eni FIM Superbike World Championship
Imola, Italy
May 8, 2015
Free Practice Two Results (all using Pirelli tires):
1. Jonathan REA, UK (Kawasaki ZX-10R), 1:47.344
2. Tom SYKES, UK (Kawasaki ZX-10R), 1:47.517
3. Davide GIUGLIANO, Italy (Ducati Panigale R), 1:47.582
4. Chaz DAVIES, UK (Ducati Panigale R), 1:47.686
5. Leon HASLAM, UK (Aprilia RSV4 RF), 1:48.054
6. Alex LOWES, UK (Suzuki GSX-R1000), 1:48.660
7. Alex BADOVINI, Italy (BMW S1000RR), 1:48.729
8. David SALOM, Spain (Kawasaki ZX-10R), 1:49.073
9. Leandro MERCADO, Argentina (Ducati Panigale R), 1:49.201
10. Sylvain GUINTOLI, France (Honda CBR1000RR SP), 1:49.296
11. Matteo BAIOCCO, Italy (Ducati Panigale R), 1:49.403
12. Michel FABRIZIO, Italy (Ducati Panigale R), 1:49.601
13. Michael VD MARK, Netherlands (Honda CBR1000RR SP), 1:49.651
14. Jordi TORRES, Spain (Aprilia RSV4 RF), 1:49.966
15. Roman RAMOS, Spain (Kawasaki ZX-10R), 1:50.126
16. Niccolo CANEPA, Italy (Kawasaki ZX-10R), 1:51.059
17. Randy DE PUNIET, France (Suzuki GSX-R1000), 1:52.132
18. Leon CAMIER, UK (MV Agusta F4), 1:52.177
19. Imre TOTH, Hungary (BMW S1000RR), 1:52.580
20. Christophe PONSSON, France (Kawasaki ZX-10R), 1:53.138
21. Gabor RIZMAYER, Hungary (BMW S1000RR), 1:53.813
22. Santigao BARRAGÁN, Spain (Kawasaki ZX-10R), 1:53.852
More, from a press release issued by Dorna WSBK Press Office:
The opening day of action at Imola’s Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari saw current WorldSBK Champonship leader Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team) leap to the top of the standings in the final moments of the second session courtesy of a 1’47.344 lap-time. Fellow KRT rider Tom Sykes was second at the chequered flag and looked on course to move into first place until an error at the ‘Variante Bassa’ during his final lap.
The Aruba.it Racing – Ducati SBK Team was close to the top once more, as Davide Giugliano made a dream return to the WorldSBK paddock by posting the third fastest time of the weekend so far, a fraction ahead of his team mate Chaz Davies, who was fourth after being quickest in this morning’s FP1.
Leon Haslam (Aprilia Racing Team – Red Devils) remained fifth, as he had been in the earlier morning session, the rider currently second in the overall points classification finished the first day more than half a second faster than Alex Lowes who powered his Voltcom Crescent Suzuki into sixth.
Ayrton Badovini (BMW Motorrad Italia) improved his time but remained seventh ahead of David Salom (Team Pedercini), the much faster Leandro Mercado (Barni Racing Ducati) and reigning World Champion Sylvain Guintoli (Pata Honda World Superbike Team) who was tenth.
Michel Fabrizio (Althea Racing) finished 12th just behind team mate Matteo Baiocco but ahead of Michael van der Mark (Pata Honda World Superbike Team), Leon Camier (MV Agusta Reparto Corse) – the only rider to not improve their time this afternoon – and Jordi Torres (Aprilia Racing Team – Red Devils) who completed the top 15.
All riders have one final chance to make it through into Tissot-Superpole, with the third free practice session scheduled to run for a further 45-minute time tomorrow morning.
