eni FIM Superbike World Championship
Portimao, Portugal
July 5, 2014
Qualifying Results (all on Pirelli tires):
From Superpole Knockout Session One (top two advance to Superpole Knockout Session Two):
1. David SALOM, Spain (Kawasaki ZX-10R), EVO, 1:43.983
2. Sylvain BARRIER, France (BMW S1000RR), EVO, 1:44.005
3. Ayrton BADOVINI, Italy (Bimota BB3), EVO, 1:44.472
4. Niccolo CANEPA, Italy (Ducati 1199 Panigale R), EVO, 1:44.590
5. Christian IDDON, UK (Bimota BB3), EVO, 1:44.971
6. Sheridan MORAIS, South Africa (Kawasaki ZX-10R), EVO, 1:45.198
7. Bryan STARING, Australia (Kawasaki ZX-10R), EVO, 1:45.543
8. Alessandro ANDREOZZI, Italy (Kawasaki ZX-10R), EVO, 1:45.805
9. Toni ELIAS, Spain (Aprilia RSV4 Factory), mechanical problem, no time recorded
10. Claudio CORTI, Italy (MV Agusta F4 RR), crash, no time recorded
From Superpole Knockout Session Two:
1. Tom SYKES, UK (Kawasaki ZX-10R), 1:42.484
2. Jonathan REA, UK (Honda CBR1000RR), 1:42.765
3. Chaz DAVIES, UK (Ducati 1199 Panigale R), 1:42.924
4. Marco MELANDRI, Italy (Aprilia RSV4 Factory), 1:43.038
5. Loris BAZ, France (Kawasaki ZX-10R), 1:43.048
6. Sylvain GUINTOLI, France (Aprilia RSV4 Factory), 1:43.076
7. Eugene LAVERTY, Ireland (Suzuki GSX-R1000), 1:43.245
8. Davide GIUGLIANO, Italy (Ducati 1199 Panigale R), 1:43.317
9. Leon HASLAM, UK (Honda CBR1000RR), 1:43.475
10. Sylvain BARRIER, France (BMW S1000RR), EVO, 1:43.754
11. Alex LOWES, UK (Suzuki GSX-R1000), 1:43.840, crash
12. David SALOM, Spain (Kawasaki ZX-10R), EVO, 1:44.361
Combined Qualifying Results:
1. Tom SYKES, UK (Kawasaki ZX-10R), 1:42.484
2. Jonathan REA, UK (Honda CBR1000RR), 1:42.765
3. Chaz DAVIES, UK (Ducati 1199 Panigale R), 1:42.924
4. Marco MELANDRI, Italy (Aprilia RSV4 Factory), 1:43.038
5. Loris BAZ, France (Kawasaki ZX-10R), 1:43.048
6. Sylvain GUINTOLI, France (Aprilia RSV4 Factory), 1:43.076
7. Eugene LAVERTY, Ireland (Suzuki GSX-R1000), 1:43.245
8. Davide GIUGLIANO, Italy (Ducati 1199 Panigale R), 1:43.317
9. Leon HASLAM, UK (Honda CBR1000RR), 1:43.475
10. Sylvain BARRIER, France (BMW S1000RR), EVO, 1:43.754
11. Alex LOWES, UK (Suzuki GSX-R1000), 1:43.840
12. David SALOM, Spain (Kawasaki ZX-10R), EVO, 1:44.361
13. Ayrton BADOVINI, Italy (Bimota BB3), EVO, 1:44.472
14. Niccolo CANEPA, Italy (Ducati 1199 Panigale R), EVO, 1:44.590
15. Christian IDDON, UK (Bimota BB3), EVO, 1:44.971
16. Sheridan MORAIS, South Africa (Kawasaki ZX-10R), EVO, 1:45.198
17. Bryan STARING, Australia (Kawasaki ZX-10R), EVO, 1:45.543
18. Alessandro ANDREOZZI, Italy (Kawasaki ZX-10R), EVO, 1:45.805
19. Claudio CORTI, Italy (MV Agusta F4 RR), no time recorded in Superpole
20. Toni ELIAS, Spain (Aprilia RSV4 Factory), no time recorded in Superpole
21. Riccardo RUSSO, (Kawasaki ZX-10R), EVO, 1:45.298
22. Jeremy GUARNONI, France (Kawasaki ZX-10R), EVO, 1:45.342
23. Fabien FORET, France (Kawasaki ZX-10R), EVO, 1:45.405
24. Geoff MAY, USA (EBR 1190RX), 1:46.971
25. Gabor Rizmayer, Hungary (BMW S1000RR), 1:48.250
26. Aaron Yates, USA (EBR 1190RX), 1:48.468
27. Peter SEBESTYEN, Hungary (BMW S1000RR), EVO, 1:48.734
More, from a press release issued by WSBK Dorna Press Office:
Portuguese Tissot-Superpole goes to Sykes
Portimao (Portugal), Saturday 5 July 2014 –Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team) will start the 8thround’s two World Superbike races from the front of the grid after winning this afternoon’s Tissot-Superpole at a very hot and sunny Portimao circuit, his third in a row at the Portuguese track and 22nd Pole Position so far in his WSBK career.
