First pole position riders decided at the Algarve International Circuit
The new FIM CEV Repsol season began officially this morning with the celebration of the first qualifying sessions. The Algarve International Circuit is hosting the first round of the 2015 season that marks the advent of the Moto3™ Junior World Championship, the Moto2™ European Championship and the Superbike European Championship – accompanied, as ever, by the Kawasaki Ninja Cup. The day proved troublesome for the first riders this morning who encountered a wet track after overnight rain.
The Moto3™ Junior World Championship riders experienced their first two timed qualifying sessions, completing their first kilometers as aspiring junior World Championship riders. Joan Mir (SPA-Honda) led both sessions, setting a best time of 1:49.449. Alongside Mir, starting in second position tomorrow, will be the Junior Team VR46 Riders Academy rider, Nicolò Bulega (ITA-KTM), who seems to enjoy the Portuguese circuit, having got onto the second step of the podium here last season. Closing the front row on the grid, the Dutchman Bo Bendsneyder (NED-Honda) will be defending the colors of the Dutch Racing Team. Behind them in the second row will be Albert Arenas (SPA-Husqvarna), Khairul Idham (MAL-TSR Honda) and Arón Canet (SPA-Honda).
Riding once again for the Targobank Motorsport team, Xavi Vierge (SPA-Tech3) took pole position in the Moto2™ European Championship, with a lap of 1:45.532, comfortably ahead of new rider to the category Luca Marini (ITA-Kalex). Starting in second slot, Marini will be accompanied by teammate Edgar Pons (SPA-Kalex), who completes the first row of the grid. On the second row will be Eric Granados (BRA-Kalex), Alan Techer (FRA-Tech3) and Steven Odeendal (RSA-Kalex). Marcos Ramírez (SPA-Yamaha) stood out in the Superstock 600 category.
The sun appeared briefly in the first qualifying session of the Superbike European Championship, in which excitement lasted right to the end of the final session. Carmelo Morales (SPA-Yamaha) snatched a last-gasp win ahead of the current series champion, Kenny Noyes (USA-Kawasaki), thanks to a superb 1:46.077 lap. Alongside Morales and Noyes on the front row will be Axel Maurin (FRA-Kawasaki). The best privateer rider was Ole Bjorn Plassen (NOR-Ducati).
Guest rider for this event Bertrand Gold dominated the first Kawasaki Z Cup race scheduled for this meeting, taking 25 points and taking leadership of the category. F. Javier Valera and Joan Sardanyons accompanied him on the podium. Tomorrow, the twenty-two participants of the category will have the opportunity to turns things around when the second race of the meeting is held.
Sunday’s race schedule is as follows:
11:00 Moto2™ (17 laps)
12:00 Superbike (17 laps)
13:00 Moto3™ (16 laps)
14:00 Moto2™ (17 laps)
15:00 Superbike (17 laps)
16:00 Kawasaki Z Cup (16 laps)
FIM CEV Repsol fans who have a ticket or invitation can come on Sunday to the Pass Center on the main access to the Algarve International Circuit paddock to pick up their pass for the Pit Lane walk which takes place before the start of racing.
In Spain, the races can be watched live via the MotoGP channel of Movistar TV, which will broadcast all of the races scheduled in the Moto3™ Junior World Championship, Moto2™ European Championship and Superbike European Championship categories. The Energy channel of Mediaset Spain also will cover the FIM CEV Repsol by broadcasting one race of each category in each meeting: the Moto3™ Junior World Championship (including both races when two are scheduled), the Moto2™ European Championship and the Superbike European Championship.
Moreover, the impact of the FIM CEV Repsol is reflected in the interest shown by channels such as BT Sports (UK) and Eurosport through Eurosportplayer (France, Germany, Belgium, Holland, Switzerland), which also provide coverage of the Moto3™ Junior World Championship, the Moto2™ European Championship and the Superbike European Championship with live broadcasts of each of the races scheduled for all meeting on one of their channels or via their digital media. In Italy, Sky will broadcast live during the whole season one race in both the Moto3™ Junior World Championship as well as in the Moto2™ European Championship. In Portugal, all races held this Sunday will be broadcast live on Sport TV.
Highlights of the races will be broadcast globally through FOX (Asia and Australia) and ESPN Deportes (Latin America).
In other countries, all races will be shown live on the Championship Youtube channel.
All the results and information on the Championship is on the official website: www.fimcevrepsol.com
More, from a press release issued by Palmeto PL Kawasaki:
American Kenny Noyes, who won the FIM CEV Championship on the final day of the 2014 season on his Palmeto ZX10R Kawasaki, begins his title defense from the second spot on the Portimao grid flanked by last year´s runner-up, Spaniard Carmelo Morales (Yamaha R1) on the pole and Frenchman Axel Maurin (Kawasaki) who starts third.
The reigning champion was fastest in the morning session, but concentrated on set-up and tire wear in the afternoon and was only bested by .2 by Morales in the final minutes of the session.
Conditions could be tricky with showers likely during the day. The Superbike class ail run two races starting at 12:00 and 3:00 PM.
Kenny Noyes. P:2 – 1:46.281
This is the most difficult track in the series for ms. I struggled here last year, finishing second and third, but never on the winning pace. Today we may have been too conservative in the afternoon as we tried to steady the bike. we managed to make it more comfortable but we made an exchange of agility for stability. We did make some long runs on used tires and we have a good pace, but we´ll work in the warm up to get back what we lost. We’ll need to do some work both on settings and electronics, but I believe we can be very competitive.