Team Alstare Suzuki rider Max Neukirchner rode steadily in this morning’s difficult conditions at Nurburgring in Germany for Sunday’s seventh-round World Superbike Championship round - and then upped the pace in this afternoon’s dry qualifying session to end the day with the fourth quickest lap.
Although he and some of the other riders have raced at the Nurburgring before, none have raced on the layout being used this weekend.
The morning session started wet and by the end there was just about a dry line so some riders were able to venture out on slicks. The afternoon qualifying took place in completely dry conditions and all 28 riders improved their lap times, with Aussie Troy Corser (Yamaha) ending fastest with a lap of 1:57.257. Second quickest today was series leader Troy Bayliss (Ducati) with Carlos Checa (Honda) third ahead of Neukirchner.
Team Suzuki Alstare rider Yukio Kagayama finished just behind Max in fifth place with Fonsi Nieto 12th.
Max Neukirchner - 4th, 1:57.929:
“I am sort of satisfied, but there is still some time to go so I know that we can improve. Although I have been here before, it was a different layout I raced, so it is like learning a new track for me. We missed the chance of putting slicks on at the end of the first session but, as the afternoon was dry, it was no big problem. At the moment it is not so easy for me to ride fast here because the grip level doesn’t feel so good. Maybe that’s because the track is a bit dirty and also very cold so it’s hard for the tyres to work at their best.”
Yukio Kagayama - 5th, 1:57.956:
“This is my first time here and I like this track because it goes up and down a lot. For me there are three corners that are very bumpy, so it has been a small problem to get a good chassis set-up to cope with the bumps. My main problem today is grip! It was difficult today to get a good level of grip and maybe that’s because it is so cold. Also the track itself is cold and that doesn’t help the tyres get hot enough. Otherwise there were no real problems and tomorrow we will work on improving the engine management so that the bike is smoother to ride. We’ll also make some suspension adjustments to see if we can get better grip but, all in all, I am satisfied today.”
Fonsi Nieto - 12th, 1:58.354:
“This is my first time here and I think the layout is not so bad, but today the grip level was not so good. I found it difficult to get a good feeling for the grip in turn one and maybe we need to change the balance of the bike and the gearing. It’s a first gear corner and it’s going to see a lot of action in the race for sure! At the moment, I just need more time on the track so that I can understand it before going fast.”
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