Yamaha World Superbike Team riders Marco Melandri and Eugene Laverty delivered impressive performances in sweltering sunshine in Brno today to secure two front row positions on tomorrow’s starting grid.

Melandri kept his cool on the hot track to comfortably complete Superpole one in first place on a race tyre while team-mate Laverty, qualified for the second session in ninth place. Both riders switched to qualifiers for the Second Superpole to complete the heat with Laverty in second place and Melandri in fourth before being bumped down a position in the dying seconds and consequently finishing up third and sixth. The final heat saw the Yamaha World superbike riders immediately produce a flying lap to secure two front row positions on the starting grid of the historical Brno Automotodrom. Melandri will start tomorrow’s two races from second place, while Laverty is in fourth. The Italian also registered the top speed in all three Superpole sessions todays, reaching an impressive high of 295.9 Km/h on his Yamaha R1 machine

This morning’s second qualifying session saw Melandri completing a series of laps, focusing on tyre wear ahead of tomorrow’s races with the hope the threatened rain storms hold off. Team-mate Laverty tried some new changes to his bike’s chassis set-up. Failing to improve on yesterday’s performance, the Irishman returned to the original base set-up and completed the afternoon’s free Practice session topping the time sheets for the first time in his World Superbike rookie year.

Melandri Melandri - Yamaha World Superbike Team - 2nd, 1'58.580

"It was a good day for me, my Yamaha worked very well. My team has done a great job, working hard and step by step making improvements, so thanks a lot to them! We knew the qualifying would be difficult so I’m really happy with my second place. It’s not pole position but that’s not important for me. The main thing is to be on the front row. The weather conditions tomorrow will make it interesting. We are expecting rain so anything can happen. But also if it’s hot like today the race will be difficult too, as it won’t be easy to keep the pace."

Eugene Laverty - Yamaha World Superbike Team - 4th, 1'59.055

"This morning we tried something which didn’t work very well, so we had to take a step backwards. In the free practice session we made progress in the right direction and I topped the times for the first time this year, which I am quite pleased with. Superpole went smoothly. All I wanted was a front row for two good races tomorrow so that’s what I’m hoping for. A good starting place on the grid is very important in order to be in a position to fight for a win. That’s what I’m aiming for, but I’d be happy with a podium!"

Andrea Dosoli - Yamaha World Superbike Team Manager

"A front row start for both riders shows how the teams have worked hard and Marco and Eugene are both very competitive. They were fast on the qualifiers but also on the race tyres and this is important. Marco improved the chassis set up and the gearbox this morning while Eugene made progress on the front end. The times he put in during the free practice prove how strong he can be tomorrow. We expect very different weather conditions tomorrow so it will be difficult for everyone to choose the suitable tyres. I am confident that we can be strong no matter what the weather is like."


Yamaha ParkinGo riders Chaz Davies and Luca Scassa completed the second qualifying session in very hot conditions today in Brno, taking them to tomorrow’s race day where they will be sitting in seventh and 12th place on the starting gird.

Today was a less than perfect day for the Yamaha ParkinGO team on the historical Brno circuit. Chaz Davies continued to struggle from chatter issues which he also experienced in yesterday’s first qualifying. Extremely hot track conditions with temperatures reaching 51 degrees did not improve the situation. The unexpected heat of the asphalt rendered the tyre performance unpredictable and both Davies and Scassa suffered from a lack of grip and were unable to complete a long run. Luca Scassa spent the morning’s free practice session in search of a suitable chassis set up for his R6 machine. Despite the extreme conditions, the Italian was one of few riders to proceed to improve on yesterday’s times, in this afternoon’s second qualifying.

Chaz Davies - Yamaha ParkinGo Team - 7th, 2'04.610

"I expected to make a big improvement this afternoon. We put in with a softer tyre, but when I went around the first corner, I lost the rear so aside from the ongoing chatter, I don’t know if I also had a bad tyre or just extremely bad grip. I couldn’t seem to get a good lap in. Changes we made which we expected would improve performance, just didn’t. We need to look harder, find a solution and make improvements in tomorrow morning’s session. I’m not too concerned about the position as long I get a good feeling on the machine."

Luca Scassa - Yamaha ParkinGo Team - 12th, 2'04.996

"Today went ok overall. I wasn’t too far off the others, except maybe the first three. I had difficulty getting up to speed but I think we have made progress and can finally see the light. Tomorrow morning we can keep going in this direction and hopefully further improve. I got my best time in on a soft tyre but only after six or seven laps, so it wasn’t performing as expected. It won’t be easy, but we should be able to improve times in the warm up tomorrow and then I’m confident that I’ll be up there battling with the leaders. Not everyone improved times today, but we did and that’s a good sign."