Editorial Note: Use the scrolling tool in the bottom left corner of the PDF viewers to see all pages of each session’s results.
More, from a press release issued by Dorna WorldSBK Press Office:
#AragonWorldSBK – Day 1
Rea leads Kawasaki fightback; Davies on top overall
All five full-time manufacturers in the top six with nine riders within a second as WorldSBK action hots up at Aragon!
Friday running for the MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship continued with more ups, downs and surprises. Chaz Davies (ARUBA.IT Racing – Ducati) set a time of 1’50.543 in Free Practice 1 as he looked to make it eight or more wins at MotorLand Aragon, but the challengers are close behind as Friday showed a close and competitive field.
Davies’ time was set in the morning session and it was enough to top the timings for Friday running despite finishing sixth in Free Practice 2. Davies’ Ducati teammate, Scott Redding, improved in Free Practice 2 to finish third in the afternoon but he was outside the top six in the overall classification, finishing in eighth place overall.
Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Team GOELEVEN) continued his recent impressive form with second overall, less than a tenth away from Davies’ time as the pair made it a Ducati 1-2 after Friday running. Reigning Champion Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) was third onboard his machine while teammate Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) had an eventful afternoon session, improving his time from Free Practice 1 to finish seventh in the combined classification for the day despite a crash at Turn 14 with around 10 minutes left to go in the session.
Alvaro Bautista (Team HRC) was another who had an up and down day; his time in Free Practice 1 good enough for fourth overall but a crash and a technical issue in the morning session hampered the Spanish rider. Bautista did leave the pit lane during Free Practice 2 but did not set a lap time; instead doing out and in laps only. Leon Haslam (Team HRC) was classified in 11th for the day after showing some consistent pace across both sessions.
Tom Sykes (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK) started the weekend with a new contract for 2021 and showed why the BMW outfit has kept him for next year with fifth overall in the standings despite a technical issue in Free Practice 1. Teammate Eugene Laverty was down in 16th place, around 1.5 seconds off Davies’ pace.
Loris Baz (Ten Kate Racing Yamaha) was the fastest Yamaha rider in the field with sixth place overall, less than half a second away from the top time. Baz, who stood on the podium for the first time in six years in WorldSBK at Portimao, beat both factory Yamaha riders Michael van der Mark (PATA YAMAHA WorldSBK Official Team) and teammate Toprak Razgatlioglu; the pair classified ninth and tenth respectively.
Garrett Gerloff (GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Junior Team) finished just outside the top ten with 12th overall after the two practice sessions, with the American rider showing his potential at points throughout the sessions but unable to break into the top ten. His GRT Yamaha teammate, Federico Caricasulo, was classified in 14th place with Maximilian Scheib (ORELAC Racing VerdNatura) separating the two Yamaha riders.
Xavi Fores (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) finished the day in 15th place, the first rider whose lap time was below the 1’52 mark. He was just over a tenth fastest than Marco Melandri (Barni Racing Team) in 17th with Roman Ramos (OUTDO Kawasaki TPR) finishing 18th on his return to WorldSBK action.
Sylvain Barrier (Brixx Performance), and Leandro Mercado (Motocorsa Racing) were 19th and 20th respectively, just ahead of Christophe Ponsson (Nuova M2 Racing); Ponsson having a crash at Turn 16 during Free Practice 2. MIE Racing Althea Honda Team duo Takumi Takahashi and Lorenzo Gabellini completed the standings after Friday’s running.
More, from a press release issued by Yamaha Racing:
Pata Yamaha in the Mix During Friday Sessions at Aragón
The Pata Yamaha WorldSBK Official Team with Rizla worked through a detailed programme to start round four of the FIM Superbike World Championship at MotorLand Aragón today.
With cooler temperatures and distinctly different track conditions expected again tomorrow, both Michael van der Mark and Toprak Razgatlıoğlu focused on refining the set-up of their Yamaha R1 machines for the three points-paying races coming this weekend.
