eni FIM Superbike World Championship
Misano World Circuit, San Marino
June 20, 2014
Free Practice Two Results (all on Pirelli tires):
1. Davide GIUGLIANO, Italy (Ducati 1199 Panigale R), 1:36.370
2. Tom SYKES, UK (Kawasaki ZX-10R), 1:36.497
3. Marco MELANDRI, Italy (Aprilia RSV4 Factory), 1:36.500
4. Chaz DAVIES, UK (Ducati 1199 Panigale R), 1:36.636
5. Loris BAZ, France (Kawasaki ZX-10R), 1:36.661
6. Alex LOWES, UK (Suzuki GSX-R1000), 1:36.698
7. Sylvain GUINTOLI, France (Aprilia RSV4 Factory), 1:36.860
8. Jonathan REA, UK (Honda CBR1000RR), 1:37.024
9. Eugene LAVERTY, Ireland (Suzuki GSX-R1000), 1:37.149
10. Toni ELIAS, Spain (Aprilia RSV4 Factory), 1:37.234
11. Leon HASLAM, UK (Honda CBR1000RR), 1:37.352
12. Niccolo CANEPA, Italy (Ducati 1199 Panigale R), EVO, 1:37.931
13. Ayrton BADOVINI, Italy (Bimota BB3), EVO, 1:38.241
14. Claudio CORTI, Italy (MV Agusta F4 RR), 1:38.393
15. David SALOM, Spain (Kawasaki ZX-10R), EVO, 1:38.664
16. Fabien FORET, France (Kawasaki ZX-10R), EVO, 1:38.709
17. Sheridan MORAIS, South Africa (Kawasaki ZX-10R), EVO, 1:38.712
18. Matteo BAIOCCO, Italy (Ducati 1199 Panigale R), EVO, 1:38.717
19. Ivan GOI, Italy (Ducati 1199 Panigale R), EVO, 1:38.762
20. Sylvain BARRIER, France (BMW S1000RR), EVO, 1:39.081
21. Christian IDDON, UK (Bimota BB3), EVO, 1:39.214
22. Jeremy GUARNONI, France (Kawasaki ZX-10R), EVO, 1:39.215
23. Alessandro ANDREOZZI, Italy (Kawasaki ZX-10R), EVO, 1:39.435
24. Bryan STARING, Australia (Kawasaki ZX-10R), EVO, 1:39.635
25. Riccardo RUSSO, Italy (Kawasaki ZX-10R), EVO, 1:39.729
26. Imre TOTH, Hungary (BMW S1000RR), 1:40.239
27. Peter SEBESTYEN, Hungary (BMW S1000RR), EVO, 1:41.777
28. Aaron YATES, USA (EBR 1190 RX), 1:42.405
29. Geoff MAY, USA (EBR 1190 RX), 1:42.634
30. Michael SAVARY, Switzerland (MV Agusta F4 RR), 1:43.807
Other Americans competing at Misano:
Former AMA Pro SuperSport East Champion Josh Day was 23rd out of 28 riders in Superstock 1000cc FIM Cup Free Practice Two Friday at Misano. Day’s fastest lap time while riding his Agro-Wil Racedays Honda CBR1000RR SP was 1:42.878. The fastest time in the session was 1:40.011, which was turned by Lorenzo Savadori on a Kawasaki ZX-10R. Leandro Mercado, a resident of Argentina and a former AMA Pro SuperSport National Champion, was second-fastest with a time of 1:40.033 on his Ducati 1199 Panigale R.
Alex Wisdom was 29th out of 25 riders in European Junior Cup provisional qualifying on Friday. Riding a CADS Racing Honda CBR500R, the spec bike for the class, Wisdom, recorded a lap time of 2:02.012. Spaniard Javier Orellana is on provisional pole position with a time of 1:57.017.
More, from a press release issued by Dorna WSBK Press Office:
Giugliano rises to the top in opening day
Misano (Italy), Friday 20 June 2014 – After topping FP1 earlier today, Italian Marco Melandri (Aprilia Racing Team) was displaced at the top of the combined standings by compatriot Davide Giugliano (Ducati Superbike Team) and reigning champion Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team).
