eni FIM Superbike World Championship
Magny-Cours, France
October 3, 2014
Free Practice Two Results (all on Pirelli tires):
1. Davide GIUGLIANO, Italy (Ducati 1199 Panigale R), 1:37.866
2. Eugene LAVERTY, Ireland (Suzuki GSX-R1000), 1:38.138
3. Sylvain GUINTOLI, France (Aprilia RSV4 Factory), 1:38.152
4. Jonathan REA, UK (Honda CBR1000RR), 1:38.157
5. Marco MELANDRI, Italy (Aprilia RSV4 Factory), 1:38.451
6. Tom SYKES, UK (Kawasaki ZX-10R), 1:38.518
7. Loris BAZ, France (Kawasaki ZX-10R), 1:38.647
8. Chaz DAVIES, UK (Ducati 1199 Panigale R), 1:38.747
9. Alex LOWES, UK (Suzuki GSX-R1000), 1:38.888
10. Leon HASLAM, UK (Honda CBR1000RR), 1:39.040
11. Xavi FORES, Spain (Ducati 1199 Panigale R), 1:39.265
12. Max NEUKIRCHNER, Germany (Ducati 1199 Panigale R), 1:39.308
13. Toni ELIAS, Spain (Aprilia RSV4 Factory), 1:39.439
14. Niccolo CANEPA, Italy (Ducati 1199 Panigale R), EVO, 1:39.548
15. David SALOM, Spain (Kawasaki ZX-10R), EVO, 1:40.022
16. Sylvain BARRIER, France (BMW S1000RR), EVO, 1:40.170
17. Lorenzo LANZI, Italy (Ducati 1199 Panigale R), 1:40.256
18. Sheridan MORAIS, South Africa (Kawasaki ZX-10R), EVO, 1:40.677
19. Fabien FORET, France (Kawasaki ZX-10R), EVO, 1:40.961
20. Jeremy GUARNONI, France (Kawasaki ZX-10R), EVO, 1:41.217
21. Claudio CORTI, Italy (MV Agusta F4 RR), 1:41.396
22. Alessandro ANDREOZZI, Italy (Kawasaki ZX-10R), EVO, 1:41.647
23. Bryan STARING, Australia (Kawasaki ZX-10R), EVO, 1:41.980
24. Geoff MAY, USA (EBR 1190 RX), 1:42.701
25. Imre TOTH, Hungary (BMW S1000RR), 1:43.432
26. Aaron YATES, USA (EBR 1190 RX), 1:43.590
27. N. SALCHAUD, France (MV Agusta F4 RR), 1:45.524
More, from a press release issued by Aprilia:
WSBK APRILIA RACING TEAM – MAGNY-COURS
A HARD DAY’S WORK AND GOOD SENSATIONS ON THE FIRST DAY OF PRACTICE FOR BOTH GUINTOLI AND MELANDRI
Magny-Cours (France), Friday 3 October 2014 – A usual hard day’s work. The first day of practice at Magny-Cours on Friday followed the same tried and true script for the Aprilia Racing Team.
The most important note is that both Guintoli and Melandri seem to be on the right path to preparing their official RSV4s for the penultimate round of World Superbike on the French track. The intention is to pick up where they left off at the last race in Jerez, made unforgettable by Melandri’s double win and the two second place finishes Guintoli brought home.
One can never pass judgement on Friday, but the stopwatch also comforted the riders’ good feelings.
Sylvain Guintoli, whose objective is to continue gaining points on current leader Sykes, was fastest on the track in the morning session. In the afternoon, although finishing third in the combined standings, he expressed his satisfaction in the changes that were tested.
Sylvain Guintoli: “We did a lot of work with the races in mind today. Tomorrow we’ll focus on improving further but we are already pretty well set for pace. As I said before, I like this track and I like riding my RSV4 here. We’ll keep working on a dry track setup and if the situation changes on Sunday we’ll have to adapt. The good thing is that most of the riders seem like they’ll be able to be fast, so hopefully that will give us a hand”.
Marco Melandri’s impressions were fairly similar. The rider from Ravenna is in excellent shape with 6 wins out of the last 10 rounds and coming off the double win in Andalusia. Third in the morning session, he finished fifth in the afternoon but improved his time. However, he is also convinced that what counts today is the work done with the races in mind.
Marco Melandri: “All told it was a good day for us, definitely difficult but in the end we were able to find the right direction. Looking at the times the situation seems encouraging for us, but I’m sure that some of our adversaries were holding their cards close to their chests in the last run. Tomorrow we’ll keep working on pace. Magny-Cours is a track where I have never been able to take home a good result for various reasons, so I would really like to vindicate myself”.
More, from a press release issued by Voltcom Crescent Suzuki:
Provisional front row for Laverty at Magny-Cours
Voltcom Crescent Suzuki’s Eugene Laverty showed early promise at Magny-Cours today claiming a provisional front row position in the eni FIM Superbike World Championship’s opening free practice sessions.
