Motul FIM Superbike World Championship
Motorland Aragon, Spain
April 1, 2016
Free Practice Two Results (all on Pirelli tires):
1. Tom Sykes, UK (Kaw ZX-10R), 1:50.712
2. Chaz Davies, UK (Duc Panigale R), 1:51.087
3. Michael van der Mark, Netherlands (Hon CBR1000RR SP), 1:51.337
4. Davide Giugliano, Italy (Duc Panigale R), 1:51.350
5. Lorenzo Savadori, Italy (Apr RSV4 RF), 1:51.461
6. Jonathan Rea, UK (Kaw ZX-10R), 1:51.464
7. Nicky Hayden, USA (Hon CBR1000RR SP), 1:51.545, crash
8. Leon Camier, UK (MV Agusta F4 RR), 1:51.568
9. Xavi Fores, Spain (Duc Panigale R), 1:51.592
10. Alex Lowes, UK (Yam YZF-R1), 1:51.639
11. Alex De Angelis, San Marino (Apr RSV4 RF), 1:51.674
12. Jordi Torres, Spain (BMW S1000RR), 1:51.728
13. Markus Reiterberger, Germany (BMW S1000RR), 1:51.735
14. Sylvain Guintoli, France (Yam YZF-R1), 1:52.013
15. Matteo Baiocco (Duc Panigale R), 1:52.433
16. Roman Ramos, Spain (Kaw ZX-10R), 1:52.610
17. Josh Brookes, Australia (BMW S1000RR), 1:53.439
18. Sylvain Barrier, France (Kaw ZX-10R), 1:53.443
19. Karel Abraham, Czech Republic (BMW S1000RR), 1:53.952, crash
20. M. Lussiana, France (BMW S1000RR), 1:54.891
21. Dominic Schmitter, Switzerland (Kaw ZX-10R), 1:55.760
22. Saeed Al Sulaiti, Qatar (Kaw ZX-10R), 1:56.376
23. Josh Hook, Australia (Kaw ZX-10R), 1:57.107
24. Peter Sebestyen, Hungary (Yam YZF-R1), 1:57.174
25. Imre Toth, Hungary (Yam YZF-R1), 1:57.753
More, from a press release issued by Dorna WSBK Press Office:
WorldSBK: Sykes Fastest On Friday
Ducati’s Davies heads up the chasing pack
After a gloomier start to the day, the sun came out in Aragón to accompany the first WorldSBK practice session at MotorLand, with Aruba.it Racing – Ducati rider Chaz Davies taking top honours after the first hour on circuit. The Welshman has a fantastic record at the aragonese track and is only one point shy of Marco Melandri in being the most successful WorldSBK rider at MotorLand.
Tom Sykes took the top honours back for Kawasaki Racing Team in the afternoon with weather conditions still good, and a shootout for the quickest lap saw times start to tumble dramatically and the Kawasaki rider come out on top. He is the fastest man on Friday and goes into Tissot-Superpole as a favourite for Pole Position on Saturday.
After a morning session that saw him go second quickest, Honda rider Nicky Hayden suffered a fall in the second session but escaped unharmed to end the day in P7, and it was teammate Michael van der Mark who improved yet further to end the day in P3, just in front of Ducati rider Davide Giugliano.
IodaRacing Team’s Lorenzo Savadori put in an incredible lap on his Aprilia to complete the top 5, pushing reigning Champion Jonathan Rea back to P6. Leon Camier improved to P8 to cement MV Agusta within the top ten, and home rider Xavi Fores took his Barni Racing Team Ducati to P9, just ahead of Yamaha’s Alex Lowes.
Fores’ compatriot Jordi Torres ended the day in P12 on his BMW, meaning a margin of just over a second contained a representative of every manufacturer in an incredibly competitive field for WorldSBK in 2016.
Tissot-Superpole gets underway on Saturday at MotorLand Aragon at 10:30am local time (GMT +2), for the first pole position of the season on European soil to be decided. Get ahead of the curve on WorldSBK.com, on the Live Experience App and on Twitter @WorldSBK!
