Motul FIM Superbike World Championship
Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli, San Marino
June 16, 2017
Free Practice Two Results (all on Pirelli tires):
1. Jonathan REA, UK (Kawasaki ZX-10RR), 1:34.901
2. Marco MELANDRI, Italy (Ducati Panigale R), 1:35.178
3. Tom SYKES, UK (Kawasaki ZX-10RR), 1:35.267, crash
4. Leon CAMIER, UK (MV Agusta 1000 F4), 1:35.267
5. Chaz DAVIES, UK (Ducati Panigale R), 1:35.348
6. Jordi TORRES, Spain (BMW S1000RR), 1:35.587
7. Michael VAN DER MARK, Netherlands (Yamaha YZF-R1), 1:35.718, crash
8. Eugene LAVERTY, Ireland (Aprilia RSV4 RF), 1:35.867
9. Alex LOWES, UK (Yamaha YZF-R1), 1:35.883, crash
10. Lorenzo SAVADORI, Italy (Aprilia RSV4 RF), 1:35.923
11. Randy KRUMMENACHER, Switzerland (Kawasaki ZX-10RR), 1:36.153
12. Leandro MERCADO, Argentina (Aprilia RSV4 RF), 1:36.286
13. Raffaele DE ROSA, Italy (BMW S1000RR), 1:36.404
14. Alex DE ANGELIS, San Marino (Kawasaki ZX-10RR), 1:36.447, crash
15. Xavi FORÉS, Spain (Ducati Panigale R), 1:36.460
16. Roman RAMOS, Spain (Kawasaki ZX-10RR), 1:36.530
17. Riccardo RUSSO, Italy (Yamaha YZF-R1), 1:37.397
18. Stefan BRADL, Germany (Honda CBR1000RR), 1:37.730
19. Ondrej JEZEK, Czech Republic (Kawasaki ZX-10RR), 1:37.976
20. Ayrton BADOVINI, Italy (Kawasaki ZX-10RR), 1:38.308
21. Fabio MENGHI, Italy (Ducati Panigale R), 1:38.372, crash
More, from a press release issued by Althea BMW Racing:
Althea BMW hard at work at Misano
Misano Adriatico (Italy), Friday 16 June 2017
The Althea BMW Racing team is busy on track at the Misano World Circuit, taking part in round 7 of the Superbike World Championship with its SBK riders Jordi Torres and Raffaele De Rosa, and its STK1000 representative, Marco Faccani.
SBK: In the first timed practice session, which took place in the Italian sunshine, Torres completed 23 laps, the best of which in 1’35.842, a time that saw him close in seventh position. De Rosa made a solid start with his technicians, concluding tenth thanks to a best time of 1’36.378.
In the afternoon’s second session, in hotter conditions (air 28°C, track 46°C), it was harder to push but Torres was able to lower his time by three tenths (1’35.537) to place sixth and qualify directly for tomorrow’s SP2. De Rosa will face SP1 having closed fourteenth thanks to the time he set this morning.
STK1000: Faccani didn’t waste any time in the first Stock1000 practice. Working hard with this team, he closed fifth at the end of the 30-minute session with a best time of 1’37.913. In the heat of the afternoon, riders waited until the final minutes before setting their fastest laps, at which point Marco recorded a 1’37.638 which saw him finish in fourth place.
Jordi Torres:
“Today we made a good start at this track that, as we know, suits our bike quite well. I have to say that we’ve had less problems today than on some previous Fridays. We started with the set-up from last year more or less, making small changes throughout the day. My technicians worked hard to improve the rear grip and, despite the heat, we were able to take a small step forward. We need to make the most of this race as we really have a chance to do well.”
Raffaele De Rosa:
“The day didn’t go as I’d hoped… The morning went a little better than the afternoon, when we spent time working with the used tyre. I feel a big better on the bike but we weren’t able to complete the work, in the sense that I was unable to set a fast lap in the final stages. The race is tomorrow anyway and I hope to be able to do well at Misano, particularly as I’m feeling better prepared.”
