BMW Motorrad:

Ruben and Troy finished 17th and 20th in a tough qualifying at Donington today, but the lap times are close and a fraction of a second less would’ve placed Ruben in the top ten. The untimed first session took place in the dry, but the second (timed) session started with a damp track, causing many riders to wait and see if conditions improved. The track did dry out and Michel Fabrizio (Ducati) took provisional pole, with Leon Haslam (Honda) second, Ben Spies (Yamaha) third and Gregorio Lavilla (Ducati) fourth.

Ruben – 17th, 1:32.186
Before we weren’t able to go fast in the wet, but today I was leading the standings for quite a long time. Then, when the track dried I was overtaken, but the lap times are close and I am happy because I went one second a lap faster here today than I did last year. At the moment, I can get down to quite a good lap time without too much of a problem, but when I want to faster, it is hard to do so. Troy, I and the team are working our hardest and we just need to find that next step up to be more competitive. I am convinced that this bike has potential and it will be great once we can show it.

Troy – 20th, 1:32.476
You cannot just ride this bike, you have to think it and work at it. I can get to a point fairly easily, but then it is a struggle to go just that bit faster. It’s not a new problem, but it’s just something that we have to work on and improve if we want to be challenging more easily for the top ten. It’s kind of frustrating, because we are not that far off and if we can just make that small leap, we’ll be able to fight for the top ten again.

• The International hd Seventeen & Missing psp