Rookie Lorenzo Savadori (Aprilia) ended the day in the top 5
Pirelli Aragon Round – Friday Results
1. Tom Sykes (GBR) Kawasaki Racing Team
2. Chaz Davies (GBR) Aruba.it Racing – Ducati +0.375
3. Michael van der Mark (NED) Honda World Superbike Team +0.625
More, from a press release issued by Aruba.it Racing Ducati:
Chaz Davies 2nd and Davide Giugliano 4th in the first day of practice in Aragon
The Aruba.it Racing – Ducati team enjoyed a positive start to its campaign in Aragon, home of the third round of the WorldSBK championship, which returned to Europe after the first two events overseas. In difficult weather conditions, with temperatures lower than 15 degrees and strong winds, both riders ended the first day of practice within the top five, qualifying directly for Superpole 2 (scheduled for 10:55 CET).
Chaz Davies, who took the first, historic victory of the Panigale R in WSBK in Aragon last year, competed constantly at the front, posting the best lap during FP1 and closing the day in second position, 0.375 seconds behind the provisional best lap posted by Tom Sykes with a 1:50.712. Davide Giugliano’s performance was characterized by a crescendo instead, with the Italian rider capable of taking more than two seconds off in between the two sessions, climbing the time sheets and posting the fourth best time (+0.638) at the end of FP2. Both riders confirmed the positive feedback regarding the latest technical upgrades tested earlier in the week in Valencia, especially the new Akrapovic exhaust.
Chaz Davies (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati #7) – 1:51.087 (2nd)
“I’m quite happy with today’s performance. The Panigale R was competitive right away after the tests, and we only made small adjustments to the setup. We just need to find a bit more grip. I like the new exhaust, apparently it gives us a bit more power, but we need to keep working on this area. Given the weather conditions, tyre choice will also play a pivotal role towards the races, so we’ll crunch all the data and then focus on pace.”
Davide Giugliano (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati #34) – 1:51.350 (4th)
“This morning we had a few issues, struggling with the overall handling of the bike, and the weather conditions weren’t exactly ideal as well. Together with the team, we managed to get progressively closer to the front in the afternoon, but we still have work to do, especially in terms of race pace. Still, we collected important data and we’ll go into detail to improve the setup and be ready for the race tomorrow.”
More, from a press release issued by Kawasaki Motors Europe:
Day One Sees Sykes Quickest And Rea Sixth At Motorland
Round three of the FIM Superbike World Championship started on track at Motorland Aragon today with Tom Sykes fastest in the qualifying ranking after two one-hour practice sessions. His is team-mate Jonathan Rea was sixth fastest on the all-new Ninja ZX-10R, after trying some new chassis set-ups.
Sykes took until eight minutes from the end of the second Friday session to go fastest and then improved his best time again, with a 1’50.712 proving to be 0.375 seconds better than the next nearest rider, Chaz Davies.
Tom’s sheer pace was higher than he had expected, especially in the windy conditions that were in evidence around the 5.077km circuit in the north east of Spain.
Rea tried out some new suspension and chassis adjustments, leading to gains in some areas and losses in some others. ’JR’ and his team will now work with both this new information and data from previous Motorland tests to find a final set-up for race one on Saturday.
With one last 15-minute free practice session to come before Superpole Rea will have time to confirm his final set-up direction before qualifying for grid positions and then racing for points in a quest to extend his championship lead.
This year, under the new regular European schedule, the WorldSBK track action was completed at 14.30 on Friday. Saturday will host the final short free practice session before the first of two final Superpole qualifying sessions begin.
In finishing first and sixth respectively, Tom and Jonathan have already qualified directly into Superpole 2, which begins at 10.55. Race one will take place on Saturday afternoon at 13.00 and race two at the same time on Sunday afternoon.
Tom Sykes stated: “I am happy enough after today and I quite surprised on the pure performances side as I still have some things I would like to improve with the set-up. In general, looking at our performance and potential consistency, I have to be happy. Even considering the windy conditions we were able to manage it quite well. Now my crew chief Marcel, all the boys in the team and I will aim to make the feel a bit more natural in a couple of corners. That is for tomorrow but at the end of day one, when we have to prepare for the races, we are heading in quite a good way.”
