Sofuoglu Fastest Kawasaki Runner In Losail Qualifying

2014-11-01 17:57
Three-time World Champion Kenan Sofuoglu (Kawasaki San Carlo Puccetti Racing Team) was the best placed of the Kawasaki WSS riders at Losail in a tight qualifying contest that put him eighth for Sunday’s 15-lap race.


Previous
Next

Sofuoglu and his crew made set-up improvements from day one to day two at the 5.308km circuit in Qatar and although Sofuoglu pushed hard he could not put together a perfect lap in qualifying. He ended up 0.641 seconds from pole, but only 0.3 seconds from the second placed rider.

Behind Sofuoglu the other top Kawasaki riders filled the grid places from ninth to 12th. Roberto Rolfo (Team Go Eleven Kawasaki) was the ninth placed rider and Roberto Tamburini (San Carlo Puccetti Racing Kawasaki) was tenth, and just over a second from pole.

Florian Marino (Kawasaki Intermoto Ponyexpres) sits 11th on the grid, with American Patrick ‘PJ’ Jacobsen (Kawasaki Intermoto Ponyexpres) 12th after a late session off-track excursion.

Regular runner Christian Gamarino (Team Go Eleven Kawasaki) was one place ahead of one-event entry Marco Faccani (San Carlo Puccetti Racing Kawasaki) who ended up 14th on the grid, which means he will be starting the race from the middle of the fifth row. Mason Law (Kawasaki Intermoto Ponyexpres) qualified 17th.

Sunday’s 15-lap race is scheduled for 20.15, local time in Qatar.

Kenan Sofuoglu: “Qualifying proved to be very difficult but this morning we had improved the bike compared to the first day and things looked good. It was quite tight in qualifying in the afternoon. I tried a couple of times to push hard and I think maybe I pushed a bit too much. Generally the bike set-up is good but I just could not put it all together. Eighth place is not a place we like to be after qualifying but this is not the race, the race is tomorrow. In the race everything can change and hopefully we are going to make a surprise result. With a used tyre, normally I am one of the fastest and I am confident for our race pace. Hopefully for us tomorrow will be a better day.”

Source: Kawasaki Racing Team

Click here to visit our forums to discuss this story