A red flag after the MV Agusta of Michael Savary (Dream Team Company MV Agusta) caught fire saw a stoppage in events on track with the session being stopped almost immediately for a second time after the Team Hero EBR machine of Aaron Yates stopped on track with what looked like an engine problem.
When the final ten minutes eventually ran to completion a number of riders posted personal best laps, the Ducati pairing of Davide Giugliano and Chaz Davies elevated themselves into contention with the Brit eventually having to settle for 4th behind Melandri, who remained in 3rd.
Loris Baz (Kawasaki Racing Team) was 5th ahead of the impressive Voltcom Crescent Suzuki of Alex Lowes. The Brit has only raced at Misano before in STK600 and STK1000.
The remaining riders in the top ten and therefore currently making it into Superpole 1 are Sylvain Guintoli (Aprilia Racing Team), Jonathan Rea (Pata Honda World Superbike Team), Eugene Laverty (Voltcom Crescent Suzuki) and Toni Elias (Red Devils Roma Aprilia).
As in FP1, Niccolò Canepa (Althea Racing Ducati) was the best of the EVO riders in 12th overall.
Times: 1. Giugliano (Ducati) 1’36.370 average 157.867 kph; 2. Sykes (Kawasaki) 1’36.497; 3. Melandri (Aprilia) 1’36.500; 4. Davies (Ducati) 1’36.636; 5. Baz (Kawasaki) 1’36.661; 6. Lowes (Suzuki) 1’36.698; 7. Guintoli (Aprilia) 1’36.860; 8. Rea (Honda) 1’37.024; 9. Laverty (Suzuki) 1’37.149; 10. Elias (Aprilia) 1’37.234; 11. Haslam (Honda) 1’37.352; 12. Canepa (Ducati) 1’37.931; 13. Badovini (Bimota) 1’38.241; 14. Corti (MV Agusta) 1’38.393; 15. Salom (Kawasaki) 1’38.664; 16. Foret (Kawasaki) 1’38.709; 17. Morais (Kawasaki) 1’38.712; 18. Baiocco (Ducati) 1’38.717; 19. Goi (Ducati) 1’38.762; 20. Barrier (BMW) 1’39.081; 21. Iddon (Bimota) 1’39.214; 22. Guarnoni (Kawasaki) 1’39.215; 23. Andreozzi (Kawasaki) 1’39.435; 24. Staring (Kawasaki) 1’39.635; 25. Russo (Kawasaki) 1’39.729; 26. Toth (BMW) 1’40.239; 27. Sebestyen (BMW) 1’41.777; 28. Yates (EBR) 1’42.162; 29. May (EBR) 1’42.634; 30. Savary (MV Agusta) 1’43.187.
More, from a press release issued by Team Hero EBR:
Tough Opening Day For Team Hero EBR In Misano
After taking the team’s best result in Sepang, Team Hero EBR continued to push forward with both riders putting in solid performances on the opening day of track action at the Misano World Circuit – Marco Simoncelli earlier today.
Limited track time in FP1 prevented Geoff May from circulating as much as he wanted, especially as Misano is another venue, but after resolving a few minor niggles he was able to improve significantly in the afternoon free practice session.
Aaron on the other hand ended the day in 28th despite failing to improve this afternoon after a small crash in the closing stages of the morning session and technical problem in FP2.
The weekend began in style however for Aaron who took part in a media event at the beach. Partnered with Supersport rider Roberto Tamburini, the duo raced a pedalo (pedal boat) against five other Superbike and Supersport pairings finishing in a fighting fourth position.
The on track action resumes with FP3 tomorrow morning.
More, from a press release issued by Pata Honda Superbike Team:
Pata Honda team makes steady Superbike progress at Misano
Pata Honda riders Jonathan Rea and Leon Haslam were eighth and eleventh-fastest respectively after today’s two free practice sessions for Sunday’s seventh-round World Superbike championship races at Misano in Italy.
However, while not content with their overall positions on the Friday leaderboard, which was headed by local rider Davide Giugliano, both Pata Honda pilots are quietly satisfied with progress made in today’s two 45-minute sessions.
Rea is 0.6s off Giugliano’s time while Haslam is a further 0.3s away and both British riders are confident of further improvement in tomorrow’s two free practice sessions ahead of Superpole which will determine final grid positions for Sunday’s two 21-lap races at the 4.226km Misano circuit.