Jonathan Rea stated: “We have not quite got the final setting nailed yet and we tried some different things today in each session. To make improvements to the set-up of the new bike we have to try new things sometimes. I tried to make a long run in the afternoon but we did not have the time. We have some data from the fast times we did in testing here in November so we can compare our new data with that now. Tomorrow we will change the bike to a setting we know works and I will get into the rhythm of the bike in the final practice session.”
Roman Ramos (GoEleven Kawasaki) was 16th after Friday’s sessions. Sylvain Barrier (Pedercini Racing Kawasaki) placed 19th. Grillini Racing Kawasaki rider Dominic Schmitter was 21st; Saeed Al Sulaiti (Pedercini Racing Kawasaki) 22nd and returning rider Josh Hook (Grillini Racing Kawasaki) was 23rd after one day on track.
More, from a press release issued by Althea Racing BMW:
The Althea BMW Racing Team makes a positive start at Aragón
Alcaniz (Spain), Friday 1 April 2016 – The Althea BMW Racing Team is at Motorland Aragón in Spain for round three of the Superbike World Championship, with the weekend’s action also incorporating the first Superstock 1000 FIM Cup event.
On track today with its two SBK riders, Jordi Torres and Markus Reiterberger, and its Superstock 1000 representative, Raffaele De Rosa, the Althea BMW squad made the most of the practice sessions to work on the set-up of its BMW S 1000 RR bikes in preparation for the races taking place on Saturday and Sunday.
In the two Superbike timed practices, which took place in cool but dry conditions, Torres and Reiterberger worked hard with their technicians. At ease on his ‘home’ track, Jordi continued to make progress throughout the day, recording a best of 1’51.728 in the afternoon session and thus qualifying for Superpole 1, in twelfth position. While Reiti used the first session to adapt both himself and the bike to the Spanish track, he made a big step forward in the afternoon, improving on his best by 1.5 seconds to record a 1’51.735, just a few thousandths of a second from his team-mate, to close thirteenth. He too will participate in tomorrow morning’s Superpole 1.
The STK1000 riders were out on track this morning for their very first practice of the 2016 season. After a rather tough opening session, De Rosa made good progress during the afternoon practice, to conclude day one in seventh position with a best time of 1’53.875. He will be back on track tomorrow for official qualifying.
Markus Reiterberger:
“At first my feeling was not that good this morning as the temperature was so low but I improved towards the end of the session. In session two, we continued to make progress, step by step, and by mid-session I was feeling really good, with a new set of tyres I even moved into first place for a short time. The lap time was not so fast but I thought it would be enough to reach Superpole 2. I tried to improve on that time, but the bike was sliding around and I did not manage to do so. I’m disappointed because despite my good feeling, I wasn’t able to better my lap time, but we have ideas for tomorrow and will work together to improve.”
Jordi Torres:
“Today was difficult, as I wanted to do my best but did not achieve all that I’d expected to. This morning conditions were very windy, then in the afternoon we decided to make some changes to the bike, moving in a different direction in terms of set-up. Unfortunately, the result was not what we’d hoped for. So we need to analyse the data to understand which path to take tomorrow. I hope tomorrow is a positive day, in terms of both the race itself and also our understanding of the bike, so that we can continue to evolve throughout the season…”
More, from a press release issued by Honda:
Great start to Aragon weekend for the Honda WorldSBK Team
Round 3 – Aragon
MotorLand Aragón, Spain
The Honda WorldSBK Team has completed its first day at the third round of the 2016 FIM Superbike World Championship, which is currently underway at the MotorLand Aragón circuit in Spain. Both Michael van der Mark and Nicky Hayden successfully qualified to tomorrow’s Superpole 2, after claiming third and seventh, respectively, in the combined classification of today’s two free practice sessions.
The day started really well for the Dutch-based squad, with Hayden and van der Mark finishing the first session, which was held under cooler conditions, in second and third place. As the afternoon approached, conditions got significantly warmer, with track temperatures rising from 17°C to 40°C. This change necessitated a considerable amount of extra work on the setup of the Honda CBR1000RR Fireblade SP machines.
