Motul FIM Superbike World Championship
TT Circuit Assen
Assen, Netherlands
April 28, 2017
Free Practice Two Results (All on Pirelli tires):
1. Jonathan REA, UK (Kawasaki ZX-10RR), 1:35.383
2. Chaz DAVIES, UK (Ducati Panigale R), 1:35.495
3. Tom SYKES, UK (Kawasaki ZX-10RR), 1:35.532
4. Jordi TORRES, Spain (BMW S1000RR), 1:35.812
5. Lorenzo SAVADORI, Italy (Aprilia RSV4 RF), 1:35.938
6. Leon CAMIER, UK (MV Agusta F4 RC), 1:36.095
7. Eugene LAVERTY, Ireland (Aprilia RSV4 RF), 1:36.150
8. Alex LOWES, UK (Yamaha YZF-R1), 1:36.226, crash
9. Marco MELANDRI, Italy (Ducati Panigale R), 1:36.270
10. Randy KRUMMENACHER, Switzerland (Kawasaki ZX-10RR), 1:36.292
11. Michael VAN DER MARK, Netherlands (Yamaha YZF-R1), 1:36.400
12. Stefan BRADL, Germany (Honda CBR1000RR), 1:36.459
13. Alex DE ANGELIS, San Marino (Kawasaki ZX-10RR), 1:37.058
14. Xavi FORÉS, Spain (Ducati Panigale R), 1:37.072
15. Raffaele DE ROSA, Italy (BMW S1000RR), 1:37.148
16. Roman RAMOS, Spain (Kawasaki ZX-10RR), 1:37.252
17. Leandro MERCADO, Argentina (Aprilia RSV4 RF), 1:37.591, crash
18. Nicky HAYDEN, USA (Honda CBR1000RR), 1:37.920
19. Ondrej JEZEK, Czech Republic (Kawasaki ZX-10RR), 1:38.507
20. Riccardo RUSSO, Italy (Yamaha YZF-R1), 1:38.584
21. Ayrton BADOVINI, Italy (Kawasaki ZX-10RR), 1:38.704
More, from a press release issued by Althea BMW Racing:
Althea BMW makes good inroads in practice at Assen
Assen (The Netherlands), Friday 28 April 2017
The Althea BMW Racing team are on track at the Assen TT circuit for round four of the 2017 Superbike World Championship. The team took part in the first SBK timed practice sessions with riders Jordi Torres and Raffaele De Rosa, and in STK1000 free practice with Marco Faccani.
SBK: In the first timed practice, which took place in the morning in cool conditions, Torres set to work on his BMW together with his technicians, closing in ninth place with a time of 1’36.865. De Rosa, who used the session to start to get to grips with his ‘new’ BMW S 1000 R, was not focusing on lap times of course, closing 18th with a time of 1’37.601.
In the afternoon’s session, the two Althea BMW men continued with the work and while De Rosa lowered his time by half a second, Torres improved by a full second, closing fourth thanks to a best time of 1’35.812 set in the final seconds. De Rosa finished in 16th place today (1’37.148).
Jordi Torres:
“We finished day one strongly. I’m pleased because we know we need to give it 100% right from the start, across all aspects of our work, and that’s what I’m trying to do here. The morning didn’t go badly, I had good pace, but I needed a good time in the afternoon to be sure – we were able to achieve that, and I’m pleased because I set it on my own and felt good on the bike. Tomorrow we’ll continue in this direction, giving it our all, I’m feeling confident…”
Raffaele DeRosa:
“I’m pleased to be back on the bike in Superbike but we knew it wouldn’t be easy after I’d spent so many months away from the track. We need to work step by step and for now I’m feeling confident. We’ve seen that Jordi is already quick, so the bike has the potential, we just need to stay focused and give it our all.”
More, from a press release issued by Kawasaki:
Rea Fastest As KRT Riders Start Well At Assen
The first day on track at Assen for the FIM Superbike World Championship riders ended with Jonathan Rea and Tom Sykes fastest and third fastest respectively, posting lap times that were already under the existing lap record.