Marco Faccani:
“We did a good job during the two sessions and I’m quite pleased as we already have a bike that I like. In the second session, we improved in terms of feeling, which is a good thing. We’re preparing for tomorrow, when we’ll need to work well in FP3 before pulling a time out of the bag in qualifying. Let’s see what we can do…”
More, from a press release issued by Red Bull Honda World Superbike Team:
Day of two halves for Bradl at Misano
Italian Round
Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli, Italy
Stefan Bradl and the Red Bull Honda World Superbike Team have completed the first day of action for the Riviera di Rimini Round of the 2017 FIM Superbike World Championship, which is currently underway at the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli. The 27-year-old German rider was 17th in the combined times of today’s two free practice sessions and, therefore, his qualifying will begin in Superpole 1.
On board his Honda CBR1000RR Fireblade SP2 machine, Bradl was near the top-10 in the early stages of the morning’s session, before improving on his personal best lap by 0.4secs with a few minutes to go. In the afternoon, however, with increased temperatures and due to a technical issue experienced throughout the session, Stefan was unable to make a further step forwards in terms of speed over a single lap.
World Superbike action will resume tomorrow morning at 8:45 local time (GMT +2) for the third free practice session of the weekend, which will be followed by Superpole 1 (10:30) and by the opening race of Round 7 (13:00).
Stefan Bradl 6
17th
It was quite a busy day. This morning the feeling with the bike was not too bad; I feel that the test we did two weeks ago was very helpful, because we did make a step forwards with the electronics in terms of rideability and throttle connection with the rear wheel. In the afternoon, however, we started with used tyres and the lack of grip turned out to be a problem for everyone. Then we had a problem with the electronics which forced me into the pits for a long period, so I could not complete many laps. We lost a lot of time and that is the reason why we could not improve on our FP1 time. Our potential, though, is much higher, because my feeling with the bike this morning was very positive. Hopefully we’ll be able to turn it into a better performance tomorrow!
Pieter Breddels
We were happy to see Stefan feeling good with the bike this morning and we were looking forward to improving some more this afternoon. The track was really slippery in the afternoon – due to the heat – and that was causing a bit of spinning. Unfortunately, though, we couldn’t work on that because of the electronics issue we experienced, which required some extra effort back at the pit-box and which cost us some valuable time. We’re confident, however, that we can make a big step forwards tomorrow: we’ll make good use of FP3 and Superpole 1 and hopefully we’ll get to the race in a good position.
More, from a press release issued by Kawasaki:
Rea And Sykes Set Leading Day One Times
After the first two FIM Superbike World Championship practice sessions were completed at Misano KRT riders Jonathan Rea and Tom Sykes finished their opening day 1-2 respectively. They each now look forward to Superpole 2 on Saturday, which will determine their final grid positions for the first race of the weekend later tomorrow afternoon.
A recent test at Misano, shortly after the Donington Park race weekend, meant that both official Ninja ZX-10RR riders arrived in Italy with good initial settings on their machines. Safe in this knowledge, Tom and Jonathan were able to evaluate some new machine settings today, designed to aid their overall performance in the races.
Front end geometry and alternate tyre options front and back were the main points of focus for Rea, after he lost a few minutes in the pit-box with a small technical issue this morning.
Having set the fastest time in the morning session, with Rea just behind, Sykes lost his final chance to end up fastest of all with a small crash with an experimental set-up on his machine in FP2. He was still comfortably 0.220 seconds faster than the rider in third place.
Now the KRT team will face its rivals again in FP3, which does not count towards Superpole qualification, before taking on Superpole 2 to determined the grid positions for Saturday’s 21-lap race. Race one will take place on Saturday afternoon, at 1pm.
Jonathan Rea, stated: “The track feels a little bit more greasy than it did at the tests, not a huge amount, but in the tests I could ride in the 1’34s with ease, and I did so many, but now it is a little bit harder. Our bike works even with less grip on the track, which is important. This morning we confirmed a few items after our test here and in the afternoon we changed the position of the front of the bike a little bit, to try to give me more confidence on the brakes. We have our race tyre package defined already, and the way the bike is set-up, so tomorrow morning we can work on a long run in FP3 before Superpole starts.”
