More, from a press release issued by Dorna WorldSBK Press Office:
#PRTWorldSBK – Day 2
Rea takes commanding Portimao Race 1 victory
Reigning Champion makes it 10 victories at Portimao as Kawasaki claim their 150th race victory in thrilling race
The weekend racing action started at the Autodromo Internacional do Algarve with thrilling battles on track with Race 1 from MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship. Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) claimed a dominant victory of five seconds to reassert himself in the Championship fight.
It was the perfect way to bounce back from Rea’s worst race finish in six years when he finished sixth at Jerez in Race 2 by taking a commanding victory from pole position, with no one able to match the Northern Irishman throughout the 20-lap race. He was initially challenged by Toprak Razgatlioglu (PATA YAHAMA WorldSBK Official Team) but a stunning lap time on Lap 4, half a second quicker than Razgatlioglu, meant he pulled out around a second from the Turkish sensation.
Razgatlioglu finished a comfortable second, five seconds behind Rea but almost two seconds clear of his PATA Yamaha teammate Michael van der Mark as Yamaha secured two spots on the podium; showing impressive pace in both Tissot Superpole and Race 1 to cement their status as front runners in WorldSBK.
Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) finished in fourth place after starting the race in third, having battled his way back through the field in an epic battle with Loris Baz (Ten Kate Racing Yamaha), Scott Redding (ARUBA.IT Racing – Ducati) and, initially, van der Mark. While van der Mark was able to escape after passing Baz and Lowes at Turn 2 on Turn 10, the rest continued their epic battle. Van der Mark also dramatically lost pace when he had a false neutral on his bike, losing around six tenths before fighting back for a podium.
Redding had initially made his way from eighth to fight for a podium but lost pace in the latter stages in the race, as he fell back to Lowes on Lap 15 before Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Team GOELEVEN) passed him on Lap 18 at Turn 1 before Baz followed him through at Turn 3. It meant Rinaldi finished fifth, continuing his impressive recent pace, ahead of Baz as the two Independent riders claimed a top six finish. Redding finished in seventh place, just holding off the challenge from Tom Sykes (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team); Sykes claiming a top 10 finish after starting fourth.
Alvaro Bautista (Team HRC) finished in ninth place after showing some late-race pace to apply the pressure to Sykes and Redding, but the Spanish rider was unable to gain enough. Eugene Laverty (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) claimed a top 10 finish as BMW scored a top 10 finish with both riders. Chaz Davies (ARUBA.IT Racing – Ducati) finished in 11th place, holding off the challenge from Leon Haslam (Team HRC) by one tenth as they crossed the line.
Xavi Fores (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) finishing in 13th place onboard his Kawasaki, holding off a late-race challenge from Garrett Gerloff (GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Junior Team); the pair having a drag race to the line with Spanish rider Fores holding on by just 0.042s. Gerloff’s teammate, Federico Caricasulo, claimed the final point paying position in the race with 15th.
Sandro Cortese (OUTDO Kawasaki TPR) was the only rider who crashed during the race, as he fell on the last lap at Turn 11, but Cortese is conscious following the accident. The German was transferred to Faro hospital following the incident where he will undergo surgery to stabilize a fractured vertebrae, with Cortese currently showing no signs of neurological impairment. He also suffered from a fracture of the right tibial bone.
P1 Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK)
“It was a fantastic race; I want to thank my team because they gave me a great bike. I felt good from Lap 1. We’ve been working all day yesterday with our rhythm to understand all the tyres available to us. I want to thank them because we made a good decision together. I set my rhythm at the start and managed the race in a good way. It was my first proper long race win of the season and I want to dedicate it to all the fans who aren’t here, especially everybody from back home, normally Portugal is full of my fans but I see your messages on Facebook and Instagram and it really gives me a lot of power after last week so this one is for you.”
P2 Toprak Razgatlioglu (PATA YAMAHA WorldSBK Official Team)
“We tried for a win today, but it wasn’t possible as Jonny was so fast. I tried for a good position, I followed Jonny for maybe four or five laps but after that he went. I started sliding too much, so finished in second position. I’m happy and tomorrow we try a different setup for a better position.”
P3 Michael van der Mark (PATA YAMAHA WorldSBK Official Team)
“I’m really happy with this podium. If I look back at the race, I was really comfortable with the bike. My bike went in neutral, so I went off track, and I had some moments at Turn 9 so it wasn’t easy. I’m happy to get back on the podium, and it’s great to have Toprak on the podium as well. I think we just need to make some small changes on the bike for tomorrow, especially when it’s warm, but I’m happy with this podium and it feels great to see some fans around the track again.”