A thrilling Superpole 1 saw David Salom (Kawasaki Racing Team) and Sylvain Barrier (BMW Motorrad Italia Superbike Team) progress to join the already seeded top ten from the combined free practice sessions with the 12 riders then doing battle for the final 15 minute grid deciding shoot-out.
The opening session wasn’t without incident as after 4 minutes the red flags came out as the marshals tended to Claudio Corti (MV Agusta Reparto Corse) who had fell on the rollercoaster section of the circuit. He was taken to the medical centre for further checks. Toni Elias (Red Devils Roma Aprilia) also failed to record a time as his Aprilia developed a technical problem on his out lap.
In the final 15 minute Superpole 2, the times at the top changed almost every time a rider recorded a time but at the flag and with less than a second covering the top 9, Sykes emerged as the fastest, ahead of Jonathan Rea (Pata Honda World Superbike Team) and Chaz Davies (Ducati Superbike Team), who will join him on row one tomorrow.
Row two will see Marco Melandri (Aprilia Racing Team), Loris Baz (Kawasaki Racing Team) and other factory Aprilia rider Sylvain Guintoli, who recovered from a high speed FP4 crash to claim 6th.
In the battle of the EVO riders, Sylvain Barrier will start 10th and David Salom 12th.
Alex Lowes (Voltcom Crescent Suzuki) crashed in the final minute of the session and will therefore start 11th tomorrow.Times: 1. Sykes (Kawasaki) 1’42.484 average 161.305 kph; 2. Rea (Honda) 1’42.765; 3. Davies (Ducati) 1’42.924; 4. Melandri (Aprilia) 1’43.038; 5. Baz (Kawasaki) 1’43.048; 6. Guintoli (Aprilia) 1’43.076; 7. Laverty (Suzuki) 1’43.245; 8. Giugliano (Ducati) 1’43.317; 9. Haslam (Honda) 1’43.475; 10. Barrier (BMW) 1’43.754; 11. Lowes (Suzuki) 1’43.840; 12. Salom (Kawasaki) 1’44.361; 13. Badovini (Bimota); 14. Canepa (Ducati); 15. Iddon (Bimota); 16. Morais (Kawasaki); 17. Staring (Kawasaki); 18. Andreozzi (Kawasaki); 19. Corti (MV Agusta) ; 20. Elias (Aprilia)
More, from a press release issued by Aprilia:
SECOND ROW FOR THE APRILIA RSV4s AT PORTIMÃO AFTER AN INCREDIBLY CLOSE SUPERPOLE.
MARCO MELANDRI, FOURTH, AND SYLVAIN GUINTOLI, SIXTH, ARE READY FOR TWO RACES WHICH PROMISE TO BE EXTREMELY EVENLY MATCHED.
Portimão, 5 July 2014 – The practice sessions and foretold what was to come: Superbike at Portimão will be come down to hundredths of seconds. With minimal gaps between the top 10 finishers, the battle for Superpole was extremely tight. The Aprilia riders took on the decisive session in two different states of mind. Marco Melandri had been fast in all the sessions, whereas Sylvain Guintoli was forced to skip the last free practice session due to a crash (without consequences despite the high speed) on the last turn.
