The Aruba.it Racing – Ducati team took it to the track once again in Sepang (Malaysia) for the sixth round of the WorldSBK championship. The circuit on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur recently underwent extensive renovations and was somewhat difficult to interpret early on as there was virtually no rubber on the new asphalt, which hindered grip and consequently speed. Lap after lap, however, the overall performance progressively improved and both Giugliano and Davies managed to take about 2.5 seconds off between FP1 and FP2, closing in 5th and 8th position respectively, 0.344 and 0.527 behind the provisional best time of 2:03.951.

Both riders focused the work with their crews on the chassis to adapt the Panigale R to the new surface and especially the modified banking in different corners, but also evaluated several compounds brought by Pirelli for the occasion. Giugliano and Davies will be back on track at 10:45 local time (CET +6) tomorrow to make the final adjustments ahead of Superpole 2 (13:55), to which both gained direct access.

Davide Giugliano (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati #34) – 2:04.295 (5th)

“The last time I lapped in Sepang was in 2014, and the track has improved a lot since then in terms of overall smoothness of the surface, but the new asphalt still hasn’t that much rubber on and is difficult to gauge. Some areas also stay wet quite a while after rainfalls, and it’s not easy to see them because the new surface is dark, but we’re all on the same boat. I’m happy because we’ve been quite constant and managed to make steps forward each time we went out, but the tyres face a big drop after about 5 laps and we need to understand how to manage them over race distance. I feel in good shape and I think we got progressively closer to the front, now it will be crucial to fulfill our potential after a few difficult races.”

Chaz Davies (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati #7) – 2:04.478 (8th)

“Today the track conditions were difficult. The new surface represents a challenge for everyone. At first there was hardly any grip and it was not easy to spot the areas that stay wet, but we’re also still just finding our way. We simply need to work on the bike and improve the setting, especially to make it turn better. We have a couple of reasonably good ideas, which have worked in the past, so we’re going to make some changes and see how it plays out tomorrow. We’ve been quite consistent today, but tyre wear remains a crucial variable and we’ll need find the optimal compromise to make sure we are competitive from beginning to end.”

More, from a press release issued by Kawasaki Motors Europe:

Rea And Sykes Work On Race Performance At Sepang

On a completely resurfaced track at Sepang in Malaysia KRT riders Jonathan Rea and Tom Sykes finished combined qualifying in tenth and 11th places respectively, as they concentrated their efforts on preparing for race one on Saturday afternoon rather than posting one fast lap time today.

With several other riders putting in soft tyres at the end of the first day, to try and get into Superpole 2 directly, Rea and Sykes preferred to work in their own way with race pace settings, to ensure they are fast over full race distance on the latest model Kawasaki Ninja ZX-10R.

After the first experience of the resurfaced and reprofiled asphalt at the 5.543km circuit in Sepang for all riders it has proved to be grippy, at the possible expense of accelerated tyre wear.

Hence both KRT riders worked right to the end of their available track time on Friday on finding a full race set-up, rather than go for one fast time on fresh tyres towards the end of the second hour.

The session finished just before a wet weather front came in and soaked the track, with thunder and lightning – and a few light spots of rain here and there – the backdrop to the end of the ever-changing second practice session.

Now Tom will go forward to Superpole 1, where he will ride to join Rea and the rest of today’s top ten in Superpole 2. This session will determine the final grid positions for race one on Saturday. The first 16-lap race of the weekend will be held at 16.00 local time in Malaysia.

Jonathan Rea stated: “I am good in the first split time and not so good in the middle two. We focused on using the harder tyre because I think for everybody it is quite a gamble to use the softer tyre on this new tarmac. It seems all the times in front were set on the softer tyres. So we are not panicking and just working for the race. Everything feels fine. We learned quite a lot today because we worked with the bike quite a lot – electronically we changed some things. Our consistency seems quite good it is just that the surface here is bringing a good lap time with the softer tyres.”

Tom Sykes stated: “We focused a lot more on durability and endurance today and I am very happy with our pace considering where we still need to improve. I think we have a good pace over distance. We sacrificed positions in qualifying to get that but it is not the end of the world. We just have to do three extra laps in Superpole tomorrow. I think we are prepared better for the race now after we made a small change, so it was better to understand that that than to put in a new tyre and go for a lap time. If we had done that we would probably have had two more question marks for tomorrow’s race. A 15-minute session on Saturday makes it very tricky to judge your race performance.”

Stand in rider for the injured Sylvain Barrier, Anthony West (Pedercini Racing Team Kawasaki), had a standout first day, going ninth overall and proving to be the fastest Kawasaki rider. Another Aussie, Josh Hook (Grillini Racing Team Kawasaki) was 18th. Gianluca Vizziello (Go Eleven Team Kawasaki) was 19th and Dominic Schmitter (Grillini Racing Team Kawasaki) 20th. Saeed Al Sulaiti (Pedercini Racing Team Kawasaki) placed 23rd.

