Fabien Foret took second place in the fifth round World Supersport championship race at Misano in Italy, following race winner Broc Parkes across the line. Foret’s Hannspree Ten Kate Honda team-mate, Florian Marino, finished 11th.
Starting from fifth place on the grid, Foret endured a torrid opening lap in which he was pushed wide at turn four and ended the lap down in 11th place.
The Frenchman began a methodical return to the front of the field in the ensuing 21-laps of the 4.226km Misano circuit, passing pole position rider Sam Lowes and David Salom in one move before chasing down early race leader Chaz Davies.
It was Foret’s third consecutive podium after non-finishes in the opening two rounds and a number of painful injuries after two crashes at Phillip Island and Donington Park. The result moves him into fourth place in the championship standings.
Despite continuing the learning process in his de but World Supersport season on the Hannspree Ten Kate Honda CBR600RR, the 18-year-old Marino was bitterly disappointed with his result. The French rider has vowed to improve in next weekend’s sixth round at Aragon in Spain.
Fabien Foret – 2ndI would like to be very positive and say it was a great race. I’m very happy with my fitness and I felt back to normal on the bike and was able to enjoy riding it. The boys did a great job with the bike because it was a lot better than we had in warm-up this morning. My start was not too bad but then I got pushed wide, so then I tried to be smooth but there was a lot still to do. I’m sorry for the boys because I think without that I could have come back with 25 points and that’s what we should have got from the weekend. OK, 20 is better than zero, but roll on Aragon.
Florian Marino – 11thI am very disappointed and I need to find a better way of working with the bike. It has been a difficult weekend and we were not able to find the right setting, so we need to find something new for next week at Aragon. The start of the race and the first two or three laps were OK – the bike felt good and I felt strong but I needed to save energy for the rest of the race. When the tyre performance started to drop I had to fight with the bike and found it hard to follow. I got very tired too – the race today felt even harder than my first race at Phillip Island. I definitely need to do better in my next race!
Ronald ten Kate – team manager:That was a result we were happy with, although it was a bit of a strange race. Fabien didn’t make it easy with his first lap but he was fully on it and it was really enjoyable to see him riding back at full strength after his injuries earlier in the season. With Florian, we’ve been stru ggling to find a setting for him all weekend and that went into the race, too. We definitely need to find him something new for next weekend, but I am so happy to see Fabien on the podium for the third race in a row, and we’re looking forward to Aragon now.
2011 World Supersport championship, round five - Misano, Italy (4.226km) - 22 laps:1 Broc Parkes (AUS) Kawasaki 37m00.851s2 Fabien Foret (FRA) Hannspree Ten Kate Honda +1.933s3 Sam Lowes (GBR) Honda +2.890s11 Florian Marino (FRA) Hannspree Ten Kate Honda +29.225s
Championship points after five of 12 rounds:1 Parkes 85, 2 Chaz Davies (GBR) Yamaha 80, 3 Luca Scassa (ITA) Yamaha, 4 Foret 56, 5 David Salom (ESP) Kawasaki 55, 6 Robbin Harms (DEN) Honda 51, 8 Marino 31
Next round: Aragon, Spain – 17-19 June.
