Submitted by Jared Earle on
Ducatis filled the top three places of qualifying with Sylvain Guintoli settling in to his new team in third place behind the Althea Ducatis of Davide Giugliano and Carlos Checa. While the v-twin bikes are slower in the last sector, where the long back straight leads to a tight left hander onto the start/finish straight, the agility of the 1098R comes to play in the mass of corners making up the rest of the track.
It's hard to predict how this will play out tomorrow in Superpole, or indeed on Sunday with the races, but with three Ducatis in the top three today, if the wind isn't sapping their power down the back straight, it looks like this could be the bike to be on.
Results:
| Pos | No. | Rider | Bike | Time | Diff |
| 1 | 34 | GIUGLIANO D | Ducati 1098R | 1'35.074 | |
| 2 | 7 | CHECA C | Ducati 1098R | 1'35.284 | 0.210 |
| 3 | 50 | GUINTOLI S | Ducati 1098R | 1'35.751 | 0.677 |
| 4 | 33 | MELANDRI M | BMW S1000 RR | 1'35.772 | 0.698 |
| 5 | 19 | DAVIES C | Aprilia RSV4 Factory | 1'35.828 | 0.754 |
| 6 | 66 | SYKES T | Kawasaki ZX-10R | 1'35.905 | 0.831 |
| 7 | 87 | ZANETTI L | Ducati 1098R | 1'35.980 | 0.906 |
| 8 | 4 | AOYAMA H | Honda CBR1000RR | 1'35.988 | 0.914 |
| 9 | 91 | HASLAM L | BMW S1000 RR | 1'36.039 | 0.965 |
| 10 | 65 | REA J | Honda CBR1000RR | 1'36.061 | 0.987 |
| 11 | 59 | CANEPA N | Ducati 1098R | 1'36.143 | 1.069 |
| 12 | 76 | BAZ L | Kawasaki ZX-10R | 1'36.174 | 1.100 |
| 13 | 3 | BIAGGI M | Aprilia RSV4 Factory | 1'36.236 | 1.162 |
| 14 | 21 | HOPKINS J | Suzuki GSX-R1000 | 1'36.293 | 1.219 |
| 15 | 86 | BADOVINI A | BMW S1000 RR | 1'36.326 | 1.252 |
| 16 | 84 | FABRIZIO M | BMW S1000 RR | 1'36.442 | 1.368 |
| 17 | 58 | LAVERTY E | Aprilia RSV4 Factory | 1'36.470 | 1.396 |
| 18 | 2 | CAMIER L | Suzuki GSX-R1000 | 1'36.533 | 1.459 |
| 19 | 44 | SALOM D | Kawasaki ZX-10R | 1'36.911 | 1.837 |
| 20 | 5 | LUNDH A | Kawasaki ZX-10R | 1'38.163 | 3.089 |
| 21 | 69 | MCFADDEN D | Kawasaki ZX-10R | 1'38.372 | 3.298 |
Round Number:
11
2012
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Comments
OF LONG ENGINES AND INCONSISTENT TRELLY
re: "the agility of the 1098R comes to play in the mass of corners making up the rest of the track."
but wait, isn't the 90 degree L the antithesis of mass central...? and isn't a matrix of stick welded tubes cobbled together slapdash in production no excuse for a proper frame...? yet here are 3 bikes with 3 different riders (all saddled with +6) showing up to a track sight unseen and hittin' the ground running...? ps: note where the (second coming) twin-sparred, narrow angle V's are showing up.
LONG ENGINES
normgshamarone - thank-you, thank-you, THANK-YOU! I had thought I was a lone voice in this discourse. Over in the MotoGP side of this site, for the past two years we have been hearing how a certain Italian's woes could be cured by:
1, getting rid of that damned carbon-fibre airbox 'frame'
2, replacing it with a 'proper' aluminium alloy delta-box frame (whatever that is)
3, replacing the 90 degree V4 engine with a narrower angle V4
And yet... here we have these dreaded 'old' trellis frame 90 degree V-twins, with SHORT swing-arms, the engine allegedly too long front to back and too tall in the frame, and with the fuel load in the traditional position, being described as 'agile'.
I could point out that Carlos Checa's fastest race lap at Phillip Island on this shocking abomination is faster than that of a certain Italian on the MotoGP bike, but that would be churlish.
And if you saw the way the Ducati Superbikes flexed at the rear through Turns 11 and 12 at the Aussie track, you would wonder how much faster they could be with a decent, stiff, twin-sided swing-arm. The mono-arm is a marketing exercise and would only be of use if the Superbike races were longer and they needed to change wheels mid-race. That, in my view, is the only weakness of the Ducati Superbike's design.
Be interesting to see how the Panigale fares in Superbike guise...