More, from a press release issued by Honda:

Second place for Hayden in opening day of action at Sepang

Round 6 – Malaysia

Sepang International Circuit, Malaysia

Nicky Hayden and Michael van der Mark got an encouraging start to the Malaysian WorldSBK round by finishing in second and seventh places, respectively, in the combined classification of today’s two free practice sessions contested at the Sepang International Circuit. Therefore, the Honda WorldSBK duo will begin their battle for pole position directly from Superpole 2, which is scheduled for tomorrow at 13:55 local time (GMT +8).

The morning session saw Hayden and van der Mark in third and fourth places after sitting pretty in first and second until the very final minute of track action. The Honda CBR1000RR Fireblade SP machine proved to be competitive straight away on the track which only three weeks ago was fully resurfaced with changes made to the camber of some corners.

With dark clouds getting closer to the circuit, free practice 2 started in dry conditions but halfway into the session, drops of rain started to fall on sector two, which forced the majority of riders back into the pits. The rain stopped quite quickly, meaning riders could make the most of the remaining thirty minutes of track time before the chequered flag. In the very last part of the session, Nicky logged a 2’04.167 which helped him move all the way up to the front, before the American was displaced by Savadori in the final seconds. Van der Mark also improved his position and, with a 2’04.385 lap-time, he was 0.434secs off the lead, although only two tenths of a second away from his teammate.

Nicky Hayden 69

2nd / 2’04.167

We started off very well this morning, the bike felt great immediately and it was moving less off line in a lot of places. The team did a great job today, as every little tweak we made was in the right direction, even though the bike set-up didn’t really need any major change. It would have been nice to be the fastest, but at the end it’s only Friday. Regardless, we did some good laps and the long run we did in the second session went well. We’ll see how it goes tomorrow, because we have a relatively short morning practice and another short qualifying session tomorrow before race one.

Michael van der Mark 60

7th / 2’04.385

This morning we went out on track not knowing what to expect, as the whole circuit has been recently resurfaced. We had to find out how it was and in some areas it was quite tricky, because water was seeping through the asphalt. I immediately got a good feeling with the bike and step by step we were able to get quicker. This afternoon we made some small changes, nothing major really, and I felt I could have been faster in my last outing before the chequered flag. Nevertheless, I’m happy with the bike and how it well it handles; the only thing we need to work on is our race pace, to make sure the tyre can last until the end.

More, from a press release issued by Pata Yamaha:

Positive Pace for Lowes in Sepang Practice

Free practice

Alex Lowes took his Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK YZF-R1 to fourth position in the combined times at the Sepang International Circuit in Malaysia today as the MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship completed its first free practice sessions in the tropics. Qualifying directly for Saturday’s Superpole 2 shoot-out, Lowes’ best lap – a 2’04.262 – came in the final ten minutes of the afternoon’s session, beating the darkening skies and rolling thunderstorms that threatened to interrupt proceedings.

The newly-resurfaced Sepang Circuit offered up multiple challenges to the Pata Yamaha Team as it set about data-capture and strategy management ahead of the weekend’s two 16-lap races. With grip levels changing as almost every new lap was laid down, Lowes worked through numerous settings to refine the chassis balance on his YZF-R1 with a solid plan for more of the same come tomorrow’s final practice session at 10:45 local time.

Saturday’s schedule sees the British rider return to the 5,543m track for the afternoon with Superpole qualifying at 13:55 before the first Sepang WorldSBK race at 16:00.

Alex Lowes

4th / 2’04.262 / 29 laps

“Our best Friday position so far this season here at Sepang, as our raw pace and direction was better than it has been for the last few Fridays. We have also highlighted some areas today that definitely need to be improved for race distance, and I need to have more confidence on corner entry, but we have a clear plan now so let’s get our heads down and see if we can improve for tomorrow. The new surface gave a really strange feeling at the start as it’s unusual to progress by over 10 seconds during the day on a dry track! The damp patches and general grip has improved but let’s see what happens tomorrow now it’s rained so heavily.”

Paul Denning – Team Principal

“We got lucky today in getting two dry sessions as the big thunderstorm and heavy rain arrived just after the chequered flag of FP2. We certainly missed Sylvain today and the additional information that he could have delivered at a track that he has gone so well at in the past, but Alex did a great job on a very tricky new surface which changed in its grip characteristic almost every outing. No mistakes, full commitment every lap and when it counted Alex put together a couple of very strong laps to get himself towards the top of the timesheets. When rear grip is good in the YZF-R1, as we have seen many times, the lap times come to the riders relatively easily – in fact they can be surprised by how fast they have gone – but we are still trying, with the help of the factory engineers who are in attendance this weekend, to find the best balance in the chassis and electronics to allow Alex to have better confidence on worn tyres. There is not much time to work on that before the first race tomorrow so it will be a case of some educated guesses, qualify as best we can and see what we can do when the lights go out tomorrow afternoon.”