Having finished the morning’s initial session fifth, the Irishman continued perfecting the Yoshimura-powered GSX-R’s set up with a consistently strong performance to finish with the day’s second best time of 1’38.138. Laverty is looking to emulate this progress throughout tomorrow to consolidate an advantageous qualifying position for Sunday’s races.
Reacquainting himself with the French track after a five year absence, Alex Lowes took ninth in the times, with a 1’38.888, at the close of play having circulated in seventh in the earlier session. Initially testing a new engine braking system – developed since the last round at Jerez – the British rider returned to the original settings to enable his continued study of the Nevers circuit and is confident he can maintain his progression into Saturday’s qualifying.
An unseasonal summer’s day greeted the fans at the Circuit du Nevers Magny-Cours for the opening track action with the blue skies providing glorious 26°C temperatures by mid-afternoon. Ducati’s Davide Giugliano topped the times with a 1’37.866 while his satellite compatriot Niccolò Canepa took the early lead in the Evo class.
With Friday’s action complete at Magny-Cours, Voltcom Crescent Suzuki returns to the track at 09:45hrs local time (08:45BST) tomorrow for the last timed-for-qualifying free practice session ahead of Superpole at 15:00hrs local time (14:00BST).
Eugene Laverty:
“It’s been a very positive start to the weekend! I didn’t believe we would be as strong here actually so it’s always nice to surprise yourself. We tried two different types of tyres to try to understand which could be our race tyre, so we are working positively and once again we are focused on getting a good qualifying position, which would be nice.”
Alex Lowes:
“Even though I’ve had one year’s previous experience here five or six years ago now, it was like learning a new track again today. This morning was really good, we had a couple of little set-up issues this afternoon but all-in-all it’s been a pretty good day! It’s nice to be back on the bike after four weeks; Eugene was fast so we know the GSX-R can be competitive, so I’m looking forward to tomorrow.”
Paul Denning – Team Manager:
“Unusually the weather has been perfect at Magny-Cours today which makes it a very nice circuit to be at. The layout of the track is not particularly flowing and we didn’t expect it to really suit the GSX-R but Eugene’s excellent lap times and consistency today have put an end to that theory. The bike has clearly got good potential here, as always the small details will make a big difference come race day and for Alex the most important thing now is time on the track. He has virtually no experience here and it’s a tricky place so his performance today, especially considering we had some electronic settings issues which didn’t make the job easy this afternoon, also looks really positive for the rest of the weekend.”
More, from a press release issued by Ducati Corse:
Giugliano and the Ducati Superbike Team conclude day one of practice at Magny-Cours in first position
Nevers (France), Friday 3 October 2014 – almost one month after the conclusion of the last round at Jerez, Davide Giugliano and the Ducati Superbike Team returned to the tracks today, at the French circuit of Magny-Cours, with determination, closing day one at the top of the timesheets.
In the weekend’s first timed practice session, which took place this morning in dry conditions, the two Ducati Superbike men quickly got to work setting up their 1199 Panigale bikes together with their technicians. This weekend, Davide Giugliano and Chaz Davies can benefit from a series of new solutions that were tested by the development team during recent tests held at Mugello. The riders therefore used today’s sessions to introduce and test the various updates. Giugliano finished the first timed practice in sixth position with a best of 1’39.107 while Davies closed in eleventh place (1’39.842).
Second practice took place in similar conditions, which allowed almost all of the Superbike riders to improve on times set during the morning. Thanks to a series of fast laps, Giugliano projected himself into first position mid-session, recording a best time of 1’37.866 (over a second quicker than his best time of the morning), a position that he then held until the day’s end, closing three tenths of a second ahead of second-placed Laverty. Davies, continuing the work to adapt his 1199 Panigale, closed day one in eighth place, with a fastest lap of 1’38.747.
Quotes after the day’s sessions:
Davide Giugliano – (Ducati Superbike Team #34) – 1st (1’37.866)
“I’m pleased with how today has gone. We’ve tested some of the updates that the guys worked on during recent test sessions at Mugello and I must say that my feeling is positive. There haven’t been any huge revolutions but the changes seem to be making a difference. This afternoon, we were able to make a series of ten laps with consistently fast times and this is a good sign, although there’s more to do in order to be ready for the 21-lap races of course. My Panigale is working well and we seem to be in a good position right now – I hope this continues…”
Chaz Davies (Ducati Superbike Team #7) – 8th (1’38.747)
“This morning things didn’t feel particularly great, as we were struggling to get the bike settled on corner entry but we improved this during the second session and introduced some of the solutions used at last week’s tests. My feeling with the bike is pretty different and we had to make some tweaks to the bike to suit these new parts during the session but I think we’re going in the right direction. It’s not really easy to turn the bike through the tight corners yet but this is something we’ll continue to work on tomorrow. Let’s say we still have work to do.”
More, from a press release issued by Pata Honda:
Rea fourth in opening salvos at Magny-Cours
Pata Honda rider Jonathan Rea set the fourth-fastest combined lap time in today’s opening free practice sessions at Magny-Cours in France in preparation for Sunday’s two 11th-round World Superbike championship races.
