Jonathon Rea Captures Heated Race 1 Win Aboard his Kawasaki at the MOTUL FIM World Superbike Championship on the TT Circuit Assen
The Unpredictable Weather and Asphalt Temperature Convinced the Riders to Opt for Medium Compound Rear Solutions, Such as the Standard SC1, While the Majority Used Standard SC2 and U0176 SC2 Development Solutions on the Front
ASSEN (Netherlands) – The MOTUL FIM World Superbike Championship was held in Netherlands at the TT Circuit Assen yesterday and was one of the most exciting rounds of the season. Race 1 marked the fourth win of the season for reigning World Champion Jonathon Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team), but this time, unlike the other races, the Northern Irishman had to battle all the way until the final corners to take the victory.
The rain that fell on the track on Friday and in the early hours of Saturday, forced the riders to use wet tires almost exclusively and for this reason, without any real points of reference for Race 1, various tires were selected. Although the asphalt temperature of 19°C convinced the riders to opt for medium compound rear solutions, such as the standard SC1, whereas on the front the majority went with the standard SC2 and the U0176 SC2 development solution.
It seemed like it would be a promising race for Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team) after he took his third Superpole of the season in the morning (the first two were at Phillip Island and Motorland Aragón) and the thirty-third of his career. However, unfortunately for the Akashi-based manufacturer’s rider, his luck did not hold out for the race.
When the red light went off, Sykes got off the pole well, with his teammate and Chaz Davies (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) close behind, followed by Sylvain Guintoli (Pata Yamaha Official WSBK Team) and hometown hero, Dutchman Michael Van der Mark (Honda World Superbike Team).
On the second lap, the 2013 World Champion was forced to yield the lead to teammate Jonathan Rea and in the meantime a leading trio was formed of the two Kawasaki riders and Ducati rider Chaz Davies. Just one second behind them Guintoli, Van der Mark and Nicky Hayden gave chase.
Van der Mark set off to chase down the podium runners, overtaking Guintoli and in the meantime, during the fourth lap, Davies got the better of Sykes and then Rea, moving temporarily into the lead.
On the sixth lap, Rea went wide, allowing Sykes and Van der Mark to get by, slipping back into fourth position. There were five riders from three different manufacturers all within just over a second of each other. Davies on Ducati, Sykes on Kawasaki, Van der Mark on Honda, Rea on Kawasaki and Hayden on Honda.
The Dutchman decided that he was not going to settle for the podium and on the eighth lap he overtook Sykes, moving into second place. On the next lap the Brit braked too late and went long, hurling his bike disastrously into the gravel and ending his race prematurely.
At the start of the 17th lap, Van der Mark made his move in the first corner to overtake Rea, who retaliated a bit later to take back the position. At the end of the same lap, Rea attempted to get the better of Davies, but his efforts were thwarted and he was forced to fend off the Dutchman again in order to hang onto second place.
A three-way battle began to decide the podium. During the 18th lap, Rea overtook Davies who was relegated to second place and then forced to yield another position to Van der Mark’s Honda.
The Dutchman had his sights set on the top step of the podium at all costs and on the 19th lap he moved into the lead, overtaking Rea, but then he went long and the Northern Irishman took it back. The young Dutch rider’s dreams were shattered during the penultimate lap when he crashed out, sending his bike hurling toward the safety barriers.
Rea and Davies battled down to the last corner for the top step of the podium, with the Ducati rider just two tenths behind the Kawasaki and Hayden clinching third place more than 2 seconds further back.
It was Rea who won the race with a 1.6 second advantage over Davies and 5.3 seconds ahead of Hayden, who rode to his very first Superbike podium finish.
Leon Camier also had an excellent result aboard his MV Agusta, finishing in fourth place 15 seconds behind the winner.
Race 1 Standings:
1) Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team)
2) Chaz Davies (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati)
3) Nicky Hayden (Honda World Superbike Team)
4) Leon Camier (MV Agusta Reparto Corse)
5) Jordi Torres (Althea BMW Racing Team)
6) Lorenzo Savadori (IodaRacing Team)
7) Markus Reiterberger (Althea BMW Racing Team)
8) Alex Lowes (Pata Yamaha Official WSBK Team)
9) Román Ramos (Team GoEleven)
10) Lucas Mahias (Pedercini Racing)
In Race 1 the riders rode into the unknown with little to no points of reference since, in the sessions held on Friday and Saturday morning, they were forced to use mainly wet tires. This explains why almost all the DIABLO™ Superbike solutions that Pirelli brought to this round were used in the race.
The most popular solution on the front was the standard medium, the SC2, but may riders also chose its development version, the U0176, both solutions that were able to provide the riders with better stability and riding precision than the SC1 could have.
On the rear, most of the riders used the standard SC1, the most natural choice when the SC0 cannot be used due to rather low temperatures. Those who did not use this solution resorted primarily to the U0989 SC1 development tire, including today’s race winner, Jonathan Rea.