Jonathan Rea – P8
After a couple of difficult rounds at Donington and Sepang, we turned up here with some different engine brake strategies. To be honest, we got off to a slow start developing that and getting some base settings into it this morning. Our position of eighth might not reflect it, but we’re actually making quite good progress. I’m starting to feel like I have a bike that I can push again and I think we’ll make some good steps overnight. I’ve given some good feedback to the guys and I’m actually enjoying riding. It’s a shame we’re not closer to the sharp end, but we reduced the gap to the front quite a lot in the heat of that second session and we need to do the same in the morning. I’m satisfied with our work today but we need to keep pushing.
Leon Haslam – P11
This morning’s session wasn’t ideal and we got a bit interrupted with two red flags in this afternoon’s practice when we had a new tyre in the bike. But we found quite a major electronic issue that we couldn’t solve today but it should be quite easy to fix for tomorrow. I’m looking forward to that, even though we’ve still got some way to go. We’re 0.9s off the quickest time and although it’s quite tight we definitely need to make those steps.
Pieter Breddels – technical co-ordinator
We were quite a bit off with Jonathan’s settings this morning but we made some good steps this afternoon. We’re not there yet, but we’re improving and we have some good plans for tomorrow. We’ve seen some good progress during the day with Leon, too, and he’s not so far away from Jonathan. We’re speaking about some chassis changes for tomorrow and there are some electronics changes required, so we’ll see how those work tomorrow.
More, from a press release issued by Ducati Corse:
Giugliano and the Ducati Superbike Team earn provisional pole today at Misano!
Misano Adriatico (Italy), Friday 20 June 2014 – The Ducati Superbike Team made an extremely positive start to its ‘home’ race weekend at the Misano World Circuit today; thanks to a very fast final lap at the session’s end, Davide Giugliano projected himself into overall first place, with teammate Chaz Davies concluding the first day of action in fourth position.
The two Ducati Superbike riders started the race weekend strongly at what is another home track for the team. In the morning’s first timed practice session, which took place in warm and sunny conditions, both Davies and Giugliano worked well with their technicians, making constant progress throughout the 45-minute session. They both finished practice inside the top five, with Davies registering the third fastest time (1’37.217) and Giugliano closing fifth (1’37.421).
In the afternoon, and in similarly hot conditions (air temperature 35°C, track 47°C), Davide was able to improve on his time by eight tenths, moving up into second place in the standings. The session was then interrupted 12 minutes from the end with a red flag after one of the wildcard riders suffered a technical failure. In the final phase, after the session resumed, Chaz was able to improve, by more than half a second, to record a strong lap in 1’36.636 which positioned him fourth at the session’s end. In the final seconds Davide, not yet satisfied with his lap time, was able to make another step, stopping the clock on 1’36.370, fast enough to assure him of first position at the end of day one.
Quotes after the day’s sessions:
Davide Giugliano (Ducati Superbike Team #34) – 1st (1’36.370)
“We’re quite fast already and the bike has been working really well. Things are not yet perfect but we’re working hard and I’m very pleased. Our pace is strong; we made a long-run and I was able to lap with times that were consistently under 1’37. We still need to improve a little in sector 3, with the long turn – I think we can gain a couple of tenths there but all things considered we’ve made a great start to the weekend.”
Chaz Davies (Ducati Superbike Team #7) – 4th (1’36.636)
“I’m pretty happy and the bike is working well. I haven’t changed much throughout the day, nothing drastic anyway, as we seemed to improve quite quickly this morning. We need to be ready to make another step tomorrow, as everyone will pick up the pace, but it’s all going well so far. We made an 18-lap run and the tyre held up pretty well which I’m pleased about. We haven’t had any real edge grip issues like we did in Malaysia, perhaps because the track temperature is not as high. Anyway a good first day.”
More, from a press release issued by Voltcom Crescent Suzuki:
Top six for Lowes on Misano day one
Voltcom Crescent Suzuki racer Alex Lowes secured a top six position at the Misano World Circuit ‘Marco Simoncelli’ in Italy today after the opening two free practice sessions of the eni FIM Superbike World Championship weekend.
