Laverty has race challenging pace at Nurburg Ring With Front Row Start
05/09/2009 20:20:12

PARKALGAR HONDA’S Eugene Laverty took third on the front row of the grid to give himself a chance of victory in tomorrow’s 11th round of the World Supersport Championship at the Nurburgring in Germany; while team mate Miguel Praia will start from 16th on the fourth row.

Laverty showed an impressive and consistent turn of speed in the dry conditions to secure third and put pressure on title rival Cal Crutchlow on a Yamaha, who eventually took pole position at the 5.137km track. The race takes place at 1325CET on Sunday, September 6th and can be watched on Eurosport.

Eugene: “Everything with my Parkalgar Honda is working well. I have a strong race pace and hopefully in morning warm-up we can find a little bit more. I am concentrating on my own performance and if I can run in the 1m59s or even ‘58s then we will see what happens. I learnt at Brno that pushing too hard doesn’t work for me and this weekend everything is better and I haven’t crashed. If I can get in front of Cal at the start then I’ll try to stay there and play it by ear.”

Miguel: “My lap times are much faster this year than last year. I am on the same second of qualifying as previous race winner Lascorz in seventh, so it is all very close. I am able to do my lap times many times but some other riders are only able to do one quick lap, so if I get a good start tomorrow then I am sure I will be near the top 10.”

Simon Buckmaster, Parkalgar Honda Team Manager: “The race for the title is on and it is getting interesting. Eugene is comfortable and able to run his lap times consistently – and I am sure the team will find some more improvements for him before the race. He is putting the pressure on Cal who knows he will have a fight on his hands tomorrow. In my opinion either Eugene or Cal will win, Kenan Sofuoglu is thereabouts but looks right on the ragged edge. Miguel is 1.6secs faster this year than last and is happy with his Parkalgar Honda. We are all confident he can get close to the top 10 in the race as he is a better racer than qualifier.”

Qualifying

1 Crutchlow C. (GBR) Yamaha YZF R6 1'57.866

2 Sofuoglu K. (TUR) Honda CBR600RR 1'59.201

3 Laverty E. (IRL) PARKALGAR HONDA CBR600RR 1'59.373

4 McCoy G. (AUS) Triumph Daytona 675 1'59.716

5 Pirro M. (ITA) Yamaha YZF R6 1'59.765

6 Fujiwara K. (JPN) Kawasaki ZX-6R 1'59.779

7 Lascorz J. (ESP) Kawasaki ZX-6R 2'00.103

8 Nannelli G. (ITA) Triumph Daytona 675 2'00.176

9 Roccoli M. (ITA) Honda CBR600RR 2'00.290

10 Pitt A. (AUS) Honda CBR600RR 2'00.455

16 Praia M. (POR) PARKALGAR HONDA CBR600RR 2'00.981