Fabien Foret won today’s tenth round World Supersport championship race after a typically gutsy and flamboyant ride took him from 12th place on the grid to victory at Imola in italy.
Problems during qualifying yesterday left the French Hannspree Ten Kate Honda rider starting from the outside of the third row, as his team-mate, Florian Marino started the race in second place trying to chase down series and race leader Chaz Davies.
Davies led for the first 14 of 19 laps around the 4.936km Imola circuit, but the engine on his Yamaha expired on lap fifteen leaving Honda-mounted Sam Lowes in charge and Marino well-place in second place.
As Marino’s podium challenge began to fade, however, his Hannspree Ten Kate Honda team-mate continued his charge through the field and, by lap 15, Foret was in second place behind Lowes.
Foret timed his move to the front to perfection with three laps to go and finished just 0.166s ah ead of Lowes, with Marino crossing just off the podium in fourth place for his best result of the season.
Fabien Foret – 1st
We made a big change for the race and I couldn’t push hard at the beginning because I didn’t really have the feeling. It felt like a new bike, but as soon as I got used to the new feeling I pushed and pushed and managed to catch the leading group. I was feeling pretty strong but I was pushing very hard, so I am very happy to win again today. I want to say a special thanks to the team because it’s been a strange weekend. Everything was good on Friday but yesterday was a tough day. They stayed with me though and gave me the bike I could win on today.
Florian Marino – 4th
I am very happy because I pushed as hard as I could on the limit throughout the whole race – I could not do any more. So many times I nearly ran off the track an d I knew that after Fabien came past me I could not go with him. But I stayed near the front for the whole race so thanks to the team for giving me back a good feeling with the bike. I have two more chances to get on to the podium this season and we will try as hard as we can to achieve this goal.
Ronald ten Kate – team-manager
That was certainly a dramatic Supersport race, and one that I think will hit the history books. We changed the setting quite a bit for Fabien so, apparently, for the first laps he was trying to get used to the bike. Then, all of a sudden, he was the quickest man on the track – the quickest man ever, in fact, as he set a new record on lap 11. He propelled himself forward and brought the win for us. There was a big battle going on for the final podium slot, which unfortunately did not go Florian’s way. However, this was his best result for us and he’s really beginning to understand how to push the bike to its limit over the full race distance. I’ve already been asked about the championship, but Davies still has quite a big lead with two races left. For sure there is still some pressure on him because he and his team cannot afford any mistakes.
2011 World Supersport championship, round ten – Imola, Italy (4.936km) - 19 laps:
1 Fabien Foret (FRA) Hannspree Ten Kate Honda 35m56.214s
2 Sam Lowes (GBR) Honda +0.166s
3 Broc Parkes (AUS) Kawasaki +2.499
4 Florian Marino (FRA) Hannspree Ten Kate Honda +3.833
Championship points after nine of 12 rounds:
1 Chaz Davies (GBR) Yamaha 171, 2 Foret 136, 3 David Salom (ESP) Kawasaki 123, 4 Parkes 120, 8 Marino 71
Next round: Magny-Cours, France – 30 September – 2 October