Editorial Note: The current race lap record is 1:37.864, set by Tom Sykes in 2016.
Acerbis French Round
Motul FIM Superbike World Championship
Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours
Magny-Cours, France
September 28, 2018
Free Practice Three Results (all on Pirelli tires):
1. Jonathan Rea, UK (Kaw ZX-10RR), 1:37.208
2. Alex Lowes, UK (Yam YZF-R1), 1:37.489
3. Tom Sykes, UK (Kaw ZX-10RR), 1:37.534
4. Michael Van Der Mark, Netherlands (Yam YZF-R1), 1:37.626
5. Lorenzo Savadori, Italy (Apr RSV4 RF), 1:37.702
6. Michael Rinaldi, Italy (Duc Panigale R), 1:37.710
7. Chaz Davies, UK (Duc Panigale R), 1:37.710
8. Marco Melandri, Italy (Duc Panigale R), 1:37.714
9. Xavi Fores, Spain (Duc Panigale R), 1:37.734
10. Eugene Laverty, Ireland (Apr RSV4 RF), 1:37.860
11. Loris Baz, France (BMW S1000RR), 1:38.038, mechanical
12. Leon Camier, UK (Hon CBR1000RR SP2), 1:38.307
13. Jordi Torres, Spain (MV Agusta F4 RC), 1:38.684
14. Toprak Razgatlioglu, Turkey (Kaw ZX-10RR), 1:38.911
15. Jake Gagne, USA (Hon CBR1000RR SP2), 1:39.008
16. Leandro Mercado, Argentina (Kaw ZX-10RR), 1:39.061
17. PJ Jacobsen, USA (Honda CBR1000RR SP2), 1:39.632
18. Jeremy Guarnoni, France (Kaw ZX-10RR), 1:39.919
19. Roman Ramos, Spain (Kaw ZX-10RR), 1:40.300
20. Matthieu Lussiana, France (Apr RSV4 RF), 1:44.526, mechanical
21. Jakub Smrz, Czech Republic (Yam YZF-R1), no lap time recorded, mechanical
Combined Practice Results (top 10 advance to Superpole Two, all on Pirelli tires):
1. Jonathan Rea, UK (Kaw ZX-10RR), 1:37.202
2. Tom Sykes, UK (Kaw ZX-10RR), 1:37.403
3. Alex Lowes, UK (Yam YZF-R1), 1:37.489
4. Lorenzo Savadori, Italy (Apr RSV4 RF), 1:37.503
5. Michael Van Der Mark, Netherlands (Yam YZF-R1), 1:37.626
6. Michael Rinaldi, Italy (Duc Panigale R), 1:37.710
7. Chaz Davies, UK (Duc Panigale R), 1:37.710
8. Marco Melandri, Italy (Duc Panigale R), 1:37.714
9. Xavi Fores, Spain (Duc Panigale R), 1:37.734
10. Loris Baz, France (BMW S1000RR), 1:37.856
11. Eugene Laverty, Ireland (Apr RSV4 RF), 1:37.860
12. Leon Camier, UK (Hon CBR1000RR SP2), 1:38.307
13. Toprak Razgatlioglu, Turkey (Kaw ZX-10RR), 1:38.661
14. Jordi Torres, Spain (MV Agusta F4 RC), 1:38.684
15. Jake Gagne, USA (Hon CBR1000RR SP2), 1:39.008
16. Leandro Mercado, Argentina (Kaw ZX-10RR), 1:39.061
17. Roman Ramos, Spain (Kaw ZX-10RR), 1:39.627
18. PJ Jacobsen, USA (Honda CBR1000RR SP2), 1:39.632
19. Jeremy Guarnoni, France (Kaw ZX-10RR), 1:39.741
20. Jakub Smrz, Czech Republic (Yam YZF-R1), 1:41.102
21. Matthieu Lussiana, France (Apr RSV4 RF), 1:44.526
More, from a press release issued by Dorna WSBK Press Office:
#FrenchWorldSBK Day 1: Rea marches on in France with top time on Friday
Top 9 split by half a second as magnificent Magny gets underway
Rea begins his fight for the title with a strong start to Saturday
Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) issued a strong statement of intent on Friday at the Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours, taking the top time in Free Practice as Round 11 of the MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship got underway in France. Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team) followed his teammate on the timesheets in second, with Alex Lowes (Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team) in third.
The Northern Irish rider said on Thursday that the “fairytale” result for him at the Acerbis French Round would be to clinch his fourth consecutive WorldSBK title with a win, and if his pace on Friday is anything to go by then Rea is in a prime position to do just that. A best time of 1’37.202 managed in FP1 was enough for the man from Ballymena to top the day’s timesheets, although he also claimed the fastest lap in FP3 to top off a near-perfect day.
Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) was also amongst the top three fastest in every Free Practice session on Friday, ending the day in second place in the combined standings. A strong effort overall from the Kawasaki Racing Team who could make history at the last European round of the year.
