Peter Hickman (Aspire-Ho by Bathams Racing BMW) turned his overnight provisional pole into the real thing with a series of convincing laps that left him a second clear of team-mate Michael Rutter (Aspire-Ho by Bathams Racing Honda RC213V) despite a late attempt by Rutter to get back the position he held in the first part of the session.
Said Hickman:
“This is my first pole at Macao, which is really nice. The bike’s been working really, really good right from the first practice yesterday, although practice was hard work. I’m quite happy with the setting. I’m riding the same bike I rode last year and it’s making life a bit easier. It was always going to be Michael [Rutter] and Martin [Jessopp] that were up there as well, and I’m sure the race is going to be a lot closer than what the qualifying was today, but I’m looking forward to getting away with it. Fingers crossed we get our head down early on and see what happens.”
But though he improved his time and cut the gap by half a second, Rutter had to settle for second spot, leaving Hickman the only one to dip into the 2:23 bracket, his 2:23.904 earning him a superb debut Macao pole position.
Said eight-time race winner Rutter:
“The team’s worked fantastic as we’ve had a brand new bike and we’ve only been out on it twice before. Every time we go out it’s a learning curve – we go a little bit quick, we find something else. I think we’ve got about another 10% to come out of the bike. Every time you go around a corner you try something a little bit different, learn a little bit more. I was a bit disappointed with my qualifying myself. I don’t think we’d have been as quick as Pete [Hickman], but I think we’d have been quicker. I didn’t concentrate on that qualifying lap and just messed it up.”
Martin Jessopp (Tak Chun Group by PBM Ducati) also left it late to get on the front row; he’d been down in fourth for a while, grabbed third spot from Danny Webb (MGM by Penz13) and then lost it to Gary Johnson (Briggs Equipment Kawasaki).
But as the session drew to a close Jessopp had a perfect lap of personal best times in all four sectors to go 2:25.356 and join the front-row Press Conference.
“I’m really happy to be up here to be honest,” said Jessopp.
“I thought I could do it before coming to the meeting. I’ve been riding around here for the last six years on my BMW, so I know what gear to be in, I know what bump, I know what’s going to do this, and I know what I was going to do before I got one in. Yesterday it was quite a bit of a shock how different this [Ducati Panigale 1199] is. It’s a proper racing machine and it’s all new, so after the first session yesterday I knew it was going to be tough. It’s only qualifying though, it doesn’t mean that much. Pete [Hickman] has won from row three, so him being on pole is going to mean trouble for all of use. I don’t know if I can fight for a win, but I’m just happy to be up here.”
That left row two comprised of Gary Johnson, Danny Webb and Horst Saiger (Saiger Racing Yamaha) as they line up for the start of tomorrow’s 52nd Macau Motorcycle Grand Prix, with David Johnson (PR Racing BMW) just ahead of John McGuinness (Tak Chun Group by PBM Ducati), Derek Sheils (MGM by Penz 13 BMW) and Sam West (PRL/OHA Motorsport BMW).
Davey Todd (PuraGlobe Syntainics Racing Oil by Penz 13) was again fastest of the newcomers, as he had been in both previous sessions, ending up 11th on the grid.
HICKMAN THUNDERS TO FIRST MACAO POLE
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