More, from a press release issued by Pata Yamaha:
Pata Yamaha Scores Scintillating Double Portimão Podium
The Pata Yamaha WorldSBK Official Team with Rizla duo of Toprak Razgatlıoğlu and Michael van der Mark fought to second and third positions respectively in Race 1 of the third round of the FIM Superbike World Championship today.
Razgatlıoğlu made a clean start to convert his second-place qualifying directly into P2, but it turned into a somewhat lonely race for the young Turkish rider who quickly pulled a safe gap to the chasing pack but, despite adding pressure in the first five laps, was unable to catch pole-sitter Jonathan Rea.
By contrast, van der Mark provided a big dose of excitement at the Autódromo Internacional do Algarve. Starting from fifth on the grid at one of his favourite circuits, the 27-year-old became embroiled in a thrilling four-way battle for the remaining podium position.
If not for a missed gear-shift which forced him to run wide at Turn 14 which relegated him to sixth in the early stages of the race, Van der Mark could potentially have also challenged with his teammate at the front. Instead the Dutchman provided the bulk of the entertainment this afternoon, with a masterful “two for the price of one” overtake on Alex Lowes and Loris Baz at the start of lap nine, followed by a smooth pass on the inside of Scott Redding to ultimately take third position on lap 12.
The action does not stop here as tomorrow, following a short 15-minute warm up at 9:00 local time (GMT+1), the Pata Yamaha riders will once again aim to fight for victory and podium honours with the 10-lap Tissot Superpole Race at 11:00 followed by the second full-length, 20-lap Race 2 at 14:00.
Toprak Razgatlıoğlu: P2
“A second position finish and I’m happy with that, but tomorrow maybe we will look for something different. I tried to go with Johnny but it was not possible after five laps because he was very fast today. But we are happy, again on the podium, P2 and very good points. I found the rear tyre sliding too much, because as I was fighting for second position I saw that Johnny had good grip. Sometimes I tried hard braking to catch him, but it’s not enough. Tomorrow we will look for a different set-up on my R1 to fight for the win, because we need good points and a good position – we will see tomorrow, but we will try to win the races.”
Michael van der Mark: P3
“I must be happy to be finally back on the podium in normal conditions! This morning felt okay, and we made a good step with the bike and in Superpole, P5 was okay for me. In the race, to be honest, I struggled a little bit already at the beginning with the front feeling. I couldn’t brake as late as others did, and then I hit neutral and ran off track. After that I tried to stay calm, but with the temperature going up the bike changed quite a lot and I didn’t have the same good feeling like I had in the morning. But step-by-step I got closer to the front again, and you know in the end it’s good to be back on the podium and it’s good to have Toprak there as well. If you look at the results, the Yamaha bikes are doing a fantastic job, we are fast but we’re not quite winning yet – we need to find some more traction and front feeling, especially when the temperature goes up. That’s the main area where we need to improve but I am sure we will find something to make a step and fight for victory.”
Paul Denning – Team Principal
“Third round of the championship and the first double podium for the Pata Yamaha Official team this year, so congratulations to both of our riders, the crew and Yamaha’s engineers for all their efforts in delivering this positive result! Honestly speaking, both riders are actually a bit disappointed with what they were able to achieve speed-wise over race distance and both want to make a step forward for tomorrow. Certainly, that will be the same for all our competitors, with the exception of maybe Jonathan who looked incredibly comfortable. For the team and for Yamaha, it’s always a positive sign if both of the riders are on the podium and both feel they need to make a further step forward still.”
More, from a press release issued by Kawasaki:
Rea Takes Clear Saturday Win
Kawasaki Racing Team rider Jonathan Rea rode from pole to the chequered flag in the lead of the opening WorldSBK race of the Portimao race weekend, recording his third race victory of the 2020 season. KRT rider Alex Lowes was a battling fourth.
In warm and dry conditions at the undulating 4.592km circuit in Portugal five times champion Rea took his personal race win tally at this venue to ten. Jonathan eased out to an early lead that would grow to over five seconds at the flag from Toprak Razgatlioglu.
Today’s race win was the 150th for Kawasaki in the overall history of the FIM Superbike World Championship since the start in 1988.
Rea took his first long distance race victory of the season, after winning the ten-lap Tissot-Superpole races in Australia and, most recently, Spain.