Despite the cold track surface the pace was hot from the start, with Sykes and Rea 1-2 in the morning session, before Rea took the lead this afternoon. Sykes finished third, just 0.149 seconds behind.
With Friday the most important day in terms of machine set-up under the Saturday/Sunday race format in WorldSBK, Rea worked his way through possible set-up and tyre options on his Ninja ZX-10RR before selecting the ideal one for the prevailing conditions. He then posted a 1’35.383 lap to lead the charge of the top ten riders into Superpole 2 on Saturday.
For Sykes Friday was proof that his physical condition is improving, despite still suffering some adverse effects from an existing stomach infection. He was instantly happy with the performance and feel of his Ninja ZX-10RR today, boosting his confidence as he approaches both Superpole 2 and then the opening race of the weekend, on Saturday 29th April.
With air temperatures in single figures at times today there is hope of improved weather conditions as the weekend progresses. This will require both KRT riders to keep working on set-up right through to the beginning of the two 21-lap races, which will start at 13.00 CET each day.
Jonathan Rea, stated: “I am really satisfied with today as we managed to set up the bike a little bit in the morning and confirm some suspension items we have been testing recently, in Motorland Aragon and Portimao. Once we confirmed those, in the afternoon we decided to make a long run with some of the new Pirelli tyre options that they brought for both the front and the rear. I rolled out of that simulation after half distance and came into the pits. We tried another set of tyres and went back to the morning settings, which had different final gear ratios and were a little bit softer in the suspension. I felt a little bit more comfortable then. I made a pretty much a full race simulation at a pace I feel quite satisfied with. After gaining that knowledge I know exactly the critical areas to improve to be strong at the end of the races. As far as Fridays go, today’s has been a positive one.”
Tom Sykes, stated: “I feel a bit better than Motorland Aragon but compared to my full fitness there is still a long way to go. I am enjoying riding Assen, that’s for sure, and the bike is working really well. It was nice, considering my condition to have been under the race lap record pace in the first free practice. That enabled me to relax. I feel quite happy with our set-up, even this early, and I feel ready to race on Saturday – which is the main thing. We had a good test in Motorland Aragon and things have carried forward to here so I feel prepared for the races. Today I did quite a lot of laps and I feel that, for the race, there should be no problem – so I am happy about that.”
More, from a press release issued by Aruba.it Racing Ducati:
Second-best time for Chaz Davies in the opening day at Assen, Marco Melandri is 10th
The Aruba.it Racing – Ducati team resumed action at Assen for the fourth round of the 2017 WorldSBK Championship. In typical, cold weather conditions (about 10 degrees in the air and 15 on the tarmac), Chaz Davies posted the second-best time of the day while Marco Melandri closed in tenth place in the combined rankings.
Both riders took advantage of the two free-practice sessions to work on the setup of the Panigale R and evaluate the several tyre compounds, front and rear, brought for the occasion. The Welshman, third in the morning, took about half a second off in between sessions to finish with a personal best of 1:35.495, only 0.112 seconds behind provisional leader Rea.
Melandri, tenth in the morning, significantly reduced the gap from the top in FP2, temporarily climbing back to the margins of the top five, but closed in tenth position (+0.887) without mounting, unlike most of his rivals, a fresh rear tyre towards the end. Both riders thus gained direct access to Superpole 2.
The Aruba.it Racing – Ducati team will resume action tomorrow at 08:45 (CET) for the third and final free-practice session ahead of Superpole and Race 1 (scheduled for 13:00).
Chaz Davies (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati #7) – 1:35.495 (2nd)
“I’m quite happy with our performance for today. I feel like we’re still off the mark in some areas, but not far, especially when it comes to lap times. We did a medium-size run, the lap times came more easily towards the end and the tyres looked quite good, so that’s positive. We just need to tidy up a few things, in particular we need to get more stability as the bike behaves a bit wildly here and there, especially in the faster parts of the track, in order to get it to turn better from straight braking until the apex. The forecast says it should be dry for the rest of the weekend, so… fingers crossed.”