The British rider took his Pata Honda CBR1000RR Fireblade SP around the 4.411km circuit in a time of 1m38.157s, just 0.2s off the provisional pole time of Italian Davide Guigliano.
Rea’s Pata Honda team-mate, Leon Haslam, was fourth fastest himself in this morning’s first free practice but the 31-year-old could only marginally improve his time this afternoon and ended the day in tenth place overall.
Haslam will have an opportunity to improve his position in tomorrow’s third free practice session ahead of the afternoon Superpole which will determine the grid for Sunday’s two 21-lap races at Magny-Cours.
Jonathan Rea – P4, 1m38.157s
I’m quite satisfied with our day to be honest, although we had a couple of problems. We got off to a steady start in the first session but had a bit of a misunderstanding over the direction we wanted to go, which lost us a bit of time. But during the break the guys worked well, especially in the electronics area where we made a lot of improvements. This afternoon I was able to do a run and got into a rhythm and went steadily faster. When I tried with the new tyre at the end I was feeling really, really good, but I made some mistakes on the lap so it was frustrating that the lap time wasn’t better. But the bike is really user-friendly here and it’s important to have a bike that you can race hard for 21 laps at Magny-Cours. We’ve got a good base setting now that we should be able just to fine-tune t o aim for the front row tomorrow.
Leon Haslam – P10, 1m39.040s
I was quite happy with this morning. We had to try a few things and needed to work on some other settings. This afternoon we had a little bit of a problem but I think we know what it is and how to work on it so we can start again tomorrow. I was P4 this morning and felt pretty confident with what we were doing. Unfortunately this afternoon we couldn’t make any improvement but we found the issue, which should allow us to make a good step tomorrow.
Pieter Breddels – technical co-ordinator
We didn’t have a smooth session with Jonathan this morning and we lost a lot of time which meant that our plan to do a lot of laps didn’t work out. Fortunately, things turned around quite a bit this afternoon and we managed to improve the settings and rideability. This brought him fourth place and he’s really close to the front runners so he’s happy with that. It was a little bit of the opposite with Leon because he was close to the front in fourth this morning and it looked really promising. In the afternoon it came to a bit of a standstill and he just managed to do the same lap time as this morning. We’ll have to look at why we went in the wrong direction and improve that for tomorrow.
More, from a press release issued by Team Hero EBR:
French Strides Forward After FP1 For Team Hero EBR After FP1
The penultimate round of the FIM Superbike World Championship began earlier today at Magny-Cours in France with Team Hero EBR back in action on yet another new circuit for the all American squad.
World Superbike Championship, Magny-Cours, France, 03 Oct 2014
With the sun having burned away the morning fog conditions for riding were almost perfect as the riders took to the circuit.
FP1 was for the most part without incident with both Geoff May and Aaron Yates able to make big strides forward in the afternoon’s FP2, Geoff ending the session 24th and Aaron 27th.
Both riders will now regroup overnight and aim to improve still further in the final FP3 session tomorrow morning, hoping to make it into Tissot-Superpole for the first time this year.
Geoff May: “The track isn’t the easiest to learn but overall we made good progress today. We have a new spec engine from EBR in the USA and I have Mike Fitzgerald who was my Crew Chief in AMA with me this weekend too, to help my find my old feeling with the bike. The new engine has a little bit more HP throughout the range and after today I am confident we can further improve tomorrow.”
Aaron Yates: “It’s an interesting circuit but it’s enjoyable to ride. We made some minor changes between sessions and improved our time and I am confident that we will improve again in FP3 tomorrow. The whole team is working well and continues to push so thanks to them for all their efforts.”
More, from a press release issued by WSBK Dorna Press Office:
Giugliano ends opening day in France on top
Magny-Cours (France), Friday 3 October 2014 – The afternoon session at Magny-Cours finished with Italian Davide Giugliano (Ducati Superbike Team) setting the fastest time in 1’37.866s, to head the combined classification after FP1 and FP2.
With only Leon Haslam (Pata Honda World Superbike Team) and Claudio Corti (MV Agusta Reparto Corse) failing to improve out of the top twenty riders in the overall standings, the 45 minute session was fast and furious with 5 manufacturers represented in the first six places.
Behind Giugliano, Eugene Laverty (Voltcom Crescent Suzuki) was 2nd ahead of this morning’s pace setter Sylvain Guintoli (Aprilia Racing Team). Jonathan Rea (Pata Honda World Superbike Team), Marco Melandri (Aprilia Racing Team) and reigning champion Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team) completed the top six with Loris Baz (Kawasaki Racing Team), Chaz Davies (Ducati Superbike Team), Alex Lowes (Voltcom Crescent Suzuki) and Leon Haslam (Pata Honda World Superbike Team) filling the remaining places inside the top ten.
Niccolò Canepa (Althea Racing Ducati) made a huge step forward, moving into 14th overall and in doing so becoming the best classified EVO rider.
As it stands Fabien Foret (Team Pedercini Kawasaki) would be the final rider to take part in Tissot-Superpole tomorrow, but with one final session to come to decide the participants anything can still happen.