Lowes was closest to the KRT duo on Friday, closing the gap with Rea to 0.287 seconds with the third fastest time. He leads his way into Saturday ahead of Lorenzo Savadori (Milwaukee Aprilia), who put in another superb Friday performance to claim fourth fastest in France, whilst the fifth fastest time went to Michael van der Mark (Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team).
All four Ducati bikes on the grid managed to make their way into the top 10 on Friday, but not without some late drama as Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Aruba.it Racing – Junior Team), who had struggled in the first two sessions, finally found his pace in the closing minutes of FP3 and shot up to sixth on the timesheets. That lap momentarily put Chaz Davies (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) outside the top ten, but a strong final lap from the Welshman moved him up to seventh and above teammate Marco Melandri (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) in eighth, while Xavi Fores (Barni Racing Team) made his way into tomorrow’s Superpole 2 with the ninth fastest lap.
The late surprises in FP3 meant that the battle for the Superpole spots was fiercer than ever. Loris Baz (GULF Althea BMW Racing Team) managed to take the final position inside the top ten by just 0.004 seconds, to the delight of the home fans. Eugene Laverty (Milwaukee Aprilia) was the biggest victim of these changes, as he ended up eleventh at Magny-Cours and forced to figure his way through tomorrow’s Superpole 1.
A decisive and potentially historic day awaits! Watch tomorrow’s Superpole 1, Superpole 2 and Race One starting from 10:30 local time (08:30 GMT).
More, from a press release issued by Barni Racing Team:
Forés ninth in a tight timesheet at Magny Cours free practice
Magny Cours (FRA), 28th September 2018. Today Barni Racing team and his rider Xavi Forés kicked off the last European round of MOTUL FIM WorldSBK held by the Circuit de Nevers-Magny Cours, in the heart of France.
Forés started well in Free Practice 1 showing a good pace which let him to stay for almost all session in the top 3. Forés concentrated himself in finding the right setup for the race pace and ended the session 6th (1’38.371).
Due to a technical issue the flagbearer of the team from Bergamo was forced to drop all the second session and his Ducati Panigale R stayed at the box all time.
Forés continued his setup work in the afternoon session, determined to make another step. He carried on tweaking the bike‘s setting and put it to the test in the final minutes of FP3, when the rider field held their usual shoot-out to claim a spot in the Top 10 top combined FP timesheets. The Spaniard ultimately shaved off almost sixth tenth of a second off his morning result, securing the ninth place with a 1.37.734s lap, 0.532s off today‘s fastest time and only 0.108s off the top 5. Thanks to this result Forés will take part directly in the Superpole 2 at h.10.55 (CET).
Marco Barnabò, Principal Manager
“Unfortunately, due to a technical problem, we waste the second session and tests under different type of tyres became impossibile. Apart from this issue we are satisfied because we have a good pace and also in the fastest lap we are very close to the first group. We have to choose the right tyre for the race, but I think we were able to keep the right direction and we’ll continue to work tomorrow morning in free practice 4.”
Xavi Forés, #12
“This was a day of some ups and downs. I was to follow the second session from the box and it’s not funny at all when it happens, then in the last session we tried a tyre that did not give me much feeling. On the other side lap times are not so bad, neither on the race race nor on the single lap. Making a small improvement would let me to climb some positions, both in qualifying and in the race.”
More, from a press release issued by Red Bull Honda World Superbike Team:
Camier 12th, Gagne 15th in French Friday practice
French Round
Circuit Nevers Magny-Cours, France
The Red Bull Honda World Superbike Team made a steady start to the French WorldSBK round, as Leon Camier and Jake Gagne ended the opening day twelfth and fifteenth fastest respectively on combined times.
Incremental improvements were made by both riders in each practice session today, however their final practice times places them both in tomorrow’s Superpole 1 session for qualifying, where the top two riders graduate to Superpole 2.
Camier’s best time of 1’38.307 left him 1.105 seconds off the day’s benchmark time, while Gagne’s 1’39.008 saw him 1.806 seconds adrift. Both riders set their best times in the afternoon’s Free Practice 3 session.
Although lacking some pace over a single lap, both Camier and Gagne were able to show more competitive pace on used tyres, hinting that gains can be made in tomorrow’s 21 lap race.
The next #FrenchWorldSBK session is FP4 at 0845 local time (GMT +2) tomorrow before the Superpole sessions start from 1030. Race 1 gets underway at 1300 local time.
Leon Camier 2
It took us a while to get going today, we had a steady start then in the last session we made a setting change which was a move in the right direction and I felt better on the bike. We still need to find a chunk of lap time to challenge the guys ahead of us, but we have a good direction to move in now. This is a circuit where maintaining a quick pace is difficult, but we’ll continue grafting and hopefully can improve for Superpole and the race.
Jake Gagne 45
Today was OK, it was good that I have previous experience at Magny-Cours as it’s a real tricky track to get right. We were able to improve my pace throughout the day, but perhaps not as much as we would’ve liked. The pace on the used tyres was pretty good, but we just need to find a bit more pace tomorrow. I’ll sleep on what we’ve learned on tonight and will aim to make more progress tomorrow and move up the order.