Marco Melandri (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati #33) – 1:36.720 (10th)
“We struggled a bit in FP1, while in FP2 things went better but we still risked to be pushed out of the top ten without using a new tyre in the final minutes. Anyway, we got progressively closer to the top, and our pace is decisively better than this morning, so I’m quite confident about our potential. We know where we need to improve, especially in the first sector, but we still need to fill some gaps. In particular, we need to focus on grip because, despite having improved the feeling on the front, we need to improve consistency with the rear.”
More, from a press release issued by Dorna WSBK Press Office:
Rapid Rea ends Friday sessions on top
World Champion outpaces rivals on day one at Assen, with Davies and Sykes also in top three
Friday’s action at the Acerbis Dutch Round saw Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team) set a marker for his rivals with a 1’35.383 lap to top the FP2 timesheet as he rode consistently fast around the TT Circuit Assen. He was joined by Chaz Davies (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) and Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team) in the top three on the combined Friday timesheet, with Davies trailing the World Champion by +0.112s and Sykes being +0.149s behind his teammate.
Rea has an excellent record at the Dutch venue having won nine WorldSBK races there and having taken double victories in the last two visits to the Netherlands. His Friday pace suggests he will be as strong as ever on Saturday and Sunday after his excellent start to 2017 so far.
Behind the top three in FP2 were Jordi Torres (Althea BMW Racing Team) and Lorenzo Savadori (Milwaukee Aprilia), who both made the top five. Savadori improved significantly from FP1 having had technical problems which hampered him in the morning outing.
Behind sixth placed Leon Camier (MV Agusta Reparto Corse) was Savadori’s teammate Eugene Laverty in seventh, as the Milwaukee Aprilia team appeared to take a step forward on Friday afternoon.
The top ten was completed by Michael van der Mark (Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team), Alex Lowes (Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team) and Marco Melandri (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati). Randy Krummenacher (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) just missed out on an automatic SP2 spot in 11th, with Xavi Fores (BARNI Racing Team) in 12th having experience a technical issue with his Ducati.
Van der Mark could not improve his time in FP2 having made a good start to his home round in fourth in FP1. Meanwhile, it was not a great day for Lowes as the Englishman first crashed in FP1 and then had a high-speed crash on the Yamaha YZF R1 in FP2. He ended up ninth overall, having been outside the top ten in the morning session.
Bradl also crashed in FP1 and concluded the day down in 13th, with his Red Bull Honda World Superbike Team behind him in 14th, meaning both will ride in Tissot Superpole 1 on Saturday morning.
There was also an FP2 crash for Leandro Mercado (IODARacing), leaving the Argentine rider down in 18th on the timesheet.
Earlier in the day Sykes set the FP1 pace with a 1’35.676 lap, placing him ahead of his teammate Rea and Welshman Davies in the top three on the morning timesheet.
The WorldSBK riders will be back on track at the Acerbis Dutch Round for FP3 at 8.45am local time on Saturday, with SP1 at 10.30am, SP2 at 10.55am and Race 1 at 1pm.
More, from a press release issued by Pata Yamaha:
Pata Yamaha Wraps up First Day of Action in Assen
Free practice
The Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team were back on track today for the first free practice sessions of the Dutch WorldSBK weekend at the TT circuit Assen. Local hero Michael van der Mark made a solid start, taking eighth overall in the combined practice times whilst teammate Alex Lowes suffered bad luck with two unfortunate crashes. Despite the falls he was unhurt and was able to secure ninth overall at the end of the day.