Lowes set his fastest time of 1’36.689 on his 16th lap, after two red flag’s had delayed the afternoon’s second free practice session by almost half an hour. Initially completing set-up work with his Yoshimura-powered machine on used tyres, the British racer remained in the top ten for the duration of the day’s two 45 minutes on track. Improvements midway through the final session saw him advancing to hold fourth in the closing five minutes before dropping to sixth as the times improved.
Finishing the morning’s track action in seventh, having also spent the entire session working on used tyres, Eugene Laverty continued his consistent lap times throughout the afternoon stint. Taking ninth place overall with a 1’37.149, and with less than a second separating the top 11 riders, the Irishman is confident of his long-term race pace aboard the Suzuki GSX-R but is looking to improve further in tomorrow’s practice and qualifying sessions.
Blue skies and 30°C temperatures welcomed the Championship back to the Adriatic circuit after a year’s break. Two red flag’s caused by technical issues to the Team Hero EBR machine of Aaron Yates and the MV Agusta of Michael Savary delayed the end of the afternoon’s second session – the final ten minutes getting underway at 16:31hrs local time – with Ducati’s Davide Giugliano taking the fastest lap in the day’s combined times.
Voltcom Crescent Suzuki will continue to work on improvements to Lowes and Laverty’s GSX-R’s ahead of Saturday’s final timed free practice session commencing at 09:45hrs local time (08:45BST) with the first Superpole scheduled for 15:00hrs local time (14:00BST).
Alex Lowes:
“I really like the Misano track; it’s a lot of fun. We completed some work on old tyres which felt ok and then made some steps forward towards the end of this afternoon’s session. We have some work still to do tonight to make some improvements for the end of the lap, but I feel good. Now I need to work hard in the final practice tomorrow to make sure we are in a position to challenge for podiums on Sunday!”
Eugene Laverty:
“The position is not where we want to be. Race pace we are good but we are still lacking the ability to push for one hard lap, we can’t use the grip of the tyre and it’s something we still need to work on. For the second half of the race I’m confident but it’s for the first half, and for Superpole tomorrow that we need to put in some more work.”
Paul Denning – Team Manager:
“It’s been a good first day’s work for the team and it’s a pleasure to be back in Misano on the Adriatic Coast. The GSX-R is working well at this track and the lap times are ferociously close amongst the top ten riders so it is going to be a question of maximising every single aspect of the performance that we possibly can overnight and making sure the riders can use the full potential of the bike. Alex took a big step forward towards the end of this afternoon’s session and is right on the pace with the fastest guys. Eugene, as always, showed great consistency, particularly when the tyres had taken a drop, so there are a lot of positives but at the same time a lot of work to do to improve the level for tomorrow.”
Misano – eni FIM Superbike World Championship – Free Practice combined times:
1. Davide Giugliano (Ducati) 1’36.370: 2. Tom Sykes (Kawasaki) +0.127: 3. Marco Melandri (Aprilia) +0.130: 4. Chaz Davies (Ducati) +0.266: 5. Loris Baz (Kawasaki) +0.291: 6. ALEX LOWES (VOLTCOM CRESCENT SUZUKI) +0.328: 9. EUGENE LAVERTY (VOLTCOM CRESCENT SUZUKI) +0.779:
More, from a press release issued by Aprilia:
MELANDRI AND GUINTOLI ARE PROTAGONISTS AT MISANO FROM THE START WITH THE RSV4s IN A SPECIAL COMMEMORATIVE LiVERY THAT CELEBRATES THE 1987 WIN
FIRST AND SECOND BEST TIMES IN THE MORNING PRACTICE SESSION, THE AFTERNOON WAS SPENT WORKING ON RACE PACE
Misano, 20 June 2014 – The Aprilia Racing Team started off strong on the first day of practice at Misano for the Italian round of World Superbike scheduled for Sunday.
The Aprilia riders held first (with Melandri) and second (with Guintoli) place in the morning practice sessions, almost as if it was a continuation of what they began in the last round at Sepang (Malaysia) where they took the top two steps of the podium in both races. In the second session held this afternoon both Marco and Sylvain undertook a long and patient effort to fine tune the best possible race pace. During the 45 minute session they were in any case protagonists, improving on their times from the morning practice and taking turns at the top of the time sheet, finishing the day with third place for Melandri and seventh for Guintoli.
