This opening day of the first Supermoto Grand Prix of 2008 at Torino, Italy, was a demanding test for the Superiders getting back to action on the Oval Lingotto course. With proceedings starting in the rain, the weather slowly changed to dry for the afternoon. Once the qualifying started, the circuit was dry but the off road section was not used.
Thierry Van Den Bosch took pole in S1 with Davide Gozzini being the fastest in the S2 while Olivier Scheen took pole in the S3.
In the S1 class DRC Aprilia Off Road‰Ûªs Van Den Bosch and KTM Italia Miglio‰Ûªs Bernd Hiemer made it an exciting qualifying with VDB having taken the lead by 0.015 seconds, the Frenchman improved his advantage until 0.2 seconds. Right after Hiemer completed a storming lap to shorten the gap to 0.034 but VDB ended the session with a storming 54.973 lap to be the only rider to lap under the 55 second barrier and collect the first pole of the season.
Hiemer settled for a solid second while Husqvarna CH Racing‰Ûªs Thomas Chareyre was third fastest after a positive qualifying. DRC Aprilia Off Road‰Ûªs second rider in S1, Ivan Lazzarini, completed the top four being the fourth and last rider to have access to tomorrow‰Ûªs Superpole. Brit Matthew Winstanley of Robinsons KTM UK, who is in his first year in the category, was fifth ahead of SBD Unionbike Racing‰Ûªs Giovanni Bussei. Sylvain Bidart and Boris Chambon rounded off a close top eight at one second distance.
Having finished 2007 with a bitter fourth in the Championship, TM Racing Factory‰Ûªs Davide Gozzini came back to be his storming self at Torino, where he clocked the pole at the end of today‰Ûªs S2 qualifying. With defending Champion Gerald Delepine of Husqvarna CH Racing ending 11th quickest because of a lack of feeling with the new Husqvarna 530 SMR machine, his team mate and defending S1 World Champion Adrien Chareyre, who debut's in the category this year, clocked the second fastest time.
Last year‰Ûªs runner up in the world Attilio Pignotti of KTM Italia Miglio finished a positive third ahead of PMR H2O Aprilia Off Road‰Ûªs Christian Iddon. The Brit‰Ûªs team mate Luca Minutilli rounded off the top five ahead of Bikers Racing‰Ûªs Paolo Gaspardone and KTM Motoracing‰Ûªs Ales Hlad. The latter rode with a left injured foot. In tomorrow morning‰Ûªs Superpole Gozzini, Chareyre, Pignotti and Iddon will battle it out for the top spot on the grid.
The opening FIM SuperMoto Grand Prix of 2008 will be run inside the event ‰ÛÏTorino Motorfest‰Û