27-year-old Dutchman Van der Mark led the Pata Yamaha contingent, setting the ninth-fastest overall time of 1’51.060, clocked during the cooler morning of Friday’s two 50-minute Free Practice sessions.
Razgatlıoğlu was one of only four riders to improve their lap time in the afternoon as many, including the Pata Yamaha duo, opted to focus on race pace and tyre wear in the hotter conditions. He set a lap of 1’51.097 to jump from 13th in the morning to fourth quickest in FP2 and 10th overall, behind his team-mate.
Tomorrow the two Pata Yamaha riders will tackle the 18-lap, 91.386 km opening race at 14:00 local time (GMT+2) after the all-important Tissot Superpole qualifying at 11:00, which determines the grid positions for both Race 1 and the 10-lap Tissot Superpole Race on Sunday morning.
Michael van der Mark: P9 – 1’51.060
“We had a good test here but the bike feels a bit different than it did then, so we have worked to tweak the set-up a little bit. I think if you look back at today’s results, the position isn’t really an indication of where we are – our pace is really good and the feeling on the bike is too, so we just have to get everything together. The race pace is solid, so I’m not really worried about that, just some small things to find some extra grip and overall performance – then we are ready.”
Toprak Razgatlıoğlu: P10 – 1’51.097
“Today was not a bad start, we tried to find more grip with the bike because it is very important for this track and for the rear tyre life, and we want to fight for the win. Now we are ready with a good set-up and tomorrow morning we will try again to make another step forward. We will see if it is possible to fight for victory in Race 1. It’s not an easy track but I feel we are improving step-by-step.”
Paul Denning, Team Principal
“It’s been an interesting first day’s work here at Aragon, with conditions that seem to be quite different to the test that we recently conducted. The best lap times for the top group are all very, very close but the result here will come from being able to maintain a decent lap time for the full race distance. It looks like we’ve made some good improvements with rear grip and rear stability. Despite the quite competitive performances today, there are still some steps that we need to take to get both Pata Yamaha riders fully comfortable and to exploit their full potential in the first race. Michael and Toprak did a lot of laps, particularly this afternoon, and managed to achieve a good rhythm. That’s always important in terms of studying the data and understanding where we can help them more.”
More, from a press release issued by Kawasaki:
Rea Third Quickest On Day One
KRT official WorldSBK rider Jonathan Rea was third on the combined timesheets after the completion of the first day of track action at Motorland Aragon in Spain. For some time Alex Lowes (KRT) had been the fastest rider in the hot afternoon session but was finally ranked seventh overall, thanks to his pace in the morning practice session.
After testing well at Motorland recently the KRT duo set about their final race preparation work around the 5.077km long circuit in the hills of northern Spain.
Track temperatures rose 12 degrees from morning to afternoon, reducing outright grip in FP2. Because of the change in temperature between sessions Rea’s team made a major set-up change in the afternoon today, but Rea sees a return to the morning set-up as the best option for race one.
Lowes took his recent personal testing experience on the Ninja ZX-10RR at Motorland and concentrated on finding a full race distance set-up to be ready for his first Aragon races in Kawasaki colours this weekend.
With lots of experience of racing in hot conditions each KRT rider performed strongly in the heat of the afternoon sessions at Motorland, although Alex was unlucky to lose the front in a slow speed crash in final few minutes of action in FP2.
Free practice three and then Superpole qualifying on Saturday 29 August will be the final pre-race action for the WorldSBK riders.
Race one will take place at 14.00 on Saturday in Motorland, and is scheduled to run for 18 laps. The 10-lap Tissot-Superpole ‘sprint’ on Sunday morning will be followed by the final full distance race two, again at 14.00.
Jonathan Rea, stated: “I felt OK with the bike today because we had a test here a few weeks ago. We understood the base set-up. In the second session we made a big change with the wheelbase of the bike to understand how it is working in these hotter conditions. I think we will go back to what we had this morning and at the test. It seems like tomorrow is going to be a little bit cooler so we can understand the tyres in the morning FP3 session and make a final race plan from there. We have a good idea that our bike will work OK in the cooler conditions, so tomorrow’s target is to make a time attack in Superpole to get a good grid position and then make a solid 18 laps. I feel excited about it because there are a lot of guys in the front, quite close together, so we need to do our homework tonight and come back swinging tomorrow.”
