FIM Supersport World Championship
Motorland Aragon
Alcaniz, Spain
March 31, 2017
Free Practice Two Results (Wet conditions, all on Pirelli tires):
1. Roberto Rolfo, Italy (MV Agusta F3 675), 2:12.944
2. Xavier Cardelus Garcia, Spain (MV Agusta F3 675), 2:13.899
3. Lachlan Epis, Australia (Kaw ZX-6R), 2:14.468
4. Peter Sebestyen, Hungary (Kaw ZX-6R), 2:14.518
5. Kazuki Watanabe, Japan (Kaw ZX-6R), 2:14.914
6. Federico Caricasulo, Italy (Yam YZF-R6), 2:15.272
7. Hikari Okubo, Japan (Hon CBR600RR), 2:16.011
8. Hannes Soomer, Estonia (Hon CBR600RR), 2:16.056
9. Niki Tuuli, Finland (Yam YZF-R6), 2:16.227
10. Davide Pizzoli, Italy (MV Agusta F3 675), 2:16.747
More, from a press release issued by Dorna WSBK Press Office:
WorldSSP: Jacobsen fastest at end of wet day one
American rider top of the combined Friday timesheets ahead of Smith and Okubo after wet FP2
PJ Jacobsen (MV Agusta Reparto Corse) ended the first day at the Pirelli Aragon Round at the head of the combined timesheet courtesy of his best time of 1’54.751 in FP1, with Kyle Smith (GEMAR Team Lorini) and Hikari Okubo (CIA Landlord Insurance Honda) also in the top three. The fastest times of the day came in FP1 as rain began to fall at the beginning of FP2.
South African rider Sheridan Morais (Kallio Racing) and Italy’s Christian Gamarino (BARDAHL EVAN BROS. Honda Racing) were also in the top five. On his return to action World Champion Kenan Sofuoglu (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) ended the day sixth, having missed the first two rounds of the year due to a pre-season hand injury.
Niki Tuuli (Kallio Racing), Gino Rea (Team Kawasaki Go Eleven), Alessandro Zaccone (MV Agusta Reparto Corse) and Robin Mulhauser (CIA Landlord Insurance Honda) all made it straight through to Tissot Superpole 2, with top ten times in FP1 and overall.
In FP2 only two riders in the day’s top ten went out on track, namely Okubo and Tuuli, as the majority of the WorldSSP grid took a cautionary approach to the wet conditions in the afternoon at MotorLand Aragon.
Roberto Rolfo (Team Factory Vamag) set the best time in FP2 (2’12.944) at the beginning of the session but he ended the day at the bottom of the combined timesheet, having not registered a time in the dry in FP1.
On Saturday the WorldSSP riders return to the track at 9.20am local time (GMT +2) for FP3, with SP1 at 2pm and SP2 at 2.25pm.
More, from a press release issued by Yamaha Racing:
Challenging Day One in Aragon for GRT Yamaha
Free practice
The GRT Yamaha Official WorldSSP Team faced a challenging start to their FIM Supersport World Championship weekend in Aragon today. Riders Lucas Mahias and Federico Caricasulo ended the day in 13th and 18th respectively, putting them into Superpole One for tomorrow.
French rider Mahias started his morning showing the same strong pace already on show from the first two rounds and was quickly up into the top three on the timesheets. A lengthy pit stop to make a set up change then unfortunately left him with little time remaining to ride with what was to be a less desirable setting. By the time the afternoon had arrived, any chance of making up the lost time was washed away by the rain covering the Motorland Aragon circuit, leaving a frustrated Mahias in Superpole 1 for Saturday with a best time of 1’56.239.
Teammate Caricasulo?s first European session of the year was a similarly frustrating experience denying him the opportunity to show his true pace in the morning. The eagerly awaited afternoon session brought with it the same wet track that held back his teammate Mahias, leaving him with a best time of 1’56.923 and no choice but to fight through Superpole 1 tomorrow as well.
