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Front row for Marino in Portugal

October 15 2011

Florian Marino set the fourth fastest time in this afternoon’s World Supersport championship qualifying session at Portimao in Portugal to take a front row start for tomorrow’s final race of the season.

Pole position was taken by Spanish rider David Salom, whose team-mate Broc Parkes was second fastest, with recently-crowned champion Chaz Davies in third.

Marino’s Hannspree Ten Kate Honda team-mate, Fabien Foret had a difficult qualifying session today and suffered a small crash with 30 minutes of the session remaining. His crew got him out again with a little over ten minutes to spare and Foret managed a second row grid slot with the seventh fastest time.

Florian Marino – P4 1m45.590s

I didn’t think that I managed the session very well today because I made many mistakes. I made a lot of laps running wide in some places and it was frustrating for me. We tried a different setting at the beginning of the session which was not so good so, with our last set of tyres, we went back to this morning’s setting. It was quite slippery with the temperature this afternoon and it took me some time to adapt. Finally I found a clear lap and got on to the front row, which is great. I’d like to make a good warm-up tomorrow and not push too many laps on the brake because that’s where my problem was today. Thanks to the team for all their work today, I hope I can repay them tomorrow.

Fabien Floret – P7 1m45.877s

It was difficult today and the crash didn’t help the session go smoothly because the guys had to spend some time repairing the damage. They did a good job though and allowed me to get out for a few laps at the end to salvage something. It’s still not perfect and we were not able to continue the step forward that was made right at the end of yesterday’s session. But we can try something in warm-up and race day is always a little bit different anyway.

Ronald ten Kate – team manager

Florian has done quite a good job today. A front row start is a great result for him and the team. Fabien had a complicated session with a little crash, but luckily he was able to rejoin and was still able to make his fastest lap. We are not there yet but we’re not far away either, so we’ll keep working tonight to find what we can give both riders for the best possible chance in the final race of the season.

2011 World Supersport championship, round 12 – Portimao, Portugal
Final qualifying results:
1 David Salom (ESP) Kawasaki 1m45.095s
2 Broc Parkes (AUS) Kawasaki 1m45.145s
3 Chaz Davies (GBR) Yamaha 1m45.253s
4 Florian Marino (FRA) Hannspree Ten Kate Honda 1m45.590s
7 Fabien Foret (FRA) Hannspree Ten Kate Honda 1m45.877s