In spite of a less then optimum feeling with the qualifier tyre, Melandri put to good use what he had learned from yesterday’s tests and rode his RSV4 to within a shout of the front row (114 thousandths of a second). Fourth place on the grid is a good starting place and if the races go as expected we will see a compact group in the first phase, whereas the difference will be seen in the last laps. This is a situation that Marco has tried to prepare for as best he can with targeted testing on tyre life and a setting that will allow him to be consistently fast.
Marco Melandri: “I knew it would be a close Superpole. On this track it is very hard to stand out and a lot of riders showed their potential to be fast. I think we’ll see a tight group tomorrow for the first ten laps and then we’ll begin to see who did the best work on race pace. From that point of view starting from the fourth spot on the grid is not bad. I would have preferred the front row but I know that I’ve worked well on my pace. It isn’t very easy to overtake on this track. The best place is on the final straight stretch as long as you come out of the last turn well. In any case we will be in the thick of it”.
Crashing in FP4, Sylvain Guintoli had to deal with the strong wind that is a particular problem for him. It won’t be a problem in the race but when the French rider was pushing the bike to the limit, as is typical in Superpole, he lost a bit of accuracy because of the strong gusts on the Portimão circuit. His session ended with the sixth spot on the grid, a position that doesn’t worry Sylvain as he is confident that he’ll be able to improve throughout the race.
Sylvain Guintoli: “Unfortunately, as has happened during other weekends, the strong wind gave me some problems. It isn’t a problem that will affect me during the race where pace is the priority, but when pushing the bike to the limit on a qualifier tyre I’m unable to be as accurate as I need to be to follow my ideal line. I have been really fast in practice recently and then I’ve struggled in the races, so I hope this is where that trend will be reversed! Now we need to carefully analyse the data and try some things during tomorrow morning’s warm up sessions. If we are able to improve we will be able to shoot for a good result”.
More, from a press release issued by Team Hero EBR:
Team Hero EBR Show Improved Portuguese Pace
After the challenging opening day at Portimao, on Portugal’s Algarve coast Team Hero EBR riders Geoff May and Aaron Yates both improved substantially in this morning’s Free Practice 3 to ensure their participation on the grid for tomorrow’s 8th round of the World Superbike Championship.
Qualifying in 24th and 26th respectively both riders are in positive mood as the continued development and enhancements with their EBR1190RX machines continues.
For Geoff, this morning’s session was the first real opportunity for him to ride the improved engine, and after only managing a few exploratory laps in FP2 yesterday was visibly pleased with the huge steps forward.
Aaron was equally buoyant after he too improved considerably, albeit using the previous engine configuration.
Tomorrow’s races will be tough but with things clearly now moving in the right direction, the mood within the garage and the outlook on the second half of the season is certainly brighter.
Geoff May – “This morning is by far the best session of the year. We are only 3.8s from the fastest guy after 29 laps for the whole weekend, so it’s a bit like a win to be honest. The new engine is showing promise and I am really excited for the rest of the season now. I am expecting good things at Laguna based on today.”
Aaron Yates – “FP3 went well and we are heading in the right direction. I put a new tyre in at the end of the session and made some set-up changes but that was the wrong way. We have a few other things to try before the races like optimising the gearing but we hope to have the bike as good as we can for the races.”
More, from a press release issued by Pata Honda:
Front row for Rea in Portugal
Pata Honda’s Jonathan Rea will start tomorrow’s two eighth-round World Superbike Championship races from the front row of the grid after setting the second-fastest time in this afternoon’s Superpole qualifying session at the Autodromo Internacional Algarve in Portugal.
After topping the combined free practice timing sheets this morning, Rea, 27, took his Honda CBR1000RR Fireblade SP into Superpole in confident mood to lap the 4.593km Portimao circuit in a time of 1m42.765s, 0.2s behind the pole position time of Tom Sykes.
Rea’s Pata Honda team-mate, Leon Haslam, was also in a positive frame-of-mind heading into Superpole after showing good speed in both today’s free practice sessions. The 31-year-old was just 0.1s from Rea’s fastest time in FP3 when the top ten riders were separated by just three tenths of a second.
As Superpole 2 began, Haslam set the third-fastest time on his initial run on race rubber, but was unable to significantly improve his time on the qualifying tyre and he will start tomorrow’s two 20-lap races from the third row of the grid in ninth place.