Lucas Mahias – 13th, 1’56.239
“I’m not very happy today. I started this morning with a very good feeling in the beginning of the session, I wasn’t pushing and the lap times were good. I had a very good feeling in the front, but then we decided to test a different front fork. It took some time to make the change and we then had very little time left to ride. The feeling was not great and the lap times were not the same. It was frustrating, and then this afternoon it rained so it was impossible to improve. Tomorrow will be difficult as there are a lot of riders in Superpole One, but I will try my hardest of course and see what we can do.”
Federico Caricasulo
“The first session was not great for us, we had some problems that in the end cost a lot of time. We were ready to work hard in the afternoon to catch up time but then unfortunately the weather was not good so I was unable to qualify for Superpole 1. Tomorrow will be better! Apart from the issue, the bike is good.”
Filippo Conti
GRT Yamaha Official WorldSSP Team Manager
“This morning on Federico’s side we experienced a problem which gave us a small set back and lost us some valuable time in session. With Lucas we spent the morning working on a different set up to test a different component that didn’t prove to be the right direction to go in. we were prepared for the afternoon with a plan to update the settings but unfortunately the weather didn’t help us improve on the morning?s session. As a result we have to wait until tomorrow now to be ready to be our best in Superpole.”
More, from a press release issued by CIA Landlord Insurance Honda:
Okubo and Mulhauser continue to impress at Aragon
CIA Landlord Insurance Honda’s Hikari Okubo ended Free Practice One at Motorland Aragon in a career best third position. Hikari was one of only a handful of riders who braved the wet Free Practice Two in the afternoon and, with no improvement in lap times due to the conditions he remains third on the time sheet going into Superpole 2 tomorrow. Hikari said: “I am happy with 3rd place in FP1, this is my best position. I want to try some changes to the bike for FP3 tomorrow because I want to be in the top 6 in the race again. I am so happy today.”
Teammate Robin Mulhauser also achieved a World Supersport career best ending the first day of practice in tenth place with automatic entry to SP2 tomorrow afternoon. He said: “I feel happy about SP2 but I am disappointed as I wanted to fight a bit more, it is the easiest way to get to SP2 and I am sure I can go much faster. Top ten is good for tomorrow, we will see but I want to do even better than this.”
Jules Cluzel also did not go out in the wet afternoon FP2 and will challenge for top two in Superpole 1 tomorrow to ensure he makes the best qualifying position for the race on Sunday.
Hiromichi Kunikawa sat out the deluged afternoon session of his debut with CIA Landlord Insurance Honda ending the day in 30th place.
CIA Landlord Insurance Honda Team Manager, Simon Buckmaster said: “A superb job by Hikari and his crew in FP1. Third is his best in any session so far and he continues to improve in his second WSS season. He is stronger now from his injury and is in great shape going into SP2 tomorrow. Credit also to Robin and his team in his third race with CIA Landlord Insurance Honda, great job. Jules was right there all session and with 13 minutes to go we made a setting change without changing tyres to confirm it. He went out and he didn’t see the board to pit for a new tyre so we got caught out and he’s 12th fastest. It’s not ideal but he has the pace to challenge for the win. We need to look at Jules being fastest in SP1 and getting 3 riders in SP2. Hiromichi improved throughout the session and he is working well with the team. It is a shame he lost a session for the weather but we need to look at getting him as far up the grid as possible for the race on Sunday.”
More, from a press release issued by Gino Rea’s publicist:
Pirelli Aragón WSBK Round 3: Gino Rea advances directly into Superpole 2
March 31, 2017
Gino Rea finishes inside the top 10 during the opening combined Free Practice sessions at Motorland Aragon to advance directly into Saturday’s Superpole 2 session.
Gino Rea #4 (WSS Combined FP; 8th): “I’m happy to advance through to Superpole 2 following a slow start to the session. I’m only 3 tenths from 3rd so the times are close once again. We made some positive changes during FP1 and I was able to put a fast lap in at the end which ultimately secured my position in Superpole 2. The FP2 session was wet and with the forecast dry for tomorrow and Sunday, we didn’t bother going out on track. The wet FP2 secured our place in Superpole 2 but it meant we missed out on valuable track time, which is something we really need at this point of the season. Now we only have tomorrow mornings Free Practice 3 to test our set-up changes then it’s straight into Superpole 2. I’m positive we can improve our package so I’m looking forward to tomorrow.”