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Alex Cudlin took pole position in the fifth round of the Qatar Superbike Championship under the floodlights at Losail International Circuit.
QMMF rider Cudlin was the fastest rider on the Qatar track during all sessions. His time of 2:01.604 was the best-ever he had achieved at Losail.
“The qualifying was really good. I set the fastest lap I ever done here which was well under my previous lap record, which is nice. I am in pole position and I have a 0,7 gap which is good, but obviously 15 laps is different than one lap,” Cudlin said.
The second place on the starting grid was taken by for Nasser al-Malki who clocked a lap time of 2:02.372.
‘”Today I tried new settings in my bike as I changed them from the last race, and they were very good, but I had to adjust them more and in all the free practice sessions. But in the qualifying all the changes were perfect,” said al-Malki.
“The grip was good today as it was so hot which made me very tired. In qualifying, Alex was pushing from the beginning and I couldn’t follow him as I was fixing my bike but I have to congratulate Alex for the new time and hope tomorrow we make a good fight,” al-Malki added.
The third place in the front row went to Nina Prinz with a lap time of 2:03.082 .The German rider however made a mistake on the last lap of the qualifying session and crashed.
“In the free practice I was really very happy; it was perfect. The mechanics tried something with the suspension and it worked well. But in the qualifying I had new tyres and because I applied the brakes late I crashed,” Prinz said.
“The lap time was not so bad but for sure with one more warm tyre in the rear I can go faster” she added.
In the Losail Asian Road Racing Series, the fastest rider was Manca Katrasnik from Serbia.
“The qualifying was great for me although I didn’t expect it with the hot conditions. I hope tomorrow to finish the race and enjoy it.”
In the Qatar Challenge, 11 cars registered for the fifth round of the championship with Mark James Holroyd in a Honda Civic EP3 taking the pole position with a lap time of 2:29.199.
“The qualifying went well, I managed to get a quick lap even I had some problems with the car, but for this lap I was very fast. Hopefully the issues I had are fixed before the race and I am looking forward to my first ever podium,” Holroyd said after the qualifying session.
Next to Holroyd in the starting grid will be Eric Febbo in a Honda Integra, with a lap time of 2:31.017. ‘It was a great qualifying session, the track was a little slippery at first, but I think we put some rubber down there. I expected a better lap timing and I really looking forward for the race tomorrow,” Febbo said.