Van der Mark started his first ever run on the Assen track as an official Yamaha rider on his YZF-R1 with a special orange highlighted livery on both the bike and his Alpinestars leathers, celebrating Dutch pride the day after the King?s birthday. He took a longer run in FP1, getting a feel for the circuit he knows well, on a machine he is still discovering. The young Dutchman was able to evaluate both the soft and harder option tyres available for the race weekend, with the harder currently working better for the race distance. He will work tomorrow morning with the team to make another step and be ready to represent Yamaha in front of the Dutch crowd in the first WorldSBK race. Van der Mark completed day one in eight overall, 0.800s from first position.
Teammate Lowes had a more challenging start to his Assen weekend, taking high-speed tumbles in both the morning and afternoon practice sessions. Despite falling at two of the quickest points of the circuit, the young Brit was able to bounce back with just bruises and regroup to be ready for tomorrow. Crashes aside Lowes was also on good form, finding a solid starting set up to build on for the race weekend. He completed the day in ninth overall, 0.843s from the top.
Michael van der Mark Profile 2017 Michael van der Mark – 8th, 1’36.183
“This morning we started off quite well, my first time here with the Yamaha. I made quite a long run to get used to the bike on the track, then we made some changes that made it even better. At the end I did my fastest lap time with a soft tyre, but we know that the soft tyre is probably not the tyre for the race tomorrow so we knew that in the afternoon we had to work on the harder tyre. We found some positive points with it, but in the end I want to see if we can make it work with the softer one also. I think for today I’m satisfied and I’m sure that tomorrow we can improve my rhythm and speed on the R1.”
Alex Lowes Profile 2017 Alex Lowes – 9th, 1’36.226
“It was a tough day today, I made a mistake in the first session and clipped the inside kerb in turn 12, unfortunately one of the quickest corners. In the second session I had another really fast crash and so missed a lot of track time. It’s been a bit disappointing and I’m a little bit beaten up but I’m ok. The bike actually feels good round here, so I’m looking forward to tomorrow to get back to work on track. We need to take some time to analyse what happened today and why; whether it was just my errors, and what we can do to avoid these in future. Honestly, as bad as it looks and despite the scrapes and bruises I’m feeling quite good and looking forward to the race tomorrow. I’m reasonably happy with the set up, maybe we will make some small changes but the R1 is nice to ride here . I need to say a big thanks to my team for the work already done today, and the work they are going to have to do to make up for two crashes tonight.”
Paul Denning
“It’s been a cold and challenging day for the team here at Assen for different reasons on different sides of the garage. The basic character of the R1 suits the flowing nature of the circuit but to be ready for Michael’s home race we still need to find the best balance in the bike. With two consistent sessions and a lot of laps under his belt the crew is confident of making a good step forward tomorrow. As always Michael, particularly at Assen, and flying the orange colours of his home country, is sure to be pushing as hard as anyone and we are looking forward to a very combative performance. Alex has had an extremely tough day at the office; the fact that he is relatively unscathed is a big relief. Only doing four laps in FP2 is clearly a disadvantage for the race preparations, but let’s see where we are tomorrow. I am confident that over race distance we can turn today’s issues around and get involved in the fight for a good result.”
More, from a press release issued by MV Agusta:
LEON CAMIER ENTERS THE TISSOT-SUPERPOLE2 AFTER OPENING DAY AT ASSEN
Leon Camier set the 6th fastest overall time in today’s FP1-FP2 and entered the Tissot-Superpole2 at Assen, during the 4th round of the MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship; in WorldSSP PJ Jacobsen took his MV Agusta F3 675 in 2nd place, while Alessandro Zaccone ended up 16th, getting the 2nd place in the ESS class.
WorldSBK – FP1, FP2
With a 1’36,095 lap time, obtained in the afternoon’s FP2 session on track, today Leon Camier took the 6th position in WorldSBK timesheet, entering the Tissot-Superpole2. After working on his F4 RC setting during the first qualifying round, the British rider from Team MV Agusta Reparto Corse showed a solid race pace along the 4.542 km of the Dutch demanding track. Tomorrow, Leon will be back on track fighting for the top 12 positions in the Tissot-Superpole2 (10.55 local time), then he will face Race1 (13.00 local time) of this 4th round of the WorldSBK World Championship.
