Troy Bayliss will start both races from Phillip Island from pole position tomorrow after posting a blistering time on his Superpole lap.
Bayliss' performance was all the more impressive as a high-side in the morning's qualifying session resulted in a visit to the circuit's clinic and eight stitches administered to his left elbow.
"It's been an eventful day, that's for sure.“ he said, “This morning, I high-sided exiting turn eleven and had to have eight stitches in my elbow, but it didn't bother me during this afternoon's practice and Superpole.”
To prove the point, Bayliss set a time that was half a second quicker than his nearest rival, having been the pacesetter with
Troy Corser all weekend.
“I'm pretty confident about tomorrow's race,“ he added, “I'm happy I was able to take pole, though I didn't really expect to. I knew it was going to be very close between Corser and me here today and we both generally end up lapping with similar times at this track.
“I couldn't try another long-run today as planned due to the crash, but Michel [Fabrizio] was able to do that instead and the team was happy with the results. Tomorrow, the first few laps will surely be exciting and then I guess it will come down to tyre performance. It should be a great day of racing."
Fabrizio was especially pleased with his performance after a tough start to his season in Qatar. The young Italian was felt a little under the weather all weekend in the Middle East, but has been on the pace in Australia from the get go.
"I am extremely happy with today's times.“ he said, “Up until this point, it's been a great weekend and I just hope it continues that way tomorrow!
“Today, we did a long run and it seems that we've made some progress with respect to how we went yesterday. It will undoubtedly be a challenging race tomorrow and if I am able to keep up with the two Troys then that would already be a good result as far as I'm concerned."
