Positive Weekend at Portimao for Gagne and Attack Performance Yamaha Racing
Attack Performance Yamaha Racing’s Jake Gagne continued to make progress during a challenging wild card weekend and finished in the points Sunday in WorldSBK Race 2 at the Algarve International Circuit.
Gagne and his Attack Performance Yamaha team headed over to Portugal just a couple of weeks after securing a second-consecutive MotoAmerica Superbike Championship aboard his Fresh N Lean Progressive Yamaha Racing R1. With little track time at the 2.89-mile circuit in Portimao and different tires, he and the team went to work and made progress every session.
After a tough Friday, Gagne improved his times to qualify 16th and then got a decent start in the opening race from the sixth row of the grid in 18th, ultimately crossing the line one position further back. With more track time, his forward momentum continued with a better start in Sunday’s Superpole race in 15th before finishing 16th in the sprint. Although he was unable to match his start in Race 2, he charged back from 20th to 15th to finish inside the points and complete a positive learning weekend in the FIM Superbike World Championship.
Richard Stanboli – Attack Performance Yamaha Racing Team Manager
“First of all, I want to thank Yamaha Europe for all their hospitality and support. They made us feel like part of their family. The event was a pretty good test to see how we compare to the best in the world. We made constant improvements through every session, but we just did not have enough laps to get to where we would like to be. Realistically, we would need more time on these tracks with these tires racing against these teams to be truly competitive. In the end, we are confident that the potential of our R1 and Jake is there to race competitively at the world level.”
Jake Gagne – Attack Performance Yamaha Racing
“It was definitely a challenging weekend. Being with some of the best superbike racers in the world and racing on different tires made for some adjustments that took some time, but we got better and better every single session. For sure, figuring out the bike setup with the Pirellis was a big part, and trying to figure out how to ride the Pirellis differently was the biggest challenge for me as a rider. But I’m glad we were able to put it all together and be here as a team. We all really learned a lot about the bike and things that we can apply even at home in MotoAmerica. I was able to really push my limits riding with some of these guys and understand different things that we can do with the bike to try and be better. So I’m really happy we made it happen.
“Looking back at the weekend, it was a tough start on Friday. These guys have been coming here for years, so we started a little behind on the first day, but I’m happy that we made progress in every single session. It’s one of those things where now that the weekend is over, we wish we could kind of start over with what we know now and keep building. If we had more track time or another race weekend, we could just continue going faster. Again, I have to say thanks to the team for putting it all together. To be back in the paddock with some of the best superbike racers in the world was a really great experience, and I hope we can try it again sometime.”