Jonathan Rea #65 – Kawasaki Racing Team
Combined Free Practice 1 and 2 – 1st
Twitter: @jonathanrea
Instagram: @jonathan_rea
Facebook: JonathanReaOfficial
“In the first session we worked on trying to feel right on the bike. The problem is that I was so comfortable here with my previous bike that I think I’m trying to turn the ZX-10R into my old machine. I’m not 100% happy with the set-up but the first day always feels strange. I’m not worrying about the others at the moment, I just want to concentrate on myself.”
Tom Sykes #66 – Kawasaki Racing Team
Combined Free Practice 1 and 2 – 2nd
Twitter: @TheRealTomSykes
Facebook page: Tom-Sykes-66
“So far so good. We lost some good race potential in the last two races, especially in the second half. That is what we are focusing on right now and we’ve had a good first day here in Imola. The fans are absolutely fantastic and it’s a pleasure to be back to Italy. We are working on small details of the ZX-10R, tomorrow is another day and we have to keep working in this direction. We have a couple of things in mind to improve the package but we’ll see what happens.”
Davide Giugliano #34 – Aruba.it Racing – Ducati SBK
Combined Free Practice 1 and 2 – 3rd
Twitter: @davidegiugliano
Instagram: @davidegiugliano34
Facebook Page: Davide-Giugliano
“It was important to exorcise what happened in Phillip Island and I thought that giving a 100% was the best way to do so. I had great fun and I felt very comfortable on the bike, which is performing much better compared to winter testing. Having said that, it’s only Friday and we only did few laps, I feel quite tired and I need to rest in order to be ready for tomorrow and Sunday.”
More, from a press release issued by Aprilia:
IN THE FIRST TWO SESSIONS HASLAM TAKES A RESPECTABLE FIFTH TIME WITH HIS RSV4 RF, LAPPING A LOT WITH A USED TYRE
JORDI TORRES TAKES ADVANTAGE OF THE FIRST DAY OF PRACTICE TO FAMILIARISE HIMSELF WITH A TRACK THAT IS NEW FOR HIM
Imola, 8 May 2015 – With the Imola track warmed by a summer sun and the passion of the fans who came out to watch from the beginning on the banks of the Santerno, Team Aprilia Racing – Red Devils began their weekend at Imola. This is a decidedly demanding historic track and a favourite among the riders because of its “old style” character.
Precisely because of its unique layout, it takes some fine tuning to set up the technical, chassis and electronic management aspects. These are the parameters that Leon Haslam, lying second in the overall championship standings astride his Aprilia RSV4, focused on during today’s sessions. During the morning practice session the Brit lapped quite a lot without using a “fresh” tyre, but beginning to work straight away on race strategy. He also tested various different solutions in the afternoon when, despite putting in less laps, Leon and his team gathered some fundamental data on which to base tomorrow’s strategy. In light of the type of work done today, the fifth time in the combined standings seems promising for another weekend as protagonists for the Haslam-Aprilia duo.
Leon Haslam: “This morning we had a good session, lapping a lot on the same tyre. In the afternoon we lapped less but we were able to test a lot of solutions anyway. I think that with a night at our disposal to analyse the data we collected today we’ll be able to identify the right direction to go tomorrow. I have a feeling we aren’t too far off, but at the same time I think there is still a lot of room for improvement for our RSV4 RF here at Imola.”
The goals were different in the number 81 garage for Jordi Torres. The Spanish rookie set foot on the asphalt at Imola for the first time today, struggling a bit to interpret one of the most complicated circuits on the calendar. So it’s only logical to expect some irrelevant times on this first day which Jordi used to gain confidence with his RSV4 RF and on the track before asking for any substantial changes from his mechanics. The Spanish rider did not point out any particularly critical points, but rather a simple lack of familiarity and experience that require a calm approach to the first part of the weekend.