WorldSSP – FP1, FP2
After having scored the best time in the morning FP1, thanks also to the excellent feeling with his MV Agusta F3 675, Patrick PJ Jacobsen went in search of the provisional pole in the second and last heat of the day. Despite the missed goal, the 23-years-old American rider ended up with a great 2nd time (1’39.122), less than 0.2s far from the top rider and World Champion Kenan Sofuoglu.
PJ’s teammate Alessandro Zaccone closed in 16th position, setting the 2nd time in the ESS category.
Leon Camier #2 WorldSBK – I can honestly say it was a positive session all in all. We suffered a few problems in the middle of the second session but we fixed it and we found a good pace on race tyres as well. I think there is still room for improvement and the plan for tomorrow is to try another setting to make the bike easier to ride when pushing for the lap time.
Patrick PJ Jacobsen #99 WorldSSP – Today we achieved a very good result. I got the first position in FP1 and I ended up 2nd in FP2 this afternoon, after trying several setting on the bike. In the afternoon we had to take a different direction with the bike setting and it seemed working really well, so let’s stay focused for the Tissot-Superpole2 tomorrow afternoon.
More, from a press release issued by Red Bull Honda World Superbike Team:
Red Bull World Superbike Team looking for improvement after opening day at Assen
Dutch Round
TT Circuit Assen, Netherlands
The Red Bull Honda World Superbike Team has completed the first day of action at the TT Assen Circuit, where the fourth round of the 2017 FIM Superbike World Championship is currently underway. Stefan Bradl and Nicky Hayden were thirteenth and fourteenth, respectively, in the combined times of today’s two free practice sessions. Therefore, both riders must try and make their way through Superpole 1 in order to join the qualifying battle for the first four rows of the grid.
After crashing unhurt in the final stages of free practice 1, Bradl was able to improve his performance on board the new Honda CBR1000RR Fireblade SP2 as he lapped more than eight tenths of a second faster in the afternoon session. The 27-year-old German rider was only 0.189secs away from a top-10 finish, which would have guaranteed him access to Superpole 2.
The day started off well for Hayden, who was sixth at the end of the FP1 and 0.8secs away from the fastest time of that session. Unlike his team mate, however, the 35-year-old American was unable to improve his times in the afternoon – due to a technical issue during Free Practice 2 which limited his track-time – meaning that the 1’36.512secs lap set in the morning turned out to be his quickest of the day.
World Superbike action will resume tomorrow at 8:45am local time (GMT +2) for the 25-minute Free Practice 3 session, followed by Superpole 1 (10:30) and Race 1 (13:00).
Stefan Bradl 6
13th / 1’36.459
This morning we went out with the new spec engine but we had a few issues that required some extra work. We were able to sort them out for the afternoon session, but we now have to work on the feeling at the rear end of the bike, which is not quite there at the moment. Clearly that’s not the way we wanted to start the weekend, but hopefully we’ll be able to make some more progress tomorrow.
Nicky Hayden 69
14th / 1’36.512
This morning I was able to make some decent lap times and, considering the fact that we were not using the soft tyres, things were looking promising for the afternoon. Unfortunately, we lost the whole session due to some issues with the clutch and engine braking. It’s a shame, really, because FP2 is the only session when you can work with similar conditions to the race. The team is now investigating, so the goal is to come up with a good plan for tomorrow.
Pieter Breddels
We were happy to see Nicky in the top 6 this morning. He rode well and was not too far away from the front runners. We were hoping to improve again this afternoon, but unfortunately we experienced some issues – which we are now investigating – and he had to sit out the whole session. Stefan had quite a difficult time this morning in trying to find the feeling with the bike, and this afternoon he was able to make up some ground, but he’s still not fully comfortable. We are going to work overnight and we will use all the track-time available tomorrow in order to come up with some changes and be prepared for qualifying and the race.