In Tissot-Superpole Rea took his 24th career success in this specialised aspect of a WorldSBK race weekend, earning the best starting position. Lowes, having worked hard on his race set-up in this his first Portimao ride for Kawasaki, was third on the grid after a strong Superpole performance.
Alex lost some initial ground in the race and was passed by some of his rivals before improving his understanding of his set-up at the tricky Portimao hillside circuit. He was to get to within 2.8 seconds of the podium places.
After the opening race of the Portimao weekend, and with the championship points leader Scott Redding finishing only seventh today, Jonathan rode to within eight points of the leader. Alex is fourth overall, 22 points from the lead.
There is a lot of racing left in the Portuguese weekend, as Rea and Lowes will now face one ten lap Tissot-Superpole race and then a second full 20-lap race two, both to be held on Sunday 9 August.
Jonathan Rea, stated: “A great weekend so far. We arrived focused on the race and we knew it was going to be a hot 20 laps. The work we have been doing in the summer in the ‘pre-season’ before the restart has been really good, especially in the heat. I was able to understand the level of tyre drop and adjust my position on the bike accordingly. I really enjoyed the race because when the gap on the pit board is increasing, it is a lot of fun. Thanks to all the Kawasaki Racing Team because I think we got the best out of the Ninja ZX-10RR today. We learned a lot for tomorrow as I think this is the first time I did 20 laps in succession this weekend. Just at the end of the race there are still some things we can try to improve for tomorrow. All-in-all, a really positive day.”
Alex Lowes, stated: “I chose the SCX rear tyre and to be honest I do not think it was working so well in the afternoon because I had so many big slides at the start. Like all the other guys I had some problems with the front grip at the end but I felt that I could manage quite well and I kept my pace. For my first proper go in attack mode around here on the Kawasaki, I have had quite a good day and I am hoping to make some improvements for tomorrow. I was hoping I could challenge for the podium but unfortunately not. I think I can improve myself a bit and we can also improve the bike set-up, so our target is to do a bit better on Sunday.”
Xavi Fores (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) was 14th today and Maximilian Scheib (Orelac Racing VerdNatura Kawasaki) 21st. Sandro Cortese (Outdo Kawasaki TPR) suffered a crash in the final lap and was taken to hospital by helicopter to ascertain the extent of his injuries. Everyone in the Kawasaki family wishes him a speedy recovery.
More, from a press release issued by Aruba.it Racing Ducati:
#PRTWorldSBK Race-1. Difficult race for Redding and Davies, seventh and eleventh respectively under the chequered flag.
It was a tough Saturday for the Aruba.it Racing – Ducati team at the Algarve International Circuit in Portimao.
Scott Redding and Chaz Davies were not able to be incisive in the morning qualifying and were forced to start from eighth and thirteenth position respectively.
In the first half of the race, Redding was convincing. The British rider immediately recovered two positions and between the fifth and the eighth lap attacked Lowes (Kawasaki), Van Der Mark (Yamaha) and Baz (Yamaha) to move into third position. From lap 10, however, his race pace dropped drastically and did not allow him to defend the podium forcing him to pass under the checkered flag in seventh position.
Despite a good start, Chaz Davies also could not find the best feeling during the race. The Welsh rider, however, had the merit of not giving up and in the last 2 laps, he managed to recover three positions finishing in P11.Scott Redding is still leading the Superbike World Championship standings with 107 points, 8 points ahead of Rea (Kawasaki).
Chaz Davies (62 points) is in sixth position, 1 point behind Van Der Mark (Yamaha).
P7 – Scott Redding (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati #45)
“Despite the problems in qualifying I got off to a good start and managed to get my way through the field to reach the podium positions. The feeling, though, wasn’t the best. I struggled to get the bike working in the right way throughout the race and in the last 6/7 laps things got worse. I gave my best to defend the position as long as I could. We have to work tonight to solve the problems and get in the right conditions to fight for the podium tomorrow”.
P11 – Chaz Davies (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati #7)
“It’s been a very difficult day and I must admit I’m disappointed, especially after the weekend in Jerez when feelings and results were very positive. I have had problems with the bike since the early laps and we will try to understand what happened to find a solution for tomorrow’s two races”.
More, from a press release issued by Barni Racing:
Melandri and Barni Racing Team failed to recover positions in race 1 at Portimao
Portimao (POR), 8 August 2020. For the Barni Racing Team and Marco Melandri the first of the three races in the Autodromo do Algarve at Portimao circuit, Portugal – home of the third round of the Superbike World Championship – ended with a disappointing 17th place.
