Ducati Xerox's Troy Bayliss (Photo: Ducati Corse) » More Photos

THE THREE DUCATI XEROX RIDERS TAKE PROVISIONAL PLACES ON THE FRONT TWO ROWS AT BRNO

In dry conditions all three of the Ducati Xerox riders, Bayliss, Fabrizio and Canepa, made a strong start to their campaign for victory this weekend at the Automotodrom of Brno. After a few tire issues this morning for most of the Superbike riders due to the lack of grip on track after yesterday's rainfall, the field got back to business in this afternoon's first qualifying session. At the conclusion of that session it was local rider Smrz who had registered the fastest lap on his privateer Ducati bike. Troy Bayliss and his factory 1098 F08 recorded the third fastest time to take a provisional front row place on the grid while his two team-mates Michel Fabrizio and Niccolo' Canepa (the latter riding the F09 development machine) achieved the seventh and eighth fastest lap times respectively.

A track at which the Ducati Superbikes have not excelled in the last couple of years, it is worth noting that six of the first eight riders on this afternoon's time sheet were on board Ducati machines.

Troy Bayliss 1'59.5

"I'd say today has gone quite well. The lap times have been very fast as the surface is so grippy. Everyone had problems this morning as yesterday's rain meant the track surface was destroying the tires. This afternoon was much better, with most people able to put in some fast qualifying times. The lap times that I recorded on the race tire were definitely faster than those of last year. Tomorrow I hope to improve the feeling I've got with the rear and if I can do that, I think we're pretty much there."

Michel Fabrizio 2'00.0

"It's all gone quite well. At the start it took us a while to find the right direction but this afternoon we got back on track so to speak. We tried different tires before finding the right one with which to make the best lap times. I lost three tenths while making what would have been my fastest lap due to traffic on track, which was a shame as I wanted to complete at least one lap in under 2'00. Anyway we improved throughout the day and I'm confident that we'll continue to improve tomorrow."

Niccolo' Canepa 2'00.1

"We've worked a lot on the bike set-up today. The last time I rode this track was while testing the Ducati GP bike a few weeks ago and so I need to adapt all my points of reference now to the Superbike. It's taking me a bit of time to properly understand when to open the gas, break etc. but I reckon we are getting there. We've tried a few different things and have done a lot of laps to check how the tires are with regard to race pace. Tomorrow I think we can better the lap times but today has been more than satisfactory."