Marco Melandri and Eugene Laverty took to the British track at Silverstone today where they encountered overcast skies and air temperatures of 19 degrees. Both riders got down to business in this morning’s free practice, familiarizing themselves with the long and historic track on their YZF-R1s

Eugene Laverty made improvements on his R1 set-up as the afternoon progressed to complete today’s first qualifying session in eighth place, just five tenths of a second off Checa at the top of time sheets and less than two tenths from Berger in second. The Northern Irishman encountered some difficulties in the morning’s free practice session, struggling turning in corners, a similar issue to that experienced in Brno. After some adjustments to the chassis set-up to improve the geometry of his machine, the 25 year old managed to improve his times and feel more confident ahead of his home race on Sunday.

Eugene Laverty - Yamaha World Superbike Team - 8th, 2'06.037

"Today was a solid first day at Silverstone. It was very close with the top 12 riders all under a second. Carlos was fast and has got the edge on everyone at the moment. I’m contempt with day one here. We are losing time on two sections of the track, having difficulty with changes of direction. We need to improve on that but we seem to know what we have to do resolve it and I should then be able to make a jump to the front. I’m looking forward to tomorrow."


Marco Melandri - Yamaha World Superbike Team - 14th, 2'06.697

"Today was a very difficult first day. I was hoping to do a lot better and didn’t expect today’s outcome. I just never had a good feeling with the bike. I struggled from a severe lack of grip and the bike just didn’t go where I wanted it to. We’ve a lot of work to do and I hope we can improve this for tomorrow’s second qualifying. The weather will hopefully be a bit warmer and that should also help the situation."


Andrea Dosoli - Yamaha World Superbike Team Manager

"Today was a pretty tough first day for both riders. We will have to work hard this evening to find a better chassis set up for tomorrow’s second qualifying session. Eugene worked on the geometry of the bike in this morning’s free practice session and the first part of the qualifying session and was quite satisfied with the solution. His lap times are quite good, especially considering Checa is in the lead just five tenths ahead so it’s very close. There are a few things that need improving to make up that time and in order to be at the top of the time sheets. Marco is struggling with a lack of grip on both the front and rear of the bike. He tried various front and rear set ups but he didn’t find a good solution. He needs to regain confidence for tomorrow’s second qualifying and Superpole. The team will work hard this evening to find a solution."





Yamaha ParkinGO riders Luca Scassa and Chaz Davies got straight down to business today at Silverstone and completed the first qualifying session in third and tenth places respectively. Both riders made the most of the first day at the long British track to work through various set-ups, in search of a good feeling on their R6s ahead of Sunday’s race day.

Luca Scassa was back on top form today, following less than perfect results in the previous two consecutive rounds. The Italian impressed on the fast flowing track, finishing up the first qualifying session in third place, with just four tenths of a second behind the British rider, Gino Rea at the top of the time sheets and with a provisional front row position on Sunday’s grid. Teammate Chaz Davies spent the first day at Silverstone trying to find a good feeling on his machine and making adjustments to his chassis set up. The British rider is confident that he made improvements in the right direction, ahead of tomorrow’s second qualifying session.


Luca Scassa - Yamaha ParkinGO Team - 3rd, 2'09.804

“We worked hard on my bike and made some major changes before coming to Silverstone. We took all the data from the beginning of the season in Australia and tried to analyze several aspects; the set-up, my input, the tyres etc., in order to discover what the problem was in the last few rounds. We were strong in colder conditions but struggled in the heat. We obviously succeeded in making progress as the bike is going very well. We still need to do some minor changes especially to the front, but I’m confident for tomorrow. Finally, I feel like I’m riding my bike again and it feels good!”

Chaz Davies - Yamaha ParkinGO Team - 10th, 2'11.217

“It wasn’t exactly a very successful session today. I didn’t get the times I would have hoped for but I’m not too concerned. We tried a few different set-ups to get the feel of them, but nothing was quite right. We have some adjustments to do before tomorrow but I’m pretty confident that we know what to do. I also tried the soft tyres towards the end of the session and I expected to improve on my lap times but that wasn’t the case. Tomorrow is another day and I’m sure things will go much better.”