The new look for the official Aprilia Racing RSV4s was quite popular, a tribute to the Italian colours that characterised the first Aprilia international championship victory. It was August 1987 when, right here in Misano, Loris Reggiani rode his 250 GP to the first ever Aprilia World Championship win. Since then there have been another 293 wins in the Motomondiale world championship, 42 in Superbike and – above all – 52 world titles to fill an extraordinary trophy case that makes Aprilia one of the most victorious brands in motorcycling history.
Marco Melandri, fresh from his double win at the last round held in Malaysia, analysed the first day of practice at Misano: “I feel good. I was fast right from the start. We started off with the solutions that worked for us at Sepang and then we gradually improved on them. We’ll be working especially on the first sector but I’m not worried. During the race it will be very easy to make mistakes so I prefer being a bit slower but more consistent. Tomorrow I expect the track to be much faster. We’ll keep working on race pace but also with an eye toward the flying lap. The characteristics of the circuit make overtaking difficult so starting as far toward the front as possible will be essential”.
Sylvain Guintoli also worked on finding the best rave set up today. The French rider believes that he has already found the right base setting and tomorrow he will be testing a few more solutions that his mechanics have suggested. Sylvain is confident and particularly impressed by his bike’s new look: “Today was business as usual – a lot of work on race pace. We lapped a lot on used tyres so I think tomorrow we will be able to increase our speed quite a bit. The base set up we found today is good but we still need to try out a few more settings. Besides that the new colours of my RSV4 are gorgeous. It doesn’t help us shave any time off but it’s always nice to ride a good looking bike!”.
More, from a press release issued by Alstare Bimota:
BADOVINI OPENS WITH 13th OVERALL, 2nd IN EVO CLASS ON DAY ONE
Team Bimota Alstare rider Ayrton Badovini completed the first day of practice and qualifying at Misano with a comfortable 13th position overall. Were it not for a problem on his fast lap this afternoon, Ayrton would have been knocking on the door of the top ten. His team mate, Christian Iddon, who was making his debut at the track, ended 21st after suffering technical problems in today’s first session.
Ayrton Badovini – 13th (overall), 2nd (EVO class)
“I am really happy because my feeling with the bike is much better today. Also, the feeling of the front end is getting better and that makes the bike easier to ride. Although I am happy, I am not completely satisfied because a rider got in my way on my fast lap and that prevented me from going quicker. Without that problem, maybe I could’ve finished inside the top ten and that would’ve been pretty good for the first day.
It’s great to be racing ‘at home’ again and the feeling is especially good because the Bimota factory is very close by. The BB3 is already a very good bike, but it has a lot more potential and hopefully we can improve the bike even more tomorrow and get some great results for the team, our fans and all the Bimota followers.”
Christian Iddon – 21st (overall), 9th (EVO class)
“This is my first time here and so I needed to put in a lot of laps and learn the track. Unfortunately we had some electrical glitches in the morning session and I wasn’t able to do many laps. The afternoon session was interrupted by a couple of red flags, so it was difficult to get a good rhythm and go for it.
I like the track – it’s small, but interesting and I think I’ve got it pretty much sorted. Once we’ve got a good set-up on the bike I’m sure I can lap a lot faster.
More, from a press release issued by Alex Wisdom’s publicist:
20th On EJC Opening Day For Wisdom At Misano
American teen Alex Wisdom (CADS Racing) had a positive opening day in the European Junior Cup at the Misano World Circuit – Marco Simoncelli, despite finishing 20th on the timesheets.
An incident on track yesterday during which an incident occurred between a scooter and a rider on foot prevented Alex from even walking the track meaning today’s opening Free Practice would be the first time he had physically seen the technical Italian track.
After a steady first session, Alex ventured back out for the opening qualifying session and instantly improved his personal best times. As the session progressed a few small issues prevented any further improvement leaving him with it all do in final qualifying tomorrow.
Nevertheless, he is optimistic of improving and confident of continuing his trend of point scoring finishes in the race on Sunday afternoon.
Alex Wisdom – CADS Racing: “It was a difficult first session but considering I couldn’t get any laps on foot or on my cycle yesterday so I expected a bit of a tougher start to the weekend. I like the track and I am looking forward to tomorrow. On a positive note I know where I can improve and we have made a few small changes ready for tomorrow.”