World Superbike

WSS: Ten Kate Magny-Cours Saturday notes

POLE FOR CHARPENTIER WITH SOFUOGLU SECOND Sebastien Charpentier (Winston Ten Kate Honda) lowered the best Supersport lap time at Magny-Cours once more to set pole for Sunday's 22-lap race, despite far from ideal conditions underfoot. It was ...

Published: Oct 7, 2006, 5:58 PM

Copy link

Share on Viber

Add as a preferred source

POLE FOR CHARPENTIER WITH SOFUOGLU SECOND

Sebastien Charpentier (Winston Ten Kate Honda) lowered the best Supersport lap time at Magny-Cours once more to set pole for Sunday's 22-lap race, despite far from ideal conditions underfoot. It was his eighth pole of the 2006 season. Once again the track and weather conditions conspired to make it a difficult day for the Supersport entrants, and shortly after a very short spell of light rain appeared, Kenan Sofuoglu (Winston Ten Kate Honda) fell at a fast section of the 4.411km circuit, but he escaped without further injury to the leg he injured yesterday. Championship leader Kevin Curtain was only fifth on the grid, good news for Charpentier, who is still in with a chance to retain his championship crown.

Ronald Ten Kate - Team Manager

"Obviously we have very good start positions at Sebastien's home race tomorrow, first and second, with Kevin in fifth. That means he is on the second row, so it's the best possible position for us to start the race. We saw an incredible lap from Sebastien just before the rain came, and he was still on a very used front tyre, so we know that he could have gone even quicker. With Kenan, he really saw his chance for pole because he was very fast again here. But he overdid it when the first rains came. Because we know how slippery it is here as soon as there is any rain on the track surface. He had a small crash, and he limped away just because of the injury he suffered yesterday. When he got back to the pits we could see that he is OK and we even let him back out on his spare machine to test the bike and check all was OK with him. It was, and we are in great form for tomorrow. We are ready for it, we want to win, and also give a good salute to the CBR600RR, which has dominated the series for three years - it is by far the most successful machine ever in World Supersport.

Sebastien Charpentier - Winston Ten Kate Honda Rider
(Pole Position -- Fastest Lap 1'42.506 - 23 Laps)

"I didn't push 100% because on the second lap there was a little bit of rain on the track so I closed the gas a little bit. I guess it was possible to go a little quicker. I think the goal for tomorrow is to make 1'43s in the race and I hope that is the situation in the race. I hope that I can give a good performance and win it, and I am not sure how Curtain was after today. But if he finishes with five or six points it will be terrible for me. If there was a South African race still to go this year, then we may have a very different story, even now. I have a new challenge next year for Honda so that is a very important thing for me. I am happy because I have a very good team around me and they work in a good direction. I hope the weather is better, because it is a little bit strange, and cold. So to make a 1'42.5 is good for all of us."

(Kenan Sofuoglu - Winston Ten Kate Honda Rider)
(2nd Position -- Fastest Lap 1'43.097 - 24 Laps

"It all went well until the last lap when light rain fell on my visor. I thought I could get one more fast lap, but I couldn't and fell. But for the race the set-up is the way I wanted, the team works well - just like Imola - and I am up there with Sebastien. That's good for my morale, because I demonstrated that I have the chance of a good race on Sunday."

<pre> FINAL QUALIFYING: 1. Charpentier Winston Ten Kate Honda 1'42.506 2. Sofuoglu Winston Ten Kate Honda 1'43.097 3. Parkes Yamaha 1'43.514 4. Checa Yamaha 1'43.763 5. Curtain Yamaha 1'43.765

-credit: wtkh

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

Share Or Save This Story

Copy link

Share on Viber

Previous article Magny-Cours: Team Alstare Suzuki Friday report

Next article Magny-Cours: Starting grid

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

View More & Comment

Latest news

Does Daniel Ricciardo regret leaving Red Bull for Renault?

Formula 1

F1 Formula 1

United States GP

35 min

Does Daniel Ricciardo regret leaving Red Bull for Renault?

Cadillac 'honoured' to have Sergio Perez as special 300th race celebration planned for Mexico GP

Formula 1

F1 Formula 1

Mexican GP

1 h

Cadillac 'honoured' to have Sergio Perez as special 300th race celebration planned for Mexico GP

Porsche wants 2030 unified rules framework by Christmas before Le Mans decision

IMSA

IMSA IMSA 1 h

Porsche wants 2030 unified rules framework by Christmas before Le Mans decision

Sebastian Vettel reveals why BMW didn't want him – but Red Bull did

Formula 1

F1 Formula 1 2 h

Sebastian Vettel reveals why BMW didn't want him – but Red Bull did

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