eni FIM Superbike World Championship

Algarve International Circuit

Portimao, Portugal

June 5, 2015

Free Practice Two Results (all on Pirelli tires):

1. Davide GIUGLIANO, Italy (Ducati Panigale R), 1:43.323

2. Jonathan REA, UK (Kawasaki ZX-10R), 1:43.381

3. Tom SYKES, UK (Kawasaki ZX-10R), 1:43.596

4. Chaz DAVIES, UK (Ducati Panigale R), 1:43.776

5. Ayrton BADOVINI, Italy (BMW S1000RR), 1:43.819, crash

6. Alex LOWES, UK (Suzuki GSX-R1000), 1:43.942

7. Sylvain GUINTOLI, France (Honda CBR1000RR SP), 1:44.118

8. Leon HASLAM, UK (Aprilia RSV4 RF), 1:44.134

9. Jordi TORRES, Spain (Aprilia RSV4 RF), 1:44.240

10. Matteo BAIOCCO, Italy (Ducati Panigale R), 1:44.270

11. Michael VD MARK, Netherlands (Honda CBR1000RR SP), 1:44.388

12. Leandro MERCADO, Argentina (Ducati Panigale R), 1:44.418

13. David SALOM, Spain (Kawasaki ZX-10R), 1:44.499

14. Leon CAMIER, UK (MV Agusta F4), 1:44.836

15. Roman RAMOS, Spain (Kawasaki ZX-10R), 1:45.096

16. Christophe PONSSON, France (Kawasaki ZX-10R), 1:45.224

17. Niccolo CANEPA, Italy (Kawasaki ZX-10R), 1:45.892

18. Nico TEROL, Spain (Ducati Panigale R), 1:46.633

19. Randy DE PUNIET, France (Suzuki GSX-R1000), 1:46.966

20. Santiago BARRAGÁN, Spain (Kawasaki ZX-10R), 1:47.148

21. Gabor RIZMAYER, Hungary (BMW S1000RR), 1:48.184

22. Imre TOTH, Hungary (BMW S1000RR), 1:49.235

More, from a press release issued by Dorna WSBK Press Office:

Giugliano the man to beat on opening day at Portimao

Kawasaki and Ducati lock out the top four of WorldSBK after Free Practice 2.

Davide Giugliano (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati Superbike Team) moved to the top of the WorldSBK times after the opening day of on track action at Portimao’s Autodromo Internacional do Algarve and will head into FP3 tomorrow as the man to beat, courtesy of his 1.43.323s lap set during the final five minutes of this afternoon’s second Free Practice session.

Behind Giugliano, Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team), who leads the overall championship standings by 101 points, also improved despite missing out on the fastest time of the day by 0.058s.

Winner of both races last time out Tom Sykes put the second factory Kawasaki into 3rd overall, almost three tenths behind the leader as the top-12 riders were split by a second.

Chaz Davies (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati Superbike Team) made it two Kawasaki and two Ducati riders in the top-4 with Ayrton Badovini (BMW Motorrad Italia) and Alex Lowes (Voltcom Crescent Suzuki) 5th and 6th. The Italian improved by one position from to FP1 despite an early crash, which cost him half an hour track-time.

Sylvain Guintoli (Pata Honda World Superbike Team) continued to improve to head into tomorrow’s decisive FP3 in 7th ahead of the Aprilia Racing Team – Red Devils machine of Leon Haslam and the Pata Honda of Sylvain Guintoli completing the top eight. Jordi Torres (Aprilia Racing – Red Devils) was 9th ahead of Matteo Baiocco (Althea Racing Ducati).

The other riders inside the top 15 and looking to make it into Superpole 2 automatically tomorrow are: Michael van der Mark (Pata Honda World Superbike Team), Leandro Mercado (Barni Racing), David Salom (Team Pedercini Kawasaki), Leon Camier (MV Agusta Reparto Corse) and Roman Ramos (Team Go Eleven Kawasaki).

Davide Giugliano – Aruba.it Racing – Ducati Superbike Team – 1st

Facebook: Davide-Giugliano Twitter: @DavideGiugliano Instagram: DavideGiugliano34

“We worked hard during the two sessions to improve the feeling, which we did. This is only the first day. I am confident ahead of tomorrow’s Superpole and we are hopeful to have the pace in the two races on Sunday.”