After a complicated qualifying session, ended with a time of 1’42.873, Melandri started from 19th on the grid and failed to make a “Jerez-style” comeback, when – starting from the same position of the grid – he had managed to climb back up to eighth place in race 1. The bumpy asphalt of the Portuguese track didn’t make it any easier for the rider from Ravenna, still struggling with his problems to adapt to the Ducati Panigale V4 R. The Barni Racing Team rider was never able to find a fast and steady pace to try overtaking and he had to settle for 17th position, gaining experience and data on a bike he doesn’t yet know thoroughly.
The team is already working on analyzing the data collected with the aim to improve the race pace in view of the double appointment on Sunday: the Superpole Race is scheduled tomorrow at 11:00 local time (12:00 in Italy), while race 2 will start at 14:00 in Portimao.
Marco Melandri
Superpole: P19 (1’42.873) – Gara 1: P17
“So far, the whole weekend has been hard. We tried to chase the improvements, but changing a lot we have never found significant benefits. In the race we started with a slightly different set-up to the Superpole, in some areas things were going better, in others we are still struggling. After few laps I was struggling to stop the bike and make it spin quickly. We have to keep our spirit high by getting as much data as possible and then we have to put everything in order for Aragon, which will be a better track for us.”
Marco Barnabo, Team Principal
“I am disappointed with these results because everyone is working hard to find a good setup and make sure Marco can exploit the potential of the bike, so far this has not been possible. There is nothing else to do but continue our work to find the best way to fight back into the positions that counts.”
More, from a press release issued by BMW Motorrad Motorsport WorldSBK Team:
Top ten finishes for Sykes and Laverty on WorldSBK Saturday at Portimão.
Third round of the season in the FIM Superbike World Championship 2020 at the ‘Autódromo Internacional do Algarve’.
Fourth place for Tom Sykes and ninth for Eugene Laverty in the Superpole.
Sykes finishes eighth in the first race, with Laverty in tenth position.
Portimão. Just one week after the race weekend at Jerez de la Frontera (ESP), the BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team is now competing with the BMW S 1000 RR at Portimão, Portugal. The ‘Autódromo Internacional do Algarve’ is hosting the third round of the 2020 FIM Superbike World Championship (WorldSBK). In Saturday’s race, Tom Sykes (GBR) and Eugene Laverty (IRL) both reached the top ten, finishing in eighth and tenth positions.
Sykes just missed out on a front row spot as he finished fourth in Superpole qualification on Saturday morning. His team-mate Laverty struggled with a technical issue during the morning practice session. However, the team managed to get his bike ready for action in time for Superpole. Laverty secured ninth position on the grid.
The air temperature rose to 30 degrees Celsius during the race, while the track temperature of 44 degrees was a little cooler than the previous week in Spain. Sykes did not make an ideal start and fell back to ninth place. Laverty was right behind him in tenth. Both were able to maintain a fast pace throughout the race and stayed in touch with the front runners. In the final stage of the race, Sykes closed in on the group battling for fifth place but he had no opportunity to overtake. Sykes finished eighth after 20 laps, three seconds behind the podium positions. Laverty crossed the line in tenth place shortly afterwards.
Quotes after race one at Portimão.
Marc Bongers, BMW Motorrad Motorsport Director: “After unsatisfactory results at Jerez, we worked hard throughout the week, installing new parts and focusing on race performance. Yesterday, we were able to improve when testing over long distances and noticed that we are well positioned. Unfortunately, we had a small engine defect in this morning’s free practice – no engine damage so we can repair it. There was an oil leak which we will take a closer look at later. The team then did an outstanding job in preparing the motorcycle as it was before practice within an hour, including replacing the engine. Positions four and nine in Superpole were okay. You can see that Eugene is slowly getting on it. In the race, we unfortunately lost a few positions at the start, with Tom five positions in the first four corners. After that we were able to keep up with the group and over the race distance, our lap times have remained almost ‘atypically stable’ under these conditions. Unfortunately, we still have deficits in engine performance, which means that we can’t get past the other riders during the race. We would definitely have a chance, but we lose a few tenths per lap due to the engine and as a result we have almost no chance in the fight for positions. Our conclusion on the first day of racing was that it was definitely a huge improvement compared to Jerez, but we have to keep working hard to catch up with the leaders under these conditions. We will analyse the data now. Hopefully we can get off to a better start tomorrow. If both riders could slip from the top ten into the top eight, I would be happy for this weekend.”