Jordi Torres: “This is a new track for me, difficult and strange in various aspects. I almost feel like I’m in a pipe: up, down, then you have to slow down a lot to take on a chicane, I struggled a bit to memorise it. In any case it’s also true that between FP1 and FP2 we improved by more than a second, but there is definitely plenty of room to get better. There are some areas where I’m struggling, but I think it is just a general difficulty. We need to be precise, let the bike race and stay calm. We’ll wait for tomorrow. Every time I go out on the track I feel like I’ve learned something new and I don’t want to rule out any result.”
More, from a press release issued by Pata Honda:
Work in progress for Pata Honda in Italy
Pata Honda riders Sylvain Guintoli and Michael van der Mark found things far from easy in today’s opening two Free Practice sessions for round five of the World Superbike championship at Imola in Italy.
The Honda CBR1000RR-mounted pair ended the day in 10th and 13th places respectively following the two 45-minute sessions at the historic 4.936km Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari, 45km south-west of Bologna.
The results mean that each side of the Pata Honda World Superbike garage has plenty of data analysis to go through this evening in order to allow each rider to improve his lap time.
Only the fastest ten combined times following tomorrow morning’s third Free Practice session will qualify automatically for the afternoon’s Superpole 2 that will determine final grid positions on the front four rows for Sunday’s two 19-lap races.
Sylvain Guintoli – P10, 1m49.296s
I’m a little disappointed with our position to be honest because we made some positive steps towards the end of the Assen weekend but we haven’t been able to translate them to the Imola track. I’m not getting the right feeling and I’m finding it quite hard to turn the bike. I can feel the front tyre compressing as I brake for the turns but I can’t get the right feeling with bike. We made some changes after this morning’s session and that helped a little, but we are still a long way off the front so there’s a lot of work to be done.
Michael van der Mark – P13, 1m49.651s
It’s been a difficult day today because the bike is not yet working exactly how I want. I really like the track here and it feels like I’m fast but I’m having some problems in the braking area. We tried a lot of things to fix this because it is the main issue that we have but none of them really worked well. We will have to study everything very carefully tonight and try to find a new direction for tomorrow.
Pieter Breddels – technical co-ordinator
We really expected to be a little closer to the front than we actually are and with Michael we ended up in 13th place which is for sure not where he is supposed to be. We have some problems stopping the machine and the changes we made helped on the exit but not so much on corner entry. We need to make a big step tomorrow and it’s a little bit the same with Sylvain. We moved towards last year’s setting, knowing that we were fast then, but that’s not really working; we need to work hard on coming up with a specific setting for him.
More, from a press release issued by Voltcom Crescent Suzuki:
Improvements at Imola for Voltcom Crescent Suzuki
Alex Lowes put his Voltcom Crescent Suzuki into the top six on the opening day of World Superbike action at Imola’s Enzo e Dino Ferrari racetrack this afternoon after continued developments to the new ECU system began to bear fruit.
Improving on his time from the morning’s first free practice session by a second and a half, Lowes completed the day’s 90 minutes on track with a 1’48.660 on his final revolution having completed 26 laps aboard his Yoshimura-powered Suzuki throughout the two sessions. The detailed electronics analysis continued both on and off the track with the team feeling confident for the weekend’s progression.
A reoccurring throttle connection issue and an unfortunate early high-side at turn 3 with 15 minutes remaining of the morning practice had initially hampered Randy de Puniet’s first day at the Italian circuit on his GSX-R1000. However, with the issue detected and rectified the afternoon proved more promising. On the timesheets the set-back leaves the Frenchman currently sitting in 18th position but his crew remain confident that improvement can come quickly as the weekend continues.
Track temperatures hit 41°C for the mid-afternoon session as the Italian sunshine bathed the fans at the iconic Imola circuit. Kawasaki dominated the combined times as Jonathan Rea bettered teammate Tom Sykes with a 1’47.344 heading into tomorrow’s final qualifying practice.
Action returns to Imola at 09:45hrs local time (08:45BST) tomorrow as Alex Lowes and Randy de Puniet bid to secure qualification for the afternoon’s Superpole. Grid places for Sunday’s 19 lap races will be decided from 15:00hrs (14:00BST).