Jonathan Rea – Kawasaki Racing Team – 2nd

Facebook: JonathanReaOfficial Twitter: @jonathanrea Instagram: @jonathan_rea

“Another good day for us. Everyone in the team is working well and we were able to find a good setting almost immediately. Despite today being all about Kawasaki and Ducati, we cannot lose sight of our nearest rival in the points Leon Haslam. For sure he is nursing an injury but he is a fighter and he’ll be up there on Sunday.”

Tom Sykes – Kawasaki Racing Team – 3rd

Facebook: Tom-Sykes-66 Twitter: TheRealTomSykes

“I have arrived here full of confidence and it would be great to repeat what we achieved at Donington Park. The circuit this year is bumpier which I think explains why the times are not maybe as quick as we expected. It’s only Friday so we must keep working to put ourselves in the best position.”

Alex Lowes – Voltcom Crescent Suzuki – 6th

Facebook: AlexLowes22Official Twitter: @alexlowes22 Instagram: @alexlowes22

“We made a big step forward with the bike at Donington and we have started the weekend here with the same set-up. I knew we could be quick but a third place on the opening day was a bit of a surprise. Nevertheless we showed this afternoon that we have the pace to run within the top-6, which gives me confidence for the rest of the weeekend.”

Sylvain Guintoli – Pata Honda World Superbike – 7th

Facebook: SylvainGuintoliOfficialPage Twitter: SylvainGuintoli Instagram: SylvainGuintoli

“It’s been a more positive weekend so far. Everybody knows the level we have been at but we found some things in the last race and they seem to be working here. Of course after the highs of last year it has been a tough start to the season but everyone is working, we will not give up and the goal is to put the Honda as close to the top step as possible before the end of the year.”

More, from a press release issued by Pata Honda:

Pata Honda positive after day one in Portugal

Pata Honda riders Sylvain Guintoli and Michael van der Mark finished in combined seventh and 11th places respectively after today’s two free practice sessions for round seven of the 2015 World Superbike championship at Portimao in Portugal.

The pace was set by Italian Davide Giugliano but Guintoli was pleased at the continuation of the positive progress taken from the last round at Donington Park. The 32-year-old Frenchman was 0.7s from Giugliano’s best time and is looking forward to further steps in tomorrow’s sessions.

After a difficult opening free practice this morning, Dutchman van der Mark was able to improve his lap time in spite of much higher track temperatures this afternoon.

He, too, is confident that adjustments to his Honda CBR1000RR Fireblade SP will allow him to qualify well for tomorrow afternoon’s Superpole sessions that will determine final grid positions for Sunday’s two 20-lap races at the 4.592km Autodromo Internacional do Algarve.

Sylvain Guintoli – P7, 1m44.118s

Today was probably one of the best Friday’s we’ve had since the start of the season and we’re closer to the front than we’ve been. I feel quite good even though we still have quite a big margin to improve tomorrow. We’ve had a few bad days over race weekends this season, but I feel like today we’ve had a good one, so that’s really nice!

Michael van der Mark – P11, 1m44.388s

This morning was really difficult – we had a lot of problems and I really didn’t have a good feeling on the bike. For this afternoon we made some really big changes and started with completely different setting and immediately I had a better feeling. We only changed some small things on the bike during the session and made some positive steps. There are still a lot of things we can improve, but least I have a good feeling now, which gives us a base setting to go into tomorrow’s sessions.

Pieter Breddels – technical co-ordinator

Michael was not happy with the setting this morning and he was uncomfortable with the way the bike handled. We tried to make some big steps to find a direction but couldn’t find the right way. This afternoon was much better – we concentrated on the priority points and made some improvements. He’s 11th but still only a few tenths from a top six position. Sylvain was quite quick from the start this morning and used only one tyre. We managed to make some more improvements this afternoon and, although there is still more work to do, it’s looking positive at the end of day one.