After testing some changes at the front of his bike, van der Mark was able to elevate himself to third place in the latter stages of free practice 2, logging a 1’51.337. Following a small crash at turn 14 in the early minutes of the session, Hayden and the team worked hard to make up for time lost and were able to salvage a seventh place finish on a final attempt before the chequered flag.
The team will have 15 more minutes of free practice tomorrow morning before Superpole 2 and race 1, scheduled at 10:55 and 13:00 local time (GMT+2), respectively.
Michael van der Mark 60
3rd / 1’51.337
Third place is a great result for today, especially because my feeling at the front was not perfect. We still have some work ahead of us in order to be ready for the race, but we know what areas need our attention and the bike is proving to be really competitive here. We made a big improvement this afternoon and we were able to be both fast and consistent, which is good news. Our gap to Tom Sykes is still a bit bigger than I’d have hoped but we’re improving in the right direction.
Nicky Hayden 69
7th / 1’51.545
This morning we missed some minutes at the beginning of the session. It was quite cold and windy, the same for everybody else of course, but it took me a little bit more time to find the limit. We had a small crash at the beginning of the afternoon session, which meant that we lost some track time, but the team did a great job in getting the bike fixed. I was able eventually to get back out and do enough to advance to Superpole 2, so let’s see what tomorrow brings.
Pieter Breddels
Technical Manager
Our morning performance showed that we now have a base setting for the bike that can work quite well on very different type of tracks. In the afternoon many of our rivals were able to get up to speed but eventually Michael was able to stay in the top 3, which is a great news. We tried some new settings at the front, which did not work out exactly the way we wanted, and in the end we didn’t have enough time to put the previous setup back. Nicky had a small crash that cost us some time, but overall he’s quite happy with a bike. We know what we need to do so we are confident for tomorrow.
More, from a press release issued by Yamaha Racing:
Challenges but Potential for Pata Yamaha at Aragón
A bright but exceptionally cold Motorland Aragón greeted the Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team this morning as Alex Lowes and Sylvain Guintoli took to the track for the Pirelli Aragón Round’s opening day of practice. Securing 10th in the combined times, Lowes heads in to Saturday morning’s FP3 comfortable with his direct qualification into Superpole 2 while teammate Guintoli will battle for position in the earlier Superpole 1 session after missing his chance to set a fast lap and closing the day in 14th.
Lowes used Friday morning to evaluate electronic updates and engine control settings to his YZF-R1. Steadily progressing through the one hour session, the British rider concluded his first free practice holding the fifth fastest time – a 1’52.378 – despite the low circuit temperatures (Air 10°C Track 17°C) and content with the continued development. The afternoon saw him continue the progress made before a crash at turn 8 at the end of the session cut his prospective P3 lap short. His earlier time of 1’51.639 was still enough to secure his promotion into Superpole 2 – at 10:55 local time tomorrow – and the fight for the grid’s front four rows before the afternoon’s 18 lap contest.
Quickly up to speed with his Yamaha from early in the session, Guintoli completed the morning’s practice in seventh with a 1’52.622. The afternoon allowed the Frenchman to continue his evaluations, as he worked on chassis settings and tyre-life. With the session cut-short, the potential fast lap was not to materialise and Guintoli will have to take his place in Saturday’s Superpole 1 – on track at 10:30 local time – hoping to advance to the fight for pole, while the action really heats up for the weekend’s first WorldSBK race at 13:00.
Alex Lowes
“A challenging day but we have worked through a lot of items in the two hours on track and there is more to come tomorrow. It’s a shame that the small crash put paid to what could have been a good lap, but these things happen. The team are working hard to evaluate the data gained from today’s progress, so we will keep working as we have been and look forward to pushing hard in the first race tomorrow afternoon.”
Sylvain Guintoli
“The only thing missing from today was the fast lap at the end on the soft tyre. We decided to concentrate this afternoon on testing the tyres for the race and unfortunately at the end we ran out of time to set a lap. We have worked well with the engine brake strategy and a lot more with the chassis, because it seems tyre-wear could be an issue here, so we need to be as efficient as we can for the race. Unfortunately we worked less on outright pace, that was a bit of a risk and we got caught out so we have work to do. Tonight and tomorrow morning we will try to improve our rhythm and work hard to get through Superpole 1.”