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Airwaves Yamaha
British Superbike leaders Airwaves Yamaha made a promising start to the World Superbike race weekend at Donington Park today. After going 2nd fastest in Free Practice, Leon Camier finished Qualifying Practice 6th with James Ellison 12th. Both riders put themselves in a good position to make it through to Superpole tomorrow afternoon.
Leon was fastest early on in Free Practice with James 5th. As the session progressed and times reduced, Leon dropped to 4th and James to 12th. With 5 minutes remaining, Leon posted a time of 1:31.180 to go 2nd fastest. James improved to 10th with a time of 1:32.118.
Rain fell for the start of first Qualifying Practice. Once the rain stopped, the track dried quickly and both riders went out on slicks for the final 20 minutes. Leon topped the timesheets briefly, swapping fastest laps with World Superbike Yamaha rider Ben Spies. As the session came to a close, although consistently fast, Leon slipped down the order to finish 6th on 1:31.454. James’ best time of 1:31.890 placed him 12th.
After first Qualifying Practice James said, “We got an ok start to the weekend but there’s more work to do. The World Superbike Pirelli tyres feel a lot different and took some time to get used to. We tried a few different settings and built up some ideas for the first Qualifying session. This afternoon we definitely saw some improvements but the wet weather made things difficult. At the moment I’m struggling to get into the corners and hit the apex. I’ll work with the Airwaves Yamaha team this evening and look at where we can make more progress tomorrow.”
Leon reflected on his first World Superbike experience saying, “The pace is fast out there! That was my first reaction when we got on track. There’s also a big difference with the tyres. Particularly on the front, they feel a lot more stable. I was happy with our pace in practice, but I wanted to be more consistent. We got a lot of positives out of first qualifying. There should be more to come out of the Airwaves Yamaha tomorrow. As expected, the weekend is going to be tough, but we’re working really well so I’m still excited.”
