Marino and YZF-R1M Into the Top Four in Portuguese Qualifying

STK1000 PORTUGAL - ROUND 7     Portimão STK1000 Qualifying 1 Report - 06/06/2015 Marino and YZF-R1M Into the Top Four in Portuguese Qualifying Less than a month after breaking his arm at the Imola round of the FIM Superstock 1000 FIM Cup regular MRS Yamaha competitor Florian Marino secured a fourth place grid spot on the new YZF-R1M at Portimao. Gritting his teeth and riding without painkillers despite having surgical plates in his arm the French rider was only 0.525 seconds from pole in his comeback ride, having missed the previous round at Donington Park. Florian was not alone in riding on through injury as his MRS Yamaha team-mate Kev Coghlan took seventh position on the Portimao grid despite a fracture to the metacarpal on the small finger of his throttle hand. Coghlan was only 0.729 seconds from pole and a tiny 0.003 seconds from a second row starting position. Hot conditions through practice and qualifying made it hard work for the YZF-R1M riders at times, especially as Portimao is such a physically demanding circuit, with blind corner entries, dramatic elevations and fast direction changes to deal with almost all through the 4.592km lap. The 14-lap race, at 14.15 local time in Portugal, is expected to be a tough challenge but one that the MRS duo are ready to face with the prospect of more championship points being up for grabs. Florian Marino 4th / 1'45.047 / 11 laps "It has been so tough and it is in a way unbelievable to be riding here so soon after the injury. To be fourth in qualifying is even more crazy. I expect a tough race tomorrow for sure and I have to be realistic. I have been riding almost with one arm and I was not expecting to be riding at a pace like this. For tomorrow I want to make a good start but not push too much and hope I can have a good race. Up to now I have only been doing two or three laps in a row to save my body a little bit. This track is so physical too, so I am not sure what to expect tomorrow, but I will try to stay calm to keep my energy. So far fourth on the grid is great result for the team." Kev Coghlan 7th / 1'45.251 / 13 laps "Today has been not too bad but I am struggling a bit with my hand on the finer control of the throttle. There is not too much pain, it is bearable, but the throttle control is just not quite fast enough. The bike is going well. Maybe physically I am not too confident when we get out of shape and I am trying to make up for things with the rest of my body. Not being 100% fit, I am pretty happy with today. Before this weekend we were maybe looking at damage limitation so if we are P7 in qualifying and not so far off the front it is not too bad. I hope we can jump up a few places in the first laps of the race and hang on with the quicker boys." Adrian Morillas – MRS Yamaha Team Manager "Florian had a lot of pain because he took no painkillers or injections. I told him that if he wants to do the race then he should do something for the pain because it has been such a short time since he had his fractures. I think it will be difficult if he does not. Kev also has a fracture on his right hand so to have two riders with injuries I am happy with the result today. They have made good work today with the team. I think the race will be hard because to do one or two fast laps there is not such a big problem, but for the race it may be harder for Florian. For Kev maybe not so much because it is a small break, so if he can have an injection he should be OK."  Luca Marconi (Team Trasimeno Yamaha) had a strong qualifying performance in sixth place, with his team-mate and fellow Yamaha YZF-R1M rider Jeremy Guarnoni eighth. With Sylvain Barrier (G.M. Racing Yamaha) placing tenth on the grid there were no fewer than five YZF-R1M competitors inside the qualifying top ten, the most distant being only 1.056 seconds from the pole position rider. 2015 STK1000 Portugal Portimão 06/06/2015 1 Roberto Tamburini BMW ITA 1'44.522  2 Lorenzo Savadori Aprilia ITA 1'44.669  3 Ondrej Jezek Ducati CZE 1'45.026  4 Florian Marino Yamaha FRA 1'45.047  5 Raffaele De Rosa Ducati ITA 1'45.241  6 Luca Marconi Yamaha ITA 1'45.248  7 Kev Coghlan Yamaha GBR 1'45.251  8 Jeremy Guarnoni Yamaha FRA 1'45.379  9 Bryan Staring Kawasaki AUS 1'45.452  10 Sylvain Barrier Yamaha FRA 1'45.578  11 Kevin Calia Aprilia ITA 1'45.759  12 Christoffer Bergman Yamaha SWE 1'45.876  13 Fabio Massei Ducati ITA 1'45.951  14 Aiden Wagner Suzuki AUS 1'46.303  15 Marc Moser Ducati DE 1'46.531  Circuit Length: 4692

Please ensure to credit the source for this material as www.yamaha-racing.com. We would also respectfully request that the content remains unaltered. Yamaha Motor Europe N.V. Join us on       © Yamaha Motor Europe N.V. 2011 | Unsubscribe