DOHA: Alex Cudlin of Australia yesterday secured the pole position for the fifth round of the Qatar Superbike Championship under the floodlights at Losail International Circuit.
Cudlin emerged as the fastest rider with a lap time of 2:01.604.
It was the fastest ever time the Australian had managed at Losail Circuit.
“The qualifying was really good. I set the fastest lap I ever done here and quite under my previous lap record which is nice,” Cudlin said after the qualifying session.
“I am in pole position and I have a 0.7 gap with the second which is good, but obviously 15 laps is different than one lap,” he explained.
“I feel confident. I think I can win as all the laps I made were really fast and none was slow so is positive,” Cudlin said.
“But Nasser Al Malki will be fast as always, and Nina and Mishal will be there again but we will see what happens tomorrow,” Cudlin said at the end of the qualifying.
The second place in the starting grid was secured by Al Malki who made a lap time of 2:02.372.
“Today I tried new settings in my bike as I changed them from the last race, and they were very good,” Al Malki said.
“But I had to adjust them more and in all the free practice I tried to fix the bike all the time, but in the qualifying all the changes were perfect,” the Qatari added.
“The grip was good today as it was so hot but the hot weather made me more tired.
“In the qualifying Alex was pushing from the beginning and I couldn’t follow him as I was fixing my bike but I have to congratulate Alex for the new time and hope tomorrow we make a good fight and I will be in the first position and win the races,” Al Malki said at the end of the day.
The third place in the front row will be for German rider Nina Prinz who wound things up with a time of 2:03.082.
The German rider made a mistake in the last part of the qualifying session and crashed.
“In the free practice I was really very happy, it was perfect, the mechanics tried something with the suspension and it was very good. But in the qualifying I had new tires and it was my mistake as when I have new tires, I tries to brake, and in the end I used brakes too late and I lost the front and I crashed,” Nina recalled.
“The lap time was not so bad but for sure with one more warm tire in the rear I can go faster but in the end, the third position is good for tomorrow for the race and I hope the mechanics can fix the bike for tomorrow,” Nina said.
In the Losail Asian Road Racing Series, the fastest rider was Serbia’s Manca Katrasnik.
‘The qualifying was great for me, the time was very good as I didn’t expect it with the hot conditions and the weather and I hope to finish the race and enjoy myself,” Katrasnik said.
In the Qatar Challenge for cars, 11 drivers registered for this fifth round of the championship.
In the qualifying practice, Mark James Holroyd with a Honda Civic EP3 got the pole position with a lap timing of 2:29.199 in his first lap.
“The qualifying went well. I managed to get a quick lap even though I had some problems with the car. But for this lap I was very fast. Hopefully the issues I had were fixed and will see that tomorrow,” Holroyd said.
“I am looking forward to my first ever podium,” Holroyd said after the qualifying session. Next to Holroyd in the starting grid will be Eric Febbo with a Honda Integra. Febbo managed a time of 2:31.017.
“It was a great qualifying session. The track was a little slippery at first, but I think we put some rubber down there. I expected a better lap timing and I am really looking forward to the race tomorrow with the good number of cars on the grid,” Febbo said. THE PENINSULA
