Troy Bayliss and Michel Fabrizio faced difficult climactic conditions today as the 2008 World Superbike championship officially got underway.
Winds of up to 40 km/h meant that riders were unable to record any particularly fast laps and the morning practice session was instead used to check the settings of the new Ducati 1098 F08 machines. The afternoon qualifying session went ahead in similar conditions at the Losail International Circuit with both riders attempting to improve on the times recorded in the morning.
Troy Bayliss 1m59.8s: "I’m reasonably happy with how it went today but we all found it tough and every lap had to be ridden in a different way simply due to the conditions. The wind meant that I was never completely comfortable and there is only so much we can do to change the settings of the bike because conditions may be different again tomorrow. Looking at this weekend’s entry list I reckon it’s going to be a very competitive championship this year, we’re a strong field and I’m looking forward to the competition!"
Michel Fabrizio 2m00.9s: "It was very difficult out there today and although sand on the track wasn’t such a problem, I wasn’t totally confident on the bike with the strong winds. Having said that, there were several of us who were lapping around the 2 minute mark so we were all having similar problems with the weather I think. We’ve changed a few settings on the bike throughout the day and I hope that we can make better progress tomorrow."
Other riders had this to say:
Fonsi Nieto 3rd, 2:00.307: "I’m happy with the first day of practice here in Qatar and think that what we did today was a good result. It was hard today because of the very strong wind and, because the wind was not consistent, it made things quite difficult today. I’m particularly happy because Corser, Bayliss and Haga all tested here recently, so to be up with them today is very satisfying. Both the wind and the sand make it easy to miss your line and once that happens you lose time. We did a lot of good work on the bike today and hope to carry that on tomorrow. I hope that the wind is not so strong and we can make good progress throughout the day."

Yukio Kagayama 5th, 2:00.599: "The wind today was unbelievable! I don’t think I’ve ever raced in such strong winds before and certainly not winds that stayed at the same strength all day. It made many parts of the track a problem, especially the second last corner for me. I think the wind pushed me off line five times in five laps at that turn and that meant that I lost time. Also, I was hit in the visor many times by small stones and that made life a bit interesting! For tomorrow, I think we’ll keep the same chassis set-up, but make some adjustments to the engine and the electronics to make the bike smoother and easier to ride. I just hope the wind is not so bad!"

Max Neukirchner 10th, 2:00.904: "It was very windy out there today and I had many problems in many parts of the track because of that. It was not easy braking for the turns because sometimes the wind was behind you, sometimes across you and sometimes in your front! The last four turns were a particular problem for me and I know that I lost quite a bit of time there. But despite all that we did some good work today and found a good direction for the bike. Unlike most of the other riders here, this is my first time at the track since the race last year, so I have some catching-up to do. I hope the wind is not so strong tomorrow so that I can push harder and and improve my time."
Carlos Checa, 2’01.409: "It has been very difficult to put in good lap times on the bike this morning. We still need to understand the bike balance and find consistency in order to improve our lap times. This basically is the last leg of testing for us, considering we missed out on some important pre-season testing. The CBR1000RR is completely new so we’ll just have to continue developing. It will be difficult to get ready for the race on Saturday, but I am confident about the bikes’ potential, we just have to find the best way to make it work for us."

Ryuichi Kiyonari, 2’02.494: I" am not satisfied at all with my performance. Today has been very difficult for me trying to find the right balance on the bike, which makes it even harder to ride in these conditions. We have tried different set-ups to find the best balance, which will hopefully make me faster in tomorrow’s qualifying session. I am facing a difficult task ahead of me but am glad to hear the weather predictions are looking better for tomorrow."

Kenan Sofuoglu, 2’03.765: "My first qualifying in Superbike was very difficult for me because of the harsh circumstances. If you can control your bike it’s probably easier to control the bike, but right now it’s the conditions that seem to control the bike instead of me. For sure I will need to be a lot faster then this. We will have to change some settings on the bike for tomorrow. With the changing weather conditions I am hoping to be able to put in a better performance."
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