More, from a press release issued by Aprilia:

LEON HASLAM PLACES IN THE TOP 10 EVEN WITH JUST A FEW LAPS ON THE SHEETS

JORDI TORRES GAINS CONFIDENCE ON A COMPLEX TRACK AND FINISHES NINTH

Portimão, 5 June 2015 – The first two free practice sessions on the Portuguese weekend had both the Aprilia RSV4 RF bikes in the top ten. For the Aprilia Racing Red Devils riders this is the first step that needs to be improved in the decisive rounds Saturday.

Leon Haslam, still feeling the pain from his crash at Imola, had a technical problem in FP1 that hindered his work. So in FP2 the tough English rider gave it his all to make up for lost time, making some substantial changes to the setup on his RSV4 RF and finishing the combined standings in eighth place. In light of the events of the day, this is an encouraging position for Leon and his team.

There will basically be two goals tomorrow: getting in as many laps as possible in order to analyse the Aprilia’s performance over race distance, and continuing treatments in the Mobile Clinic to keep the pain to his ribs under control. This is to ensure that he is in the best possible conditions for the races on Sunday.?

Leon Haslam: “It wasn’t an easy day for us. We missed FP1 so I think I must be the rider who improved the most from one session to the next! We have a lot of work to do. On this track taking a lot of laps is important in order to find a good pace. We’ll try to do that tomorrow. My ribs have also been bothering me. I started without taking any medicine but then I worked with the Mobile Clinic to keep the pain under control. I must say that, even having lapped less than the others, the feeling was encouraging. We expect that Saturday will be just as demanding.”

Rookie Jordi Torres had to deal with one of the nicest but just as demanding tracks on the calendar. Portimão, where Jordi only had the chance to lap for one afternoon in the pre-season tests, has a lot of blind turns that demand maximum confidence from the rider. Today went well, with a final ninth place, so Torres and the team will be able to work in peace of mind, preparing for another step forward tomorrow. Two things are an indicator of this: the improvement of about 5 tenths of a second between the two sessions and the “ideal time” (calculated from the best sectors) which is 317 thousandths below the best performance the Spaniard put in.

Jordi Torres: “Despite having taken a few laps here during the tests, this is a difficult track to learn if you really want to go fast. There are a lot of turns without any visibility and you need to know them well to tackle them the right way. We are improving. We still can’t get the RSV4 to perform well on the tightest turns so we need to do some more work on the setup. I’m pleased to be in the top 10. It is a good position for me, but now I need to gain confidence because in this championship nobody lets up on the gas!”.

More, from a press release issued by Althea Racing:

Portimao (Portugal) 5 June 2015

The seventh round of the eni FIM Superbike World Championship got underway today for Team Althea Racing, with the Italian squad participating in the first day of qualifying at the Autodromo Internacional do Algarve.

A tough track, high temperatures that reached 54°C and a fitness level that is still not 100% created some problems for Nico Terol who is racing at this track for the first time this weekend. The Spaniard worked with his team to test some different set-up solutions for his Ducati 1199 Panigale R and will work in tomorrow’s qualifying to improve his times that today prevented him from doing better than eighteenth.

Matteo Baiocco also had a lot of work to do, closing the afternoon’s session in tenth place, less than a second from the leader. The Italian has further room for improvement and having used today’s sessions to find good feeling with the bike and the track, tomorrow Matteo will strive to complete a solid qualifying that will allow him to enter Superpole 2.

The riders over in the Superstock 1000 category concluded the sessions with a positive second place finish for Raffaele De Rosa; thirteenth place for Luca Salvadori.

Raffaele, consistently placed at the top of the timesheets in today’s sessions, will aim to score the fastest overall time tomorrow in order to start Sunday’s race from pole. The podiums he has already achieved are not enough and the Italian is aiming for the top step of the rostrum, in order to gain important points for the championship standings.

Luca Salvadori, a ‘rookie’ in this category, is improving race after race, and also here in Portugal he has been consistent during today’s opening sessions. Tomorrow he too will try to lower his lap times to see if he can close inside the top ten.

Tomorrow will begin with Superstock 1000 free practice at 9:00 (local time), followed by the final Superbike qualifying, which will establish entry to the Superpole.