Jonathan Rea – P2
It was really windy for qualifying this afternoon and we made quite a big change to the set-up on the rear of the bike for Superpole after we’d compared data with Leon. It looked like he had a little bit more grip and it’s really good that he’s also on a good pace here this weekend because we can share data much better and I’m also learning some things from him. We’ve made a lot of progress here compared to the last few races and I’m really enjoying riding my bike here. We’ve gone back to basics, to something we know, and it’s good to come to Portimao where we have a lot of data. I’m really excited about tomorrow’s races. We’ve done a lot of laps on old tyres so we’ll have to wait and see if all that hard work will pay off.
Leon Haslam – P9
Obviously I’m disappointed because I was P3 on the race tyre and I felt pretty confident that we could make another step with the qualifying tyre. On the first lap I had a small problem so I cruised to try and get some more life from the tyre. I had another problem going into turn five on the second lap and my best time ended up being on lap three when the tyre was finished. It’s kind of frustrating because we’ve definitely been in the ball park to get back to the front boys there. But I’m feeling really good on the race tyre, we’ve done some good race runs so I’m looking forward to the two races tomorrow.
Pieter Breddels – technical co-ordinator
It’s been quite an exciting day and this morning we made quite a good breakthrough with Jonathan’s electronics settings. He immediately went quick on used tyres and the feeling was back. In the afternoon for FP4 we tried a few settings changes which didn’t really work so we went back to the morning set-up. He took second place on the grid which is a good place to start. He normally goes quite well here so I expect him to be in the fight for podium finishes tomorrow. Leon has been going extremely well this weekend and his pace is also good on used tyres. However, with the qualifier in Superpole, he got ninth on the grid but, just before putting in the qualifier, he was third fastest on the race tyre. That was a bit of a shame but everything is looking good for tomorrow and I think he can fight near the front which will be go od for him and the whole team.
More, from a press release issued by Voltcom Crescent Suzuki:
Podium race pace but difficult qualifying for Voltcom Crescent Suzuki at Portimao
Voltcom Crescent Suzuki is looking forward to the two eni FIM Superbike World Championship races at the Portimao circuit in Portugal tomorrow after a promising second day at the track saw both racers on the pace despite a challenging Superpole.
Eugene Laverty will start from seventh on the grid for Sunday’s races after a successful day had seen him running second and fourth in the earlier free practice sessions. Consistently within the top four times throughout the two-days at the Portuguese circuit so-far, the Irishman is encouraged by his Yoshimura-powered machine and firmly believes he has the capacity to challenge under race conditions tomorrow.
A high-speed crash at the end of his first flying lap of Superpole on qualifying tyres sees Alex Lowes reside in 11th, despite a promising pace which looked to have seen him on the second row. Largely unharmed from the off, the Englishman remains positive of his Suzuki GSX-R’s potential ahead of tomorrow’s battle, with less than 0.3 of a second separating the top 10 in the morning practice.
The warm conditions continued at the Autodromo do Algarve with track temperatures reaching 49°C for the afternoon’s Superpole while a strong wind kept the circuit a fresh 27°C for the visiting fans. Pole position was claimed by Kawasaki’s Tom Sykes, with Sylvain Barrier leading the Evo class’ times.
In a change to the standard European schedule, Voltcom Crescent Suzuki’s first race will commence at 12:00BST tomorrow with the second instalment following at 15:00BST.
Eugene Laverty:
“It’s a disappointing qualifying as I have been inside the top four in every session this weekend. I have always been aiming for the first two rows and I thought that would be a minimum today and we are seventh. The bike has been good in practice, we had our struggles over one lap which has often been the case this year, but the bike is fantastic from mid-distance on, so if I can get in the mix early I know I will be strong towards the end!”
Alex Lowes:
“Obviously I’m unhappy with the crash today; the GSX-R had a lot of potential and we have made some good progress this weekend. I really enjoy the Portimao circuit so I’m looking forward to regrouping this evening, getting down to work and coming back fighting for tomorrow’s races.”
Paul Denning – Team Manager:
“We have had another very positive day here at Portimao right up until Superpole started! At this point the bikes are still in parc ferme and we have yet to download the data but it appears that for both riders the engine braking character was different in that session than earlier in the day. We don’t know if that is connected with track temperature or the fact that the wind got up a lot, but either way the bike was tough to ride to make the lap time that we needed.