Shaun Muir, Team Principal BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team: “I am pretty happy with this morning’s practice and Superpole. We got second and third row on the grid. There was potentially a little bit more left with both riders but we got be happy with the grid positions for race one. Overall we are satisfied with race one but at the same time there is a fair degree of frustration in there because we know what we are missing and once we have what we are missing, which is a little bit more of horsepower then clearly that regular podium is in sight. And that’s what’s holding us up in the moment. Both riders brought the bike home in solid positions but at the same time it’s what could have been and what can be. That sums up the race for our riders. They did not really put a step wrong. Tom was in the group that was battling for the third podium place until the latter part of the race. The results do not tell the efforts that is going into to get those results and sadly we have just fallen short of that podium place. It takes some more horsepower to propel us forward into that leading group and make passing more possible.”
Tom Sykes: “To get P4 in qualifying today, I was a little disappointed, but realistically it was not a bad thing. Initially we had a good start, but as soon as I selected 2nd and 3rd gear into T1 we lost multiple track positions. We are still giving away some deficit in terms of horsepower, but if you look at sectors two and three, we are extracting good performance from the chassis on the BMW S 1000 RR. The only downside to the race was the fact that I had to ride the bike differently. I felt in the corner entry and in mid corners that I was being held up, which is fine, however it doesn’t allow me to carry the speed onto the straights as I am not able to sling shot out of the exits. I believe If we had the same engine performance as some of the competition we could have had great potential in that race.”
Eugene Laverty: “The team in the garage worked really hard today due to the engine problem in the morning. There was actually a big question mark if we even could get into Superpole, so a big thanks to the team – the guys worked full gas, it was very close, but they made it in time. So the Superpole result today was the main thing after this morning and I was fine with it. Afterwards the race itself was hard, but okay for me. I lost a few positions at the start, had a good race in the middle, but lost the gap in the group in front. Tomorrow I will try to do another step and try to get the maximum out.”
More, from a press release issued by Team Go Eleven:
BACK TO BACK!
Michael Rinaldi and the Go Eleven Team in great shape on Saturday in Portimao! First Independent Team and a fantastic battle with Scott Redding. How many emotions do you give to the Team and to all the Red fans who watch from home ?!
From the very first stages of FP 3, the rider from Romagna proved to be fast and quick on the race pace, making some small changes compared to the previous day, which allowed him to find greater stability on the Panigale V4-R.
Free Practice 3
P 1 T. Razgatlioglu 1’41.658
P 2 M. Van Der Mark + 0.186
P 3 J. Rea + 0.212
…
P 7 M. Rinaldi + 0.465
In Superpole the atmosphere heats up and it will be a battle of cents, with many riders who can aim for the first 3 rows. Michael completes three laps with racing tyres at a fast pace confirming himself in the top positions. He returns to the pits, a quick tyre change and immediately focused on the Q-tyre. With an excellent lap he improves by almost a second and moves to fourth place; a last perfect sector allows him to be just out of top 3. At the end of the session some riders manage to be a few thousandths faster, but the 1’41.424 allows Go Eleven to start from the seventh grid place, in the third row, three positions better than in Jerez! Target hit, a good starting position for the race.
Superpole:
P 1 J. Rea 1’40.676
P 2 T. Razgatlioglu + 0.278
P 3 A. Lowes + 0.398
…
P 7 M. Rinaldi + 0.748
Another great race for Michael Rinaldi! He starts “quietly” defending seventh place from Sykes and Haslam, then improves his pace as the laps go by and rejoins the group fighting for the podium, taking the Englishman from BMW with him. Towards the middle of the race he goes to the attack, and engages the battle with a tough Loris Baz, also valid for the first place of the independent teams. Turn 5, the dangerous Portimao’s hairpin, famous for contacts in past years, plays in favor and the Go Eleven rider manages to overtake the Frenchman on Yamaha. A couple of steps later and it’s battle again; the bar goes up considerably, Rinaldi gets into battle with Scott Redding, a real hard breaker. After a couple of attempts, at turn one Michael push the braking, the Ducati Aruba.it rider tries to defend himself, but goes long and is behind. P 5 conquered, first Ducati on the finish line and back to back in the “First independent” pitch. First with Rea in Jerez and now with Redding, any Ducatista at home has jumped on the sofa; it misses really little to fight for the podium …!
