Troy Corser (Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team) and Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team) negotiated the first day of practice at a soaking wet Donington Park largely to evaluate their wet weather settings, with varying degrees of success.
Corser was 12th in the afternoon official session having survived two crashes in the morning with no more than bumps and bruises, while Haga was 24th fastest, not pushing too hard on a generally grey and miserable first day of qualifying.
The team evaluated their new Öhlins electronic suspension for the first time in race conditions, but with Corser having limited early session track time, they started work in earnest after completing the timed session in the afternoon.
Haga made early evaluations of wet tyres, should raceday prove to be wet, and both riders reported that the new Donington track surface took some time to shed water away, making for frequent aquaplaning in some areas of shallow standing water.
David Checa (Yamaha GMT94) was second fastest Yamaha rider in the wet, in 7th place, with Sebastien Gimbert (Yamaha GMT94) 26th and Shinichi Nakatomi (Team YZF Yamaha) 27th.
2008 WSB Europe - Donington Park 05/09/2008
Qualifying 1
Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time
1 Troy Bayliss Ducati AUS 1’44.377
2 Ryuichi Kiyonari Honda JPN 1’44.528
3 Cal Crutchlow Honda GBR 1’44.627
4 Tom Sykes Suzuki GBR 1’44.682
5 Leon Haslam Honda GBR 1’44.813
6 Max Biaggi Ducati ITA 1’45.384
7 Ruben Xaus Ducati ESP 1’45.725
8 Carlos Checa Honda ESP 1’45.936
9 Gregorio Lavilla Honda ESP 1’46.044
10 James Ellison Honda GBR 1’46.392
11 Chris Walker Honda GBR 1’46.553
12 Troy Corser Yamaha AUS 1’46.803
13 Kenan Sofuoglu Honda TUR 1’46.912
14 Jakub Smrz Ducati CZE 1’46.924
15 Michel Fabrizio Ducati ITA 1’47.114
17 David Checa Yamaha ESP 1’47.624
24 Noriyuki Haga Yamaha JPN 1’48.841
26 Sebastien Gimbert Yamaha FRA 1’50.349
27 Shinichi Nakatomi Yamaha JPN 1’50.454
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