Rea on top in wet first qualifying, Spies struggles

Ten Kate Honda man Jonathan Rea claimed provisional pole in a rain hit first qualifying session at Nurburgring today. The 22 year old dominated the hour long session and sighted electronic improvements to his CBR1000RR for his fast start to the weekend.

Speaking to MCN he said:
“The guys in the workshop have certainly been doing some thinking over the summer break and the bike is working really well. We’ve always had an issue with the bike backing into corners but we’ve got some new electronics which are helping a lot. The fact that the rear of the bike is working in the wet is good news because that should definitely transfer to the dry.”

Rea finished a significant 0.5 seconds ahead of fellow country man Tom Sykes who survived a slow speed crash to secure second spot.

Troy Corser confirmed his wet riding ability and the improvements of his BMW S1000RR to claim to third ahead of Ducati pairing Michel Fabrizio and Noriyuki Haga.
Sterilgarda Ducati’s Shane Byrne took sixth after a slow speed crash at turn two with Leon Haslam in seventh.

Title contender Ben Spies made a slow start to his race weekend. After crashing this morning the American ended the day in 13th place a massive 2.6 seconds off the pace of Rea.

1 65 J. REA GBR HANNspree Ten Kate Honda Honda CBR1000RR 2’11.278
2 66 T. SYKES GBR Yamaha WSB Yamaha YZF R1 2’11.781 0.503
3 11 T. CORSER AUS BMW Motorrad Motorsport BMW S1000 RR 2’12.086
4 84 M. FABRIZIO ITA Ducati Xerox Team Ducati 1098R 2’12.354
5 41 N. HAGA JPN Ducati Xerox Team Ducati 1098R 2’12.635
6 67 S. BYRNE GBR Sterilgarda Ducati 1098R 2’12.819 1.541
7 91 L. HASLAM GBR Stiggy Racing Honda Honda CBR1000RR 2’12.979
8 96 J. SMRZ CZE Guandalini Racing Ducati 1098R 2’13.089
9 9 R. KIYONARI JPN Ten Kate Honda Racing Honda CBR1000RR 2’13.215
10 99 L. SCASSA ITA Team Pedercini Kawasaki ZX 10R 2’13.238
11 47 R. COOPER GBR BMW Motorrad Motorsport BMW S1000 RR 2’13.391
12 7 C. CHECA ESP HANNspree Ten Kate Honda Honda CBR1000RR 2’13.550
13 19 B. SPIES USA Yamaha WSB Yamaha YZF R1 2’13.898
14 3 M.BIAGGI ITA Aprilia Racing Aprilia RSV4 Factory 2’13.928
15 31 K. MUGGERIDGE AUS Suzuki Alstare BRUX Suzuki GSX-R 1000 K9 2’14.073
16 15 M.BAIOCCO ITA Guandalini Racing Ducati 1098R 2’14.075
17 71 Y. KAGAYAMA JPN Suzuki Alstare BRUX Suzuki GSX-R 1000 K9 2’14.214
18 14 M. LAGRIVE FRA Honda Althea Racing Honda CBR1000RR 2’14.653
19 56 S. NAKANO JPN Aprilia Racing Aprilia RSV4 Factory 2’14.791
20 100 M. TAMADA JPN Kawasaki World Superbike R.T. Kawasaki ZX 10R 2’14.954
21 121 J. HOPKINS USA Stiggy Racing Honda Honda CBR1000RR 2’15.249
22 94 D. CHECA ESP Yamaha France GMT 94 Ipone Yamaha YZF R1 2’15.913
23 77 V. IANNUZZO ITA Squadra Corse Italia Honda CBR1000RR 2’17.332
24 10 F. NIETO ESP DFX Corse Ducati 1098R 2’17.539
25 25 D. SALOM ESP Team Pedercini Kawasaki ZX 10R 2’17.896
26 23 B. PARKES AUS Kawasaki World Superbike R.T. Kawasaki ZX 10R 2’17.965
27 88 R. RESCH AUT TKR Suzuki Switzerland Suzuki GSX-R 1000 K9 2’18.830