Race 1:
P 1 J. Rea 34’24.940
P 2 T. Razgatlioglu + 5.142
P 3 M. Van Der Mark + 7.029
…
P 5 M. Rinaldi
Michael Rinaldi (Rider):
“We had another good race, reconfirming after Jerez was important. After a great start, I struggled a bit in the first few laps because the feeling with the new tyre was not optimal. From mid-race onwards we came up very well and I fought with Baz and Scott! In the end I managed to conquer the Top independent Team with a good fifth position, first Ducati at the finish, so I have to be happy. We still need a little bit to fight for the podium, above all we have to try to take advantage of the new tyre in the first laps; tomorrow I will try to work on this aspect!”
Denis Sacchetti (Team Manager):
“After the wonderful weekend in Jerez, it was essential for us to reconfirm ourselves in the Top 5, to show that last Sunday was not a coincidence, but here we are, we are a concrete reality and we are part of the match. Michael was always there in front of every session, and he managed the race in a very intelligent way, without being too fast in the first laps and imposing a constant pace. In the end he was the fastest. Now we continue to work to improve the first part of the race and the performance with new tyres.”
More, from a press release issued by GRT Yamaha WSBK Junior Team:
Portimão Day 2: Both GRT Pilots in Points
The second day of racing in Portimão saw Gerloff and Caricasulo reach the points zone in Race 1, despite some difficulties and mixed feelings between the two.
Saturday started with FP3, in which the team continued to work to improve the feeling of the riders. The two rookies closed the session respectively with the 12th and 14th fastest times, confirming then with an 11th and a 16th during the Tissot Superpole. In Race 1, Gerloff got off to a good start, but some mistakes and the continuous decrease in grip cost him some positions, forcing him to 14th place at the finish, while Caricasulo gained a place to take home a point in 15th.
The American is not very satisfied with his race and is sorry to have lost contact with the leading group in the first laps due to his mistakes, but he understood what changes to make to aim for the top-10 tomorrow: “Today was only a partially positive day. I qualified better than in Jerez, although I still made a couple of mistakes during my fastest lap. In the race I got off to a good start, but then I had to turn off the gas to avoid Laverty who had braked in front of me. Then, on the second lap, I went long in turn 1, losing contact with the leading group I was with. In the first few laps I felt anyway, and I was able to catch Haslam and Laverty, but in the second part of the race I started to make some mistakes, and I started to suffer from the spinning and with a lack of front grip at the maximum lean angle. These issues are definitely what we will be working on tomorrow. I’m not very happy to finish 14th; I was convinced that I could cross the finish line at least in 11th position, seen where I ran most of the race but still learned a lot. Let’s look at the positive aspects and think about tomorrow, where we will have a new chance. ”
Caricasulo is still far from the positions he believes he deserves, but he still managed to score a point and feels improved in his final performance compared to last weekend: “All weekend we have been concentrating on improving our race pace compared to Jerez, and we did it: in Spain I crossed the line 38 seconds behind, while today I took 30 seconds. I’m still not perfectly comfortable on the bike, but we’ll try to make some changes tomorrow, to aim to further reduce the gap. This is also the goal for the Tissot Superpole Race, in which I hope to have an aggressive start and to stay closer to the leaders. ”
Damiano Evangelisti, Technical Coordinator of the GRT team, summarizes a busy but important day: “This morning we focused on Superpole, to allow our riders to learn how to use the qualifying tires better, which they still need to get used to. Garrett could have qualified a little further, but 11th is not bad, while it was a difficult session for Federico, who was 16th. During the race we expected to be faster, honestly, but we have gathered great information for tomorrow.
“Garrett seems to follow the same philosophy as Jerez, and uses Race 1 as a learning base for Sunday. He was only 14th, but closer to the top than in Race 1 last weekend. We expect him to ride more aggressively during the Superpole Race tomorrow, now that he has experienced how the bike performs in race conditions. It will be in Race 2 that we will aim to enter the top 10 with him.
“As for Federico, he too had a difficult race: we are still looking for a setup that allows him to be aggressive and fast in the first part of the race, while he is quick in the final laps. Tonight we will work to increase his confidence so that he can attack during the Superpole Race and get closer to the top for Race 2. We want him to continue to reduce the gap from the leader to the checkered flag.
“We know that ours is a difficult job: it is not easy to get the boys in the leading positions; we see them being fast at times, but lacking experience at other times. We are here to help them make progress.”
For the GRT team drivers, Sunday will consist of the Warmup, which kicks off the day at 9:00, the Tissot Superpole Race at 11:00 and Race 2 at 14:00, local time.
