Rea ends official testing on top
Imola (Italy), Monday 12 May 2014 – The one-day official DWO test took place today at Imola’s Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari in warm conditions under sunny skies. The eni FIM Superbike World Championship teams who decided to participate in today’s on-track activities had plenty of time available to start their preparation for the fifth round of the season, scheduled for May 25 at Donington Park, as well as to continue with the development of their respective bikes.
At the end of the six hours, split between two sessions, Jonathan Rea (Pata Honda World Superbike) topped the timesheets courtesy of a 1’47.225 lap time set in the afternoon, ahead of Chaz Davies (Ducati Superbike Team) and Toni Elias (Red Devils Aprilia), all three within 0.158s of each other. The quickest of the EVO riders was Niccolò Canepa (Althea Racing Team Ducati), clocking in 1’48.323. The Pata Honda squad worked on fine tuning the package that proved to be extremely competitive during the weekend with Jonathan Rea, while Leon Haslam significantly improved his lap times and narrowed the gap to his teammate.
After a difficult weekend, performance and results wise, the Voltcom Crescent Suzuki Team concentrated on evaluating new electronic strategies to sort out the engine braking issues that both Eugene Laverty and Alex Lowes experienced during the Italian weekend. Laverty also tried out new chassis setups, while Lowes tested a different swingarm with encouraging results and resultant lap-time improvements.
Chaz Davies, Davide Giugliano and the whole Ducati Superbike Team continued their effort on improving the overall setup for their 1199 Panigale R machines, following a race day at Imola of mixed fortunes for the two riders.
Works Aprilia rider Sylvain Guintoli evaluated new parts for his RSV4 Factory while teammate Marco Melandri put in a big number of laps to try and solve the problems encountered during his home event.
New engine, swingarm and electronics for the MV Agusta RC – Yakhnich Motorsport Team and their sole WSBK rider Claudio Corti.
This test was also the chance to test the developmental compounds brought by Pirelli, the Official Tyre Supplier of the eni FIM Superbike World Championship. Two new front tyre solutions for both full-spec Superbikes and EVO machines, as well as two specifically developed rear compounds for each category, were made available to the teams.
Times: 1. Rea (Honda) 1’47.225 average 165.723 kph; 2. Davies (Ducati) 1’47.310; 3. Elias (Aprilia) 1’47.383; 4. Laverty (Suzuki) 1’47.550; 5. Giugliano (Ducati) 1’47.589; 6. Lowes (Suzuki) 1’47.628; 7. Melandri (Aprilia) 1’47.636; 8. Guintoli (Aprilia) 1’47.650; 9. Haslam (Honda) 1’47.722; 10. Canepa (Ducati) 1’48.323; 11. Camier (BMW) 1’48.439; 12. Badovini (Bimota) 1’48.671; 13. Corti (MV Agusta) 1’48.851; 14. Savadori (Kawasaki) 1’49.467; 15. Iddon (Bimota) 1’49.820; 16. Scassa (Kawasaki) 1’49.948; 17. Guarnoni (Kawasaki) 1’50.516; 18. Foret (Kawasaki) 1’50.801; 19. Andreozzi (Kawasaki) 1’50.815; 20. Toth (BMW) 1’51.086; 21. May (EBR) 1’52.433.
More, from a press release issued by Ducati Corse:
After an extremely important race weekend in which Ducati Superbike man Chaz Davies stepped up to the podium twice, having powered his 1199 Panigale into second place in both of the day’s races, the team went straight back to work today at Imola today during official testing.
Conditions were warm and sunny for this one-day test, allowing the team to work on testing some electronic updates and various suspension settings. In the morning’s session, the riders focused on the issues that had come up during the races. Chaz had complained about a rear vibration issue while Davide suffered hopping at the front of the bike in race 2. Later in the day the riders worked on testing new components. By the end of the day’s sessions, there had been improvement on both sides of the garage and Davies and Giugliano declared themselves satisfied with the work completed and results obtained. Davies finished the day with the second fastest time (1’47.310), while Giugliano, who concluded testing in the early afternoon, recorded a best of 1’47.589, to finish fifth.
The Ducati Superbike Team will return to the tracks for Round 5 of the Superbike World Championship, scheduled to take place over the weekend of 23 – 25 May at the historic Donington Park circuit in the UK.
Quotes at the end of testing:
Chaz Davies – Ducati Superbike Team #7
“We’ve mainly concentrated on the clutch setting and engine brake management, to figure out some of the rear vibration issues I’ve been having. We’ve also tested a couple of new electronic strategies and new front and rear settings. I’m pleased with the day’s work and the feeling I had with the bike by the end of the day. Hopefully the data I’m providing to the team is useful and can help us improve the bike further for the next races.”
Davide Giugliano – Ducati Superbike Team #34
“Firstly we wanted to understand exactly what happened in race 2 yesterday. I think we’ve done that by completing many laps, including two race simulations, with consistently fast times. My feeling with the bike has improved and I’ve been able to ride well which is very positive. So it’s been a very useful test day and we’ll definitely be putting all that we’ve learned here into practice in the next races.”
Ernesto Marinelli – Ducati Superbike Project Director
“Today’s test was very important considering that the regulation restricts the number of tests we can carry out. It has allowed us to better understand the problems cited in yesterday’s races and to test new suspension and electronic solutions that we will introduce from Donington. We’ve gained some great feedback and this is very important. I’m pleased with the data collected and the work carried out by the riders and entire Team who have worked hard today despite the fatigue after such a busy race weekend.”