More, from a press release issued by Aruba.it Racing Ducati:

Giugliano and the Aruba.it Racing – Ducati Superbike Team lead the way today at Portimao

Portimao (Portugal), Friday 5 June 2015 – The Aruba.it Racing – Ducati Superbike Team, on track this weekend at the Autodromo Internacional do Algarve in Portugal for the seventh round of the Superbike World Championship, have enjoyed a very positive first day, closing the first two timed practice sessions first (Davide Giugliano) and fourth (Chaz Davies).

In the morning’s first timed practice, which took place in hot and sunny conditions (air temperature 28°C, track 45°C), Giugliano, not yet 100% physically-speaking and also suffering from flu-like symptoms this weekend, nevertheless pushed hard from the outset, immediately moving into first place. Continuing to improve on his lap times, he closed the session in second position, thanks to a best of 1’44.218. Davies worked well with his technicians, making some changes that clearly took his Panigale R in the right direction, allowing the Welshman to conclude with the fourth fastest time (1’44.412).

On an even hotter track (54°C), the Ducati men were able to consolidate the positive results of the morning’s session in the second practice. For this event, Ducati has made some technical updates available to the riders that include a new exhaust system developed and produced by Akrapovic. Initial feedback has proved to be encouraging. Giugliano was able to lower his time by almost a second (1’43.323), to close in final first position, while Davies also improved on his best time set this morning, by seven tenths, to conclude fourth (1’43.776).

Quotes after the day’s sessions:

Davide Giugliano – (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati Superbike Team #34) – 1st (1’43.323)

“We’re working really well and have made some changes that have allowed us to be faster, not only on the flying lap but also with regard to race distance. I’ve tried the new exhaust, and it’s an important help especially in terms of the engine’s power curve, which is now more progressive, cleaner. But we’ve also made some changes that allow me to be more at ease on the bike. I’ve started to enjoy this track today. Despite having the flu and a high temperature, I’m having fun riding my Panigale and this is helping me to be fast.”

Chaz Davies (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati Superbike Team #7) – 4th (1’43.776)

“I’m not happy with the front of the bike to be honest and we need to make some steps to improve that tomorrow, possibly trying another tyre. I feel that I have to force too much to turn the bike and then this also compromises corner exit in certain places. I haven’t tried the exhaust yet but I tested other components that have given me certain advantages. Anyway, tomorrow will see us focus on working on the front of the bike, where I hope we’ll see some improvement.”

More, from a press release issued by Voltcom Crescent Suzuki:

Voltcom Crescent Suzuki starts strong at Portimao as WSBK celebrates World Environment Day

A strong opening performance on his Voltcom Crescent Suzuki saw Alex Lowes secure the sixth fastest time during Friday’s free practice at Portimao in Portugal today.

Setting his fastest lap of the morning on his final revolution, Lowes overcame early challenges to claim third in the times for the opening session, with a 1’44.394. Continuing a consistence pace aboard his Yoshimura-powered machine for the afternoon encounter, the British racer completed a tally of 29 laps of the 4,592m circuit, his 1’43.942 best placing him sixth in the combined times ahead of Saturday’s final timed-for-qualifying session.

Randy de Puniet took to the Portuguese track for the first time on his Suzuki GSX-R1000 in fine conditions – his only previous visit to the Algarve circuit having been hit by inclement weather during pre-season testing – completing 23 laps during Friday’s two sessions. His still unsolved engine brake strategy hampering his study of the new layout, de Puniet concluded the day’s practice in 19th.

An FIM Environmental Ambassador since 2012, the Frenchman led the way this evening as WSBK contributed to the annual celebrations of World Environment Day with a Championship-wide photograph, Ducati’s Davide Giugliano topping the times on track with a 1’43.323.

Lowes and de Puniet return to the ‘rollercoaster’ at 09:45BST tomorrow morning for the first of two free practice sessions. Superpole commences at 15:00BST.

Alex Lowes:

“A difficult day for us, we’re working hard, like every race but it is difficult to be quite as competitive as we want at the moment. I’m really enjoying the Portimao track and the team are working well, we just need to find a few settings to help make my job a bit easier tomorrow and to move forward across the weekend. It was a good day, but we’re not quite there yet!”

