World Superbike
Imola: Ten Kate Honda Friday notes
It's all about Foret. Fabien Foret is a man on a mission: he wants to win the World Supersport Championship. He leads the title by 17 points from closest rival Katsuaki Fujiwara, and he's got off to the best possible start in Imola by ...
Edited: Sep 29, 2002, 2:18 AM
Copy link
Share on Viber
It's all about Foret.
Fabien Foret is a man on a mission: he wants to win the World Supersport Championship. He leads the title by 17 points from closest rival Katsuaki Fujiwara, and he's got off to the best possible start in Imola by going provisional pole.
The flying Frenchman only has to finish in the points if his rival Fujiwara finishes first or second in the race, any lower than that and Foret could technically just pull into the pits and drink his victory champagne.
Will he do that? Will Foret just ride for a finish? Of course not and anyone who expects him to simply doesn't know Fabien! He only races to win, any less and he's not happy. Instead we can expect him to try to finish the title with a win.
"I'm happy to go to provisional pole today," said Foret. "But it's the race that matters and I'll be giving 100% all the way. My bike feels great, the Pirelli tyres are working very well here and WP Suspension are working very hard to get my set up perfect for the race. I think we'll all need to go faster tomorrow, the track was very dirty today after a rider dropped oil this morning, there's still dust on the track from that making it very slippery. Hopefully it will be cleaner on Saturday."
Foret's team mate Iain MacPherson will be hoping to improve on his provisional grid position so he's able to help Foret during the race. Although there are no Honda team orders this weekend, Iain would be expected to support Foret's championship effort if the situation were to arise.
"I'm struggling a little on set up here today," admitted MacPherson who qualified ninth. "But I have total confidence in my team and the WP technician to find a solution for Saturday."
Ten Kate Honda's team manager was happy with the weekend's start, "It's a great way to get the weekend rolling, going to provisional pole in the opening session," said Ronald Ten Kate. "We still have some work to do on set up, but we're definitely heading in the right direction. It's going to be a very exciting weekend, that's for sure!"
<pre> Qualifying times Friday Imola:
1. F. Foret, Ten Kate Honda 1'53.376
2. K. Fujiwara, Suzuki 1'53.500
3. C. Vermeulen, Van Zon Honda TKR 1'53.652
4. A. Pitt, Kawasaki 1'53.729
5. S. Chambon, Suzuki 1'54.105
6. G. Bussei, Ducati 1'54.154
7. A. Corradi, Yamaha 1'54.171
8. P. Casoli, Yamaha 1'54.243
9. I. MacPherson, Ten Kate Honda 1'54.657
10. R. Ulm, Yamaha 1'54.866
-tkh-
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Imola: Michelin preview
Next article Imola: Ten Kate Honda Saturday summary
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Fabien Foret
24th career Superpole for Tom Sykes
World Superbike
World Superbike
Magny-Cours
24th career Superpole for Tom Sykes
Giugliano ends opening day in France on top
World Superbike
World Superbike
Magny-Cours
Giugliano ends opening day in France on top
High stakes for the penultimate round at Magny-Cours
World Superbike
World Superbike
Magny-Cours
High stakes for the penultimate round at Magny-Cours
Latest news
Spire claims Joe Gibbs Racing is now seeking nearly $150m in damages
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup 2 min
Spire claims Joe Gibbs Racing is now seeking nearly $150m in damages
Inception Racing switches to Corvette for 2027 IMSA GTD season
IMSA
IMSA IMSA 7 min
Inception Racing switches to Corvette for 2027 IMSA GTD season
Cadillac reveals date for F1 engine factory debut, thanks drivers for being “patient”
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
United States GP
9 min
Cadillac reveals date for F1 engine factory debut, thanks drivers for being “patient”
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe