DOHA: German rider Nina Prinz got the pole position in the second round of Qatar SuperBike at Losail International Circuit.
Prinz was the quickest with a time of 2.03.605 and will start first in the grid.
Prinz was very happy and surprised at the end of the session with her great performance.
The delighted German said: “I am very happy with the pole for tomorrow. For me it is good to ride the Suzuki bike again, not the Kawasaki, as I know the bike better so I don’t have too much work with the settings. We made some changes in the set-up in the qualifying session and the bike is really good but still some problems in the front. We’ll see tomorrow in the warm-up how it goes but I think I have a good set up for the race tomorrow and fight for the win.”
The second place of the grid went to Moto2 rider Anthony West, who was 0.069 behind Prinz.
For West, it was his first time on a Kawasaki bike and after riding the Moto2 bike the whole year in the MotoGP Championship, it was difficult for him to ride the bike, so he spent the whole free practice session trying to get used to the bike.
At the end of the sessions, the Australian said: “We had huge chattering in the free practice. The bike was not very good but we did some changes for the qualifying session and although it is not 100 percent perfect, we fixed a lot. I know that Alex (Cudlin) also had the same problem from a long time with this bike and it is quite good now. I think
I can go much faster tomorrow during the race, I had a lot of traffic today in the last laps and for sure it will be fun to fight with Nina and Alex.”
The third fastest time of the night went to Alex Cudlin who clocked a time of 2.03.674.
Earlier in the free practice, the best time for Cudlin was 2.04.108 riding a Kawasaki bike
The defending champion and leader of the championship still has some problems with his bike and is trying to find the right set-up.
Cudlin said after free practice: “This weekend Anthony West is also taking part in the championship and he is riding the same bike. We realised he has the same problem with the bike, so both bikes
have the same problem. In qualifying, we will try something
else and fix the bike. For sure this weekend there will be a good
battle with West and the others.” THE PENINSULA
