Team Guandalini Racing - Donington Park - Friday 26 June 2009
The first free practice session took place in typical British conditions where the sun only made a brief appearances though the low, grey clouds. Thankfully rain held off. The fastest rider on track was Ben Spies, just ahead of wildcard rider Leon Camier who currently leads the British Superbike championship. The Team Guandalini riders finished in fifth and sixth position with Gregorio Lavilla (5th) performing well as expected on the English track.
During the break between the free practice and the first qualifying the climate reminded everyone that they are in Britain with a light rain that fell just before the start of the session. A strong wind soon blew the rain away and the track thankfully quickly dried out. These conditions made the session tricky and many riders took turns at the top of the classification. Both Gregorio Lavilla and Jakub Smrz demonstrated their potential and that of the team, achieving an important fourth place with Gregorio and seventh with Jakub.
As qualifying concluded, there were eighteen riders in all within a second and a half of each other and the fastest on track was Michel Fabrizio, who, on board his Ducati 1198, finished ahead of Leon Haslam (Honda) and the American rider Ben Spies (Yamaha).
“We have made a good start to the weekend and the difference, with respect to other races, is the fact that I know the track so well, having races here so many times in the British championship. I know exactly how to set up the bike. We hope that the rain holds off tomorrow and Sunday because in the wet I am not as capable as I am in the dry. The bike is extremely sensitive because any slight change we make to the setting makes a very big difference to the way in which it performs. We hope to continue to improve tomorrow.”
Gregorio Lavilla
“At the start of qualifying the track was totally wet and for a short while I was the fastest guy on track. Then the surface began to partially dry out and so I had to come into the garage to change to intermediate tyres and change the settings to suit the dry. I improved slightly but had a problem with the setting because I wasn’t able to push as I wanted in the fast corners. At the end of the day seventh position is good but we know what we need to do tomorrow in order to make further improvements.”
Jakub Smrz