Randy de Puniet:

“It has been a difficult first day with a small crash this morning. I struggled with engine brake to stop the bike and in all the small corners I have no confidence in the front. We were working on that this afternoon but we have yet to find the best solution. I’m still hoping to improve tomorrow.

“I have been an Ambassador for the FIM Environmental project for the past three years and it is great to see the Championship coming together to support the message.”

Paul Denning – Team Manager:

“It is always nice to come to Portimao it’s a stunning race track, but an extremely challenging one for the riders and to get the bike working well. We obviously made big steps forward in Donington with the new electronics system but Portimao has thrown up one or two additional problems in terms of getting the settings right and making the bike a bit calmer and easier to ride on this undulating track. Alex has done extremely well to go third quickest in the first session and sixth overall, especially when we consider that there have been some fairly big issues today that we need to improve for tomorrow.

“Randy’s had another tough day struggling with front feeling and the character of the engine brake so all we can do is keep trying to find solutions to help him move forward.”

More, from a press release issued by Pirelli:

Pirelli on the ‘ups and downs’ of Portimão for the event which marks the halfway point of the eni FIM Superbike World Championship and official mid-season tests

For the seventh round of the Championship the Italian tire company seeks confirmation in Superbike with development solutions already used in previous rounds, while introducing three new options in Supersport, (one front and two rears)

On the Monday after the races the second official test of the season, where Pirelli development teams will try some new tire solutions

Portimão (Portugal), June 5, 2015 – The eni FIM Superbike World Championship arrives at the halfway point of the season with the seventh round that will take place starting from tomorrow at the Autódromo Internacional do Algarve in Portimão, Portugal, which hosts the Championship for the eighth consecutive year.

Pirelli supplies for the premier class solutions already well known and successfully used during the year, among them both standard and development tires. For the Supersport class there are several new development solutions available to riders who will have a new front and two new rears to test and eventually use in the race.

The Portuguese event will not end on Sunday with the conclusion of the races. For Monday holds the second scheduled official test, after Australia at the beginning of the year. For the occasion, Pirelli will ask the development teams to test some development tires, comparing them with standard and frequently used tires.

Portimão VS tires: ups and downs and changes of direction demanding on tires

The Autódromo Internacional do Algarve was inaugurated in 2008 by architect Ricardo Pina. The track is 4592 meters long with a finish straight which has a length of 835 meters, nine right-hander and six left-hander curves and a long turn radii that goes from 23 meters to a maximum of 207 meters. The rider in pole position starts from the right side of the track.

Initially the circuit, because of the new asphalt, offered a lot of grip and was aggressive and had to be covered with tires with very high mechanical resistance to prevent tearing of the tread surface and to minimise removal of the compound due to friction. In recent seasons the asphalt of the Portuguese circuit has gradually lost its aggressive character, greatly smoothing out its harshness on the tires and losing some of its natural grip. In the last two years the race was held between June and July in some cases with elevated track temperatures, a situation in which the softest solutions struggled for grip.

This track is one of the circuits which enhances the tire’s capacity to work in very different conditions.

Specifically, the most challenging part for tires is the last turn which is 350 meters long and takes 6.5 seconds to navigate, and due to the wide turning radius (about 150 meters), the bike is in constant acceleration and goes from 150 to 250 kph at a lean angle of about 50°. So there is a remarkable increase in temperature on the side of the tire affected by the lean, particularly for the rear tire which must withstand the high temperature while simultaneously ensuring strong lateral force and allowing the bike to accelerate. High running times and fixed lean angles can therefore generate much wheelspin and significant peaks in localized temperature at 45-50°C on the tire shoulder. The weakening of the compound due to heat, even with smoother asphalt, causes significant levels of material removal. For this reason a significant amount of tire wear can often by noted at the end of the races.

The curves 5, 8, 11, 13, and 14 have on the contrary a very tight radius (about 30 meters), which forces the rider to brake to an extremely low speed. Halfway through the turn the bike needs the rear tire, which is very cold, to provide strong longitudinal acceleration up to 1G at a lean angle of 50°. The tires are particularly cold, especially coming into the left handers (numbers 5 and 13). The riders that can accelerate a little before may gain an important advantage.