“The positives are that even with the problems, Eugene is seventh, and is only a couple of tenths off the front row, so even with the issues we’ve shown good potential and good speed. Alex got caught out on the fastest corner of the track and went down on his first timed lap on the qualifier when on front row pace which was a pity. It was a very fast accident so the biggest positive we can take from that is that he is essentially uninjured, apart from a few bumps and scrapes, and in a positive frame-of-mind for the races tomorrow.”
More, from a press release issued by Kawasaki:
Sykes Wins Superpole Number 22
Tom Sykes took his official Kawasaki Racing Team Ninja ZX-10R to his third pole of the year and in the process lifted his career total of Superpole wins to 22, making him the third best ever pole setter in this class, in his own right.
With Sykes on pole his team-mate Loris Baz (Kawasaki Racing Team) continued his good 2014 form to go fifth and take a valuable second row starting position for Sunday’s 20-lap Superbike races.
David Salom (Kawasaki Racing Team SBK Evo) was the first rider in the Superpole one contest, before heading into Superpole two to join Sykes, Baz and the other top ten qualifiers. David ended up 12th on the grid and on the same fourth row of the grid as the only other Evo rider to make it into Superpole 2.
The circuit conditions at Portimao – with wind, some bumps and a track surface that has not yet delivered the same levels of grip as in previous years – ensured that Sykes’ existing track best would survive Superpole.
Sykes was still 0.281 seconds ahead of his nearest rival after working hard with his team to improve the qualifying and race settings on his Ninja ZX-10R. This was Sykes’ third straight Superpole win at Portimao, following his successes in 2012 and 2013.
For Baz some final fine tuning will be done in the pre-race Superpole session on Sunday morning, but he is already showing good pace after some incredibly close qualifying sessions at the 4.592km Portuguese circuit. In the combined qualifying times less than 0.2 seconds covered the top eight riders before the final free session and then Superpole got underway.
Tom Sykes: “The Ninja ZX-10R is working well after we started quite steadily this weekend. We made some small changes to the bike every session and now I feel more comfortable on it. On the race tyre I was able to feel more comfortable and in Superpole, with the qualifying tyre, I just made it to the apexes a little bit easier. The circuit is missing a little bit of grip and of course the high winds are not helping, especially on the final section, but it is costing everybody some time. I am happy, especially after the changes we made today. I feel more comfortable and confident for the races tomorrow but I expect two difficult races. There are a lot of riders who are capable of running at the front but we will do the best we can.”
Loris Baz: “Our pace is good but I am just missing a few tenths right now. We have improved a lot and we are not really far away but at this track it is very close. When you are two-tenths slower you can be seventh! I am have to say I am happy with qualifying because the second row is good for the race and to get on the front row was just too hard here. If you make a good start second row it is still good for the race. We will try to find our missing two or three tenths in warm up and I love this track, even if it is not the easiest one to ride. I am sure we can find something to make life easier over race distance, but overall our pace is good.”
David Salom: “It was not so bad today even thought I have some difficulties here with my hand injury. We will see how it goes in the races on Sunday but in Superpole one I made good progress with the qualifying tyre and went into Superpole two. In the second one I could not take the best from the qualifying tyre and finished 12th. But at the end we made into Superpole two, I am happy with the work of the team and we will follow the path we have planned into the races. We are happy.”
More, from a press release issued by Ducati Corse:
Davies and the Ducati Superbike Team qualify third for tomorrow’s SBK races at Portimao
Portimao (Portugal), Saturday 5 July 2014 – Chaz Davies and the Ducati Superbike Team are very pleased to have earned a place on the front row of the grid for tomorrow’s SBK races at Portimao. An impressive lap for the British rider in this afternoon’s Superpole means that he will line up in third position for the two races that make up Round 8 of the 2014 Superbike World Championship; his teammate Davide Giugliano has qualified eighth.