Kervin Bos
Team Manager
After the first day at Magny-Cours we’re a bit down the order, but setting wise we made progress over the course of the day. We can lap quite consistently on used tyres, but we’re still not getting the best performance when the tyres are new, which hurt us today. However, for the race I think we can be better than our current position indicates. Leon feels his setting with the bike is good, we just need to find some tenths so he can challenge the riders ahead of him, while Jake was able to improve his pace throughout the whole day and is moving in the right direction. For FP4 we’ll try some adjustments to give the guys a better bike ahead of qualifying and Race 1.
More, from a press release issued by Gulf Althea BMW Racing Team:
Baz makes a positive start to Magny-Cours SBK weekend
Magny-Cours (France), Friday 28 September 2018
The Gulf Althea BMW Racing team is at the Magny-Cours circuit in France, taking to the track today with riders Loris Baz and Alessandro Delbianco for the first practice sessions making up round eleven of the Superbike World Championship and round 8 of the European Superstock1000 series.
SBK: Baz made a very encouraging start to the weekend at his home track, setting a best of 1’38.507 in the opening timed practice session which put him in eighth place at the end of the forty minutes. An excellent second session saw the Frenchman lower his previous time by a good seven tenths, a fastest lap of 1’37.856 projecting him into fourth position. In the day’s final timed practice, the Gulf Althea BMW rider worked to refine a few details on his BMW S 1000 RR together with his technicians. Baz was unable to improve any further on his time, but he nevertheless closed the day in tenth place, thus qualifying directly for tomorrow’s Superpole2.
Loris Baz:
“We’ve had a good day. I was immediately fast this morning and the bike was feeling good. FP2 also went well, despite a technical problem towards the end. Then, for some reason, my feeling with the bike wasn’t quite the same in the final practice but luckily, we just made the top ten, so we’re straight through to Superpole2 tomorrow. We still need to improve, and find a couple of tenths somewhere, but for now I’m happy. This is the closest I’ve been to the front on a Friday, so we’ll do our best to continue in this direction tomorrow and aim for top five.”
More, from a press release issued by Kawasaki:
Confident KRT Duo Lead Friday Practice
Championship leader Jonathan Rea (KRT) and his team-mate Tom Sykes went 1-2 after the first three WorldSBK practice sessions at Magny Cours, separated by 0.201 seconds at the end of Friday’s action.
With warm and sunny conditions contributing to the smooth running of the first three sessions at Magny Cours, Rea put in a strong initial showing at the round that offers him his earliest chance to make certain of the 2018 Riders’ Championship.
Posting the fastest Friday lap in the first of the three sessions Rea used the second free practice session to try out different chassis settings, before reverting to his more regular bike set-up in readiness for Superpole 2 and then race one on Saturday. He set a 1’37.202 personal best in FP1, demonstrating sub-lap record pace at a very early stage of the final European-based weekend of the season.
Hoping to have the title in his grasp at this round, before the next long haul round at the all new venue of El Villicum in Argentina, Rea is now concentrating on having the best opening race possible tomorrow, by approaching it in the same way as any other race this season.
Both official Ninja ZX-10RR riders had a more than positive opening day in France, with Sykes second fastest and feeling comfortable with his current pace and machine set-up.
Sykes set his fastest lap in the second of three sessions, for an early KRT 1-2 that builds confidence for all inside the team before the first 21-lap French WorldSBK race, which is scheduled for 13.00, local time on Saturday the 29th of September.
Toprak Razgatlioglu (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) placed 13th today, with Leandro Mercado (Orelac Racing VerdNatura Kawasaki) coming through to 16th this afternoon after a heavy fall at turn 17 in FP1. Roman Ramos (Team GoEleven Kawasaki) was 17th, with late call-up as a replacement for Yonny Hernandez, Jeremy Guarnoni (Team Pedercini Racing Kawasaki), ending his day 19th of the 21 riders at Magny Cours.
Jonathan Rea, stated: “We started well here and my second crono was under the lap record, so it seems like our bike is working pretty well. In FP3 we put the best package together and made a long run. I walked the track yesterday and it was a little bit dirty, you could see that, but its seems like the temperature this morning was really good. It also seems like our bike is a little bit easier to ride at this circuit because in the acceleration areas we have more torque power than aggressive power. That is helping us a little bit compared to last year. But I cannot really explain it, it was just fast.”
Tom Sykes, stated: “Today looked alright and felt alright. For whatever reason, I have turned up here with a slightly more clear head and my recovery from injury in the summer break feels stronger. I am also a bit more ‘bike fit’ after the Portugal race weekend. I am ready for action and I just want to finish the season strongly. This circuit here in France is really enjoyable to ride, especially in these nice weather conditions. The layout is fun and fast. The circuit has four sectors and each of them is a little bit different.”