Tom Sykes and Joan Lascorz secured sixth and tenth places respectively after Superpole qualifying at Magny-Cours and Sykes now starts Sunday’s 22-lap races from the second row; Lascorz from row three.

For Tom Magny-Cours was a little tricky in Superpole and he did not get the hoped-for perfect run on a race tyre in Superpole One, meaning he had to use one of his two qualifiers before the ideal moment. He is still in an enviable starting place and has been on good form on his Ninja ZX-10R since the opening day.

He was second in the first free practice on Friday and then fourth in the first timed qualifying session. He went ninth in the second timed session this morning, seventh in the second free practice session this afternoon and then sixth in Superpole.

Joan Lascorz concentrate hard with his pit crew in regular qualifying and was rewarded with a Superpole start, pushing hard and earning himself a space on row three as the last rider inside the top ten places.

Mark Aitchison (Kawasaki Pedercini Team) made it into Superpole and qualified 15th. His team-mate Roberto Rolfo was 18th.

Tom Sykes:

“We made quite a big change in Superpole and we have been struggling in the first sector all weekend. So we made a compromise set-up but unfortunately on race tyres in Superpole One I just didn’t quite have my head around it and I had to use a qualifying tyre. It was touch and go because I think and there were only two riders who did not use qualifying tyres then. In Superpole Two, on a Q tyre, I did a 1’37.6 lap and so in Superpole Three we had to use an old qualifying tyre. It wasn’t ideal but at one time I thought I would still be able to sneak a front row start but it wasn’t to be. Big credit to the team because we are there and thereabouts this weekend again and we have a lot of information to take into tomorrow’s races.”

Joan Lascorz:

“We made improvements in qualifying this weekend and we made it into Superpole, then progressed to Superpole Two. We could not get into the final session but we still qualified inside the top ten. For sure row three is a lot better than row five, where I was last weekend. Our times on a race set-up are also not so bad so I am hoping to be able to make two good starts and hope to run at least in the second group.”

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