessions on a Friday has hindered us quite a bit. On the positive side Yamaha are doing a great job and my team’s really good, we’re still searching for a little bit but nothing we can’t find.”
Fabien Foret, Yamaha World Supersport Team (5th, 1’37.864)
“Well I’m very happy with the work we did today. I’ve changed my approach following the first two rounds of the championship, I’m being a bit more relaxed and finding it easier to focus on the bike and improving the set-up. I think we found some good stuff today and can go forward to tomorrow happy and maybe looking for a couple more improvements. I’m not focusing on points, I’m just concentrating on setting up my bike and racing as best I can, If I have a chance to try and win then that’s great.”
Wilco Zeelenberg, Yamaha World Supersport Team manager
“I’m happy, it’s the first free practice and both my riders are up there and have the speed and there’s still space to improve tomorrow. There were a couple of small tyre issues today and a little bit of chatter but these are small things. The bike is 90% ready and the sun is shining.”
Circuit Length: 4005
Lap Record: 1’38.664 (Sebastien Charpentier, 01/01/2006)
Fastest Lap Ever: 1’36.773 (Andrew Pitt, 06/04/2008)
Last Years Winner: Attila Magda
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