Alex Lowes:
“We’ve had some niggling issues today but the lads are working really hard and we’re making big steps over time. We haven’t been able to do as many laps as I would have wanted but we’ll work on the data tonight, chip away at it, and hopefully we can make another big step with the consistency and get a bit closer to the front guys tomorrow. It’s really nice to be back in Imola, I’m enjoying riding the GSX-R and I’m looking forward to the rest of the weekend.”
Randy de Puniet:
“This morning the bike was not perfect so I pulled in after five laps and the rear tyre was completely destroyed, we tried with a new one but I crashed on my out-lap so my session was finished. This afternoon we tried to start with some adjustments but unfortunately the bike was not receiving the map so I was making no improvements and we lost most of the session. We have started to make progress at the end but we have lost a lot of time so it is not easy, but we will see what we can do tomorrow.”
Paul Denning – Team Manager:
“Despite successful electronics developments last week, Imola – as expected – has thrown up some significant challenges today in terms of getting the setting right and providing the riders with predictable performance. Even with some issues we’ve made good progress on Alex’s side and to be in the top six and only just over a second off P1, considering some of the improvements that still need to be made, is very encouraging and gives the team a decent base to continue developments tomorrow.
“Imola is effectively new to Randy – having only ever ridden a 125cc bike round here 16 years ago – and that, combined with some continued electronics settings issues this afternoon and a very unlucky high-side accident on an out-lap this morning, haven’t created the best platform for him to move forward. I’m sure we will start tomorrow with the same setting for both riders as Alex’s bike is getting closer to the mark step-by-step and hopefully that will help Randy to move forward.”
More, from a press release issued by Ducati Corse:
The Aruba.it Racing – Ducati Superbike Team makes a positive start to its home SBK round of Imola
Imola (Italy), Friday 8 May 2015 – The Aruba.it Racing – Ducati Superbike Team has opened the Imola weekend in a positive manner, with Davide Giugliano finishing in third and Chaz Davies lying fourth after the first timed practice sessions of this fifth round of the 2015 Superbike World Championship.
Both factory riders started this important weekend in a determined fashion, making the most of today’s almost ideal conditions (air temperature 24°C, track 37°C) to work with their technicians on setting up their Ducati Panigale R bikes. In the opening timed practice session, and right from their first exits, Chaz and Davide were among the frontrunners, improving on performance lap after lap. The Italian rider’s performance in particular was impressive, considering that after three months of inactivity he was able to close session one in second place (with a best time of 1’48.275), with only his teammate Chaz ahead of him, at the top of the timesheets thanks to a fastest time of 1’48.056.
In the afternoon’s second session, Davies and Giugliano consolidated the morning’s positive start, further improving on lap times and seeming at ease on their home track. The riders concluded day one in overall third (Davide) and fourth (Chaz) position, results that bode well ahead of what will undoubtedly be two hard-fought races on Sunday.
Quotes after the day’s sessions:
Davide Giugliano – (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati Superbike Team #34) – 3rd (1’47.582)
“I think I needed to ‘exorcise’ what happened to me at Philip Island and so I decided that giving 100% of myself today would be the best way to do that. The great thing is that I enjoyed myself and have found a highly performing bike, very different to the one I last rode in winter testing – a different bike, but positively so. Having said that, today’s only Friday and we’ve only completed a few laps; I’m feeling physically tired so now I’ll concentrate on resting in preparation for the coming days but overall I’m very pleased…”
Chaz Davies (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati Superbike Team #7) – 4th (1’47.686)
“To be honest things aren’t feeling quite right. Although we’ve been quite consistent today, I’m still missing something in terms of feeling with my bike. There is no one particular thing but I’d like to make the bike a little smoother and have it turn a little better. Nothing major, and overall it’s been a positive Friday, but I know there is room for improvement tomorrow…”