Suzuki Castrol Pole, but Philippe Out of Race - Bolliger Kawasaki, Yamaha Austria Also Crash...

Provisional pole position for tomorrow's Vallelunga 200 round of the FIM World Endurance Championship has been taken by Suzuki Castrol's Vincent Philippe but the French rider high-sided while returning to the pits, injuring his wrist and ruling himself out of tomorrow's race. Philippe's best time was 1:39.975; he was the only rider to drop below 1:40. Keiichi Kitagawa and Matthieu Lagrive will ride for Suzuki Castrol tomorrow; both were fastest in their own qualifying sessions.

Kawasaki Bolliger's David Morillon was second fastest overall with a time of 1:41.805, despite a crash on oil by his team mate Marcel Kellenberger. Third place went to Ducati Spring Team, with Matteo Colombo lapping in 1:41.990 during this morning's slightly cooler session.

Yamaha Austria's Gwen Giabbani also crashed today, and he will not start the race tomorrow. His team mates Igor Jerman and Thomas Hinterreiter have been working on different set-ups through the day but are now a lot happier with the bike. Igor Jerman posted the fourth quickest time of the day.

Despite this being the final round of the season, the pace has been ultra-competitive all weekend, with a record number of wildcard entries packing the entry list and mere hundredths of a second separating positions further down the grid.

Qualifying Quotes

Vincent Philippe, Suzuki Castrol, first place: "I cannot ride tomorrow; I have too much pain in my wrist. I'm very angry because I don't know why I crashed - maybe I lost concentration for a minute."

Keiichi Kitagawa, Suzuki Castrol: "There was too much traffic to do a clear lap. The bike is not so bad, there is no grip at this track though. This morning was better; it's too hot now and the tyre is spinning everywhere."

David Morillon, Kawasaki Bolliger, second place: "The bike is going well. We've had to do some work with the chassis and the tyres since we got here, but I'm happy with my qualifying time and we're aiming to still be in second place in the championship at the end of the race tomorrow afternoon."

Igor Jerman, Yamaha Austria, fourth place: "We have some work to do to find a race tyre, but the bike is getting better and better. We had a problem at the front so we are changing the forks; we'll see what happens tomorrow in warm-up."

Warwick Nowland, Yamaha Phase One Endurance, sixth place: "We've been riding round on race tyres all weekend. We haven't been using qualifiers so we can do these times in the race. I think it's possible to do 1:41s if we get a clear track. All the guys are falling down around us at the moment. Gwen [Giabanni, Yamaha Austria] was trying hard, but Vincent [Philippe, Suzuki Castrol] was on a slow-down lap. It's a tricky track with fast sections and then back to walking place, but I'm looking forward to it tomorrow."

Provisional Qualifying - Top Ten