Alex Lowes, stated: “We came here with the set-up we had at the test and I felt quite good on the bike. I had a little problem in the morning session so I did not do my first long run continuously but my lap times were quite good – when you put a full lap together. I stayed on the same tyre because I feel like the race is going to be more like this morning’s cooler temperatures and it looks like it is going to be like that on Saturday. In the afternoon I was fast, really, able to do 1’51 laps for the two longer runs and improve my time. I knew we should be fast because we worked really hard at the recent test here and we found some good stuff for the bike set-up. Then I got a bit excited at the end and fell during the last FP2 run, which was a shame. I had just put on a fresh tyre and went in a bit fast. But the bike is working well, especially in hot conditions, and that is what has come on most since the test.”
Maximilian Scheib (Orelac Racing VerdNatura Kawasaki) placed 13th from 23 riders on the first day at Motorland, with Xavi Fores (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) 15th. Roman Ramos (Outdo Kawasaki TPR) ended day one 18th fastest.
More, from a press release issued by Aruba.it Racing Ducati:
#AragonWorldSBK. The Aruba.it Racing – Ducati team heads the timesheets on the first day of free practices: Davies on top, while Redding finishes third in FP2
The first two free practice sessions for the Prosecco Doc Aragon Round ended with very positive feelings for the Aruba.it Racing – Ducati team.
Chaz Davies was the protagonist of the day thanks to the first place in the combined classification. The Welsh rider got off a great start in FP1 – finishing the session in first position – then worked intensively in FP2 with used tires registering a very incisive race pace.
Scott Redding struggled a bit to find the best feeling in FP1 but in the afternoon session – even without trying the soft rubber – he was one of the few riders who manage to improve the morning’s time by closing in third position only 166 thousandths of a second from the best FP2 lap time set by Rea.
FP1 | Final Standings
P1 – C. Davies (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) 1’50.543
P2 – M. Rinaldi (Ducati) 1’50.601 +0.058
P3 – J. Rea (Kawasaki) 1’50.736 +0.193
P4 – A. Bautista (Honda) 1’50.765 +0.222
P5 – T. Sykes (BMW) 1’50.926 +0.383
P11 – S. Redding (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) 1’51.439 +0.896
FP2 | Final Standings
P1 – J. Rea (Kawasaki) 1’50.865
P2 – A. Lowes (Kawasaki) 1’51.001 +0.136
P3 – S. Redding (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) 1’51.031 +0.166
P4 – T. Razgatlioglu (Yamaha) 1’51.097 +0.232
P5 – M. Rinaldi (Ducati) 1’51.140 +0.275
P6 – C. Davies (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) 1’51.218 +0.353
FP1-2 | Combined Standings
P1 – C. Davies (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) 1’50.543
P2 – M. Rinaldi (Ducati) 1’50.601 +0.058
P3 – J. Rea (Kawasaki) 1’50.736 +0.193
P4 – A. Bautista (Honda) 1’50.765 +0.222
P5 – T. Sykes (BMW) 1’50.926 +0.383
P8 – S. Redding (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) 1’51.031 +0.488
Chaz Davies (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati #7)
“I’m very happy to have finished today in first position but especially for how we worked in both FP1 and FP2. We started this morning with the set up with which we ended the test two weeks ago and the feeling was positive since the first laps. This allowed us to immediately understand which was the right direction to follow. We must continue to work on the tires because we will have different solutions available and we will have to understand which will be the best one in view of the race”.
Scott Redding (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati #45)
“We struggled a bit this morning but since the early laps of FP2, we have been able to make some improvements, step by step, working a lot with used tires. We still have to figure out how to solve some details but we will continue to work with great confidence. The weather conditions? Maybe they will be a bit different tomorrow but it will be the same for all riders. The important thing is that we have made important steps forward on the set up to improve ourselves”.