The rear tire must go from low to extremely high temperatures, the front one must be able to come into the turns mentioned above quickly and precisely. At the end of the straight stretch over the finish line, the first turn with the 100 meter radius which allows the riders to hold speeds greater than 100 kph, the front tire is particularly stressed because it has to travel about 80 meters at a lean angle and with the rider on the brakes.

Given the time of the year we are going to race, which is close to the summer, it is important that the riders are able to evaluate these aspects when selecting the rear tire: compound grip, wear resistance, elasticity of the tire in the heat (to prevent de-compaction effects), movement in running and loss of support.

Unlike the rear, which undergoes few but intense mechanical/thermal stresses, the front is always engaged in slow turns and turns with quick entry and small curvature radii which force the rider to brake sharply, even going downhill. Generally wear problems are not an issue on the front tires, but the important aspect to consider is how the front withstands the heat (a must for good precision), particularly when coming into the first turn.

The Pirelli solutions for Superbike and Supersport classes:

For this event which marks the halfway point of the 2015 season, Pirelli has brought to Algarve a total of 4433 tires, necessary for Superbike, Supersport, Superstock 1000, Superstock 600 and European Junior Cup classes.

Each Superbike rider will have 34 front tires and as many at the rear, while for the Supersport riders the quantity is 25 front and 26 rear.

In the premier class all the riders can rely on three dry solutions for the front and the same amount for the rear in addition to the intermediate and wet tires and to the rear qualifier tire which can be used only in the two sessions of Superpole on Saturday.

At the front in addition to the standard SC2 there will be the development SC1 S1699 which debuted successfully at Aragón in 2014 and offers more support in the approach to bends in favor of better steering precision. This was the most widely used tire at the front in 2014 and this year as well has been taken in the first six rounds. Third option for the front is the specification T1467, a development solution that successfully debuted at Assen and was also used at Imola and Donington. In a SC1 compound, compared to the S1699 it is more protected from wear and at the same time is more stable than a SC2.

At the rear riders will find two options already carried in the last four rounds: the standard SC0 and the development SC1 T1392, which differs from the standard SC1 for a different building process that guarantees a more homogeneous and constant behavior throughout the duration of the race. As an alternative to the standard SC0 there will be the development solution T0611, which debuted in Imola and uses a very soft compound able to offer a very high level of grip when used with high temperatures.

Several new solutions have been brought for the Supersport. At the front the solutions took to the field at Aragón, Assen, Imola and Donignton, which are the standard SC1 and the development S1485, will be joined by a new SC1 development, the U0564, which compared to the S1485 should be more protected from wear and at the same time more stable than a SC2.

At the rear, in addition to the standard SC1 Pirelli brings two new development solutions always in SC1 compound: the U0593 that uses a different building process which should confer greater homogeneity and more consistent performance for the duration of the race and the T1394 that uses the same compound of the standard SC1, but presents itself in increased 190 size. Compared to the standard SC1 it also presents a different construction system, which should confer greater uniformity and consistency of performance.

The 2014 Pirelli statistics for Portimão:

• Total number of tires Pirelli brought: 4362

• Number of solutions (dry, intermediate and wet) for the Superbike class: 5 front and 7 rear

• Number of tires available for each Superbike rider: 32 front and 34 rear

• Number of solutions for the Supersport class (dry, intermediate and wet): 5 front and 5 rear

• Number of tires available for each Supersport rider: 27 front and 27 rear

• Superbike Best Lap Awards won by: Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team), 1’43.167 (Race 1, 4th lap) and by Chaz Davies (Ducati Superbike Team), 1’54.118 (Race 2, 18th lap)

• Supersport Best Lap Award won by: Michael Vd Mark (Pata Honda World Supersport Team), 1’45.777 (5th lap)

• Temperature in Race 1: air 21° C, asphalt 29° C

• Temperature in Race 2: air 21° C, asphalt 27° C

• Maximum race speed reached by Pirelli DIABLO™ Superbike tires: 306.8 km/h, in Race 1 by Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team) at 10th lap.

• Maximum race speed reached by Pirelli DIABLO™ Supercorsa SC tires in Supersport race: 279.8 km/h, Lorenzo Zanetti (Pata Honda World Supersport Team) at 3rd lap.