PARKALGAR HONDA’S Sam Lowes and Miguel Praia continued to improve their set-up and lap times from the recent test to claim third and 12th in the opening qualifying session of the season at Phillip Island in Australia.

There is another practice and qualifying session tomorrow before the race takes place at 1330 local time on Sunday, 27th February.

Sam:

“It’s great that I am third after first qualifying – and that I have gone faster than in testing here earlier in the week. As I am learning the track I am getting to grips with it and now there are only two corners that I need to find some more time from compared to Eugene’s data from last year. We know what we need to do and will be onit tomorrow – things are looking good.”

Miguel:

“I was not as fast in the afternoon as the morning as the grip level went down. In the morning I was happy and in the afternoon I tried to make long runs concentrating on race distance. I couldn’t make the same lap time in qualifying but I am quite pleased doing 35s – that is just half a second away from my fastest lap here. There is a lot of work to do still, I want more feedback from my Parkalgar Honda and we will try different set-ups with more weight on the rear for grip. I want to start on the second row.”

Simon Buckmaster, Parkalgar Honda Team Manager:

“It’s been a really good day for Sam, he is losing the majority of his time in the last two corners and will work on that. First time here he’s got podium potential.

“Miguel is on the third row and to needs to try and improve that. Certainly it is an improved performance over testing. He’s more comfortable on the bike and moving in the right direction and we are looking to move up the grid tomorrow.”

First Qualification

1. Fabien Foret 1'34.091 (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda)

2. David Salom 1'34.166 (Kawasaki Motocard.com)

3. Sam Lowes 1'34.875 (Parkalgar Honda)

4. Chaz Davies 1'35.065 (Yamaha ParkinGO Team)

5. Roberto Tamburini 1'35.203 (Bike Service R.T.)

6. Luca Scassa 1'35.236 (Yamaha ParkinGO Team)

7. Broc Parkes 1'35.297 (Kawasaki Motocard.com)

8. Florian Marino 1'35.335 (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda)

9. James Ellison 1'35.480 (Bogdanka PTR Honda)

10. Robbin Harms 1'35.563 (Harms Benjan Racing Team)

12. Miguel Praia 1'35.953 (Parkalgar Honda