The third timed practice session took place this morning in warm and sunny conditions (air temperature 24°C, track 36°C). Davies and his technicians continued to proceed in the right direction today, with the rider able to improve by a full second on his best time set yesterday. Despite the fact that he continued to lose a couple of tenths through the final long turn, Davies closed in fifth position with a best time of 1’43.287, just over one tenth of a second from leader Rea. Giugliano, continuing to work on set-up with his squad, dropped his time by 1.5 seconds. The progress made during the session, that resulted in a best lap of 1’43.441, placed him tenth at the session’s end, though only three tenths of a second from Rea. Both Ducati Superbike riders therefore qualified directly for Superpole 2.
Superpole 2 – having completed two laps each on the race tyre, both Ducati Superbike men quickly returned to the track with the qualifying tyre. Davies immediately put in a solid 1’43.463 but still unsatisfied, and aware that he had made a couple of small mistakes during the lap, the British rider pushed to make a second lap on said qualifier, getting everything he could out of it and projecting himself into third position by setting an extremely fast lap time of 1’42.924. Thanks to this performance, Chaz earned himself a spot on the front row of tomorrow’s race grid, his first front row start of the season.
Giugliano was only able to complete one fast lap with the ‘Q’, with the resulting lap time – 1’43.317 – placing him eighth at the conclusion of the Superpole. The Italian rider will therefore start on the third row of tomorrow’s race grid.
Quotes after the day’s sessions:
Chaz Davies (Ducati Superbike Team #7) – 3rd (1’42.924)
“It’s been a strange day. We made a few changes and switched engines as we normally do on Saturday but in the free practice we had a few problems, after a good timed practice earlier in the morning. Anyway, we improved a lot for qualifying. On the first lap with the qualifier, I made a little mistake here and there and got caught out a bit by the wind, but then I was able to do a solid second lap, which I hoped would be good enough for a second row start. It actually puts me on the front row so I’m really pleased with that. Overall I think we’re starting to see the fruits of Ducati’s labour, the updates mean we’re starting to see improvement. As far as the races are concerned, it’s meant to be a little cooler tomorrow which might help and then I just need to get off the line well and see what I can do.”
Davide Giugliano (Ducati Superbike Team #34) – 8th (1’43.317)
“We’ve made many changes during today’s sessions and although we’ve seen a definite improvement, it’s still not enough to be able to fight for the front positions. We’ve struggled a bit to be honest; we did our best in the Superpole but today out best was eighth. I tried to make a second lap with the qualifying tyre but it was no good, the rear tyre was pushing hard on the front and the bike wheelied a lot, which penalizes us on an undulating track like Portimao. I can only do better tomorrow…”
More, from a press release issued by Alstare Bimota:
CLOSE, BUT NOT CLOSE ENOUGH
Having qualified comfortably for Superpole 1 today, Team Bimota Alstare riders Ayrton Badovini and Christian Iddon missed out on getting into Superpole 2 by the narrowest of margins. During Superpole 1, both were in contention until the final moments of the fifteen-minute session. Ayrton then suffered lack of rear grip with his qualifying tyre and finished one place adrift of entering Superpole 2. Christian was also on course to get into Superpole 2, but lost time in the first two sectors on his qualifying tyre and slipped down the order to finish fifth in the session. Both riders will start tomorrow’s pair of 20-lap races from the fifth row of the grid but their race pace is good, so they hope to be battling for good results and ending the top EVO bike.
Ayrton Badovini – 3rd EVO, 1:44.472
“The day started well enough, but I am not happy because when I used the qualifying tyre in Superpole, I didn’t find any good rear grip. Because of that, I was unable to push any harder. That was a little frustrating because we were so close to qualifying for Superpole 2. As they say, close, but not close enough.
The bike behaves differently on qualifying tyres and that’s why we have this kind of a problem in Superpole. However, my race pace is normally good and I think I can get some good results tomorrow – especially if I get good starts.”
Christian Iddon – 5th EVO, 1:44.971
“Today was actually quite a productive day because we tried a few different things and certainly made a step in the right direction in the morning. This afternoon’s free practice was interesting because the bike felt different to what the data was telling us, so that gives us something to think about.
I was disappointed with myself in Superpole because I don’t think I really made the best use of the Qualifying tyre. At one stage, I was up on my first two sectors, but then lost time in the last sector and that was the difference between getting into Superpole 2 or not. I think that my bike behaves differently on qualifying tyres to race rubber. It’s a bit of a nuisance to have to set the bike up for a Q tyre, just to get a good grid position, and then set the bike up again for the races.”