Pirelli statistics for Race 1:
Number of tires available for each Superbike rider: 77, including 39 front and 38 rear
ABOUT PIRELLI
Founded in 1872, Pirelli is among the largest global tire makers, and focuses its business on the high end, premium product segment where it is a world leader. Present in over 160 countries, Pirelli has 22 manufacturing sites and employs approximately 38,000 people around the world. Successfully competing in motorsports since 1907, Pirelli is currently the exclusive supplier of the Formula 1 championship, the Superbike world championship, and many other championships around the world.
Pirelli Tire North America (PTNA) services NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement) member countries through its Modular Integrated Robotized System (MIRS) facility and research and development center at its Rome, Georgia headquarters, its state-of-the-art manufacturing plant in Silao, Mexico and its New York City, Montreal and Mexico City sales and marketing offices. The company manufactures, distributes and markets original equipment and replacement tires for export and domestic car/motorcycle applications (US, CA, MX) and Agro/Heavy Truck platforms (MX).
More, from a press release issued by Pata Yamaha:
Hail, Rain and Shine All In One Race for Pata Yamaha
It was a case of tyre gambles and pit stop strategies for the Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team at the Assen TT Circuit in The Netherlands today as the lights went out for the final MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship race of the weekend. After a bright and sunny start, a short but heavy downpour just minutes before the grid formed for the afternoon’s contest left Alex Lowes and Sylvain Guintoli lining up on a wet but drying track and under threatening skies. Lowes led the Yamaha charge with a hard-fought seventh in the challenging conditions, as Guintoli finished 11th.
With the unknown elements of how quickly the track would dry and if the rain would return, Lowes started race two on a fully wet setup. Quickly gaining from his 12th place grid position, the British rider used his knowledge of the track, and its difficult conditions, to his advantage. Running his YZF-R1 in the top ten from the outset, Lowes advanced to fifth by the 10th lap before deciding his optimal moment to change tyres. Returning to the track on slick rubber he quickly regrouped and was back in the battle for sixth by lap 16, collecting nine points from his seventh place finish as the chequered flag waved. Lowes leaves the fourth round having boosted himself to a top-ten championship position overall and looking to continue the development as the team move on to Imola, in Italy, in a fortnight’s time.
Believing the surface would dry almost immediately, as is normally the case at the Dutch track, Guintoli gambled on an intermediate rear tyre choice. Unfortunately for the Frenchman the conditions failed to comply. Struggling to generate the desired level of heat and grip in his rear tyres, Guintoli lost time at the start of the race preventing him from utilising the pit-stop window with the majority of the field. Picking up speed and positions at mid-race distance he concluded the 21-laps in 11th place, claiming five points and sitting eighth in the rider standings.
Alex Lowes
Race: 7th / +39.263 / 21 laps. Championship: 10th / 44 points
“It was a difficult race today because nobody quite knew what the weather was going to do or how the track was going to react to the changing conditions. I pushed the YZF-R1 as much as I could without risking our race and tried to manage the pit-stop window as best we could as a team. It’s a solid result with more important points, but it’s not where we want to be so we will keep on working to improve and develop as we have been and look forward positively to Imola.”
Sylvain Guintoli
Race: 11th / 1?24.948 / 21 laps. Championship: 8th / 58 points
“The conditions were really changeable for today’s race. I thought the track would dry a lot quicker than it did, because normally it dries really fast here, so I thought the intermediate would be good for the first lap, but it didn’t so I struggled. The plan was to have a good performance with the intermediates from the start and then swap to slicks, but unfortunately for the first five minutes of the race I lost a big, big amount of time and I could not get any heat in the rear tyres. This meant I had to change my strategy because we had lost so much time and I just couldn’t afford to pit. It was a struggle and unfortunately it was a gamble that just didn’t pay off.”
Paul Denning ? Team Principal
“A very challenging race day here in Assen for the teams and riders, but I’m sure very exciting for the fans of WorldSBK! It’s impossible to define what could or would have been the best race tactic based on the result because, when everyone is on the grid with black clouds above the track and extremely wet surface to contend with, it would have been a very brave guess to start the race with the knowledge that the track was going to dry as it did.
“Alex held back his pace in the rain to look after his tyres at the start – sensibly enough given that at that point he was hoping to go the distance – but as on Friday he looked very competitive in those conditions. The team did a great job with a very efficient pit stop to get him out on the slicks, but the bike was tough to ride on the slicks with the wet settings so with such unknown conditions in future we will take those lessons and apply a more compromised setting to the bike at the start of the race. Two solid point scoring finishes though for Alex and again a lot learnt.
“There is not much to say about Sylvain’s race today apart from an on the grid gamble simply didn’t work. The intermediate rear Pirelli wasn’t the right choice for the wet track at the start and any advantage of having that tyre as the track began to dry was negated by the fact that the wet front was already destroyed by that point. Sylvain could only bring the bike home and managed to do so and score some more points.
“Frankly speaking another challenging weekend, but that is what we expect at these early stages and Yamaha, the team and everyone involved in the project will take the lessons learnt from this weekend and strive to make amends in Imola in a couple of weeks.”