Tom Sykes, stated: “The track conditions were stable this afternoon even in the hot conditions, which gave a similar kind of pace compared to this morning. In FP1 I felt the track had less performance than we had in the tests, so we just missed some of that, that’s all. Because we were so good and consistent in the recent Misano test we wanted to explore a few little questions that we had, so at the end of FP2 we did not have our ideal set-up in. I tried to do what I normally do in a perfect scenario and just got caught out and lost the front. It was such a small crash and I am fit and ready to go. We learned a few things today so we will put those things in with our best set-up from testing and go racing.”
More, from a press release issued by Dorna WSBK Press Office:
Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli Day One
Rea fastest on opening day at Misano
World Champion tops the Friday timesheets in FP2 session
The first day’s action at the Pirelli Riviera Di Rimini Round concluded with the World Champion Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team) in familiar territory at the top of the combined practice timesheets. The Northern Irishman set down a 1’34.901 marker in the afternoon FP2 session, putting him just 0.03s ahead of the day’s second fastest rider Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team), with Marco Melandri (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) third best.
Rea recovered from some technical problems earlier in the day to lap faster than his rivals and put himself in a good position at the seventh round of the 2017 MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship.
Sykes had been the quickest rider in FP1, followed by Rea and Melandri in the morning top three, but the Yorkshireman ended day with an uncharacteristic crash at the end of FP2.
Melandri finished his day a quarter of a second behind pace setter Rea and just under a tenth of a second ahead of Friday’s fourth best rider – his teammate Chaz Davies.
Leon Camier (MV Agusta Reparto Corse) made it four Britons in the top five, with Spaniards Jordi Torres (Althea BMW Racing Team) and Xavi Fores (BARNI Racing Team) in sixth and seventh respectively.
The top ten also featured Michael van der Mark (Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team), Eugene Laverty (Milwaukee Aprilia) and Alex Lowes (Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team), with Lowes suffering two crashes in FP1.
Lorenzo Savadori (Milwaukee Aprilia) in 11th and Randy Krummenacher (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) in 12th were two of the riders to miss out on automatic Tissot Superpole 2 classification so they will participate in SP1 on Saturday.
The WorldSBK riders will return to the track for FP3 on Saturday morning at 8.45am at local time, with SP1 at 10.30am, SP2 at 10.55am and Race 1 at 1pm.
More, from a press release issued by Aruba.it Racing Ducati:
Melandri and Davies respectively in third and fourth position in Friday’s free-practice sessions at Misano
The 2017 WorldSBK Championship resumed action at Misano Adriatico (Italy) for the seventh round of the season and second “home race” for the Aruba.it Racing – Ducati team after Imola. Building on the data collected during a two-day test on the Italian track earlier this month, Marco Melandri and Chaz Davies closed Friday’s free-practice sessions in third and fourth position respectively.
Melandri and Davies finished FP1 with the third and fourth-best time then constantly fought among the frontrunners but weren’t able to improve their lap times in hotter conditions during FP2. The duo thus closed the day respectively 0.250 and 0.349 seconds behind the provisional best time, both gaining direct access to Superpole.
The Aruba.it Racing – Ducati team will be back on track tomorrow at 08:45 (CET) for the third and final free-practice session ahead of Superpole and Race 1, which is scheduled to start at 13:00.
Marco Melandri (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati #33) – 1:35.151 (3rd)
“I feel confident. It’s always a plus to finish day 1 within the top three, especially when it’s your home race. The team did a really great job after our last test here, analyzing the data and coming up with a setup that turned out to work quite well. After two difficult rounds, it seems we finally managed to put some issues behind. Now we’ll try to make further improvements, particularly in the first sector of the track, but I want to focus first and foremost on our race pace because, in these conditions, consistency will be crucial. I believe that, if we manage to exploit our potential, we can ride a solid race from start to finish.”
Chaz Davies (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati #7) – 1:35.250 (4th)
“Today has been a bit more difficult than what we expected. I still don’t feel totally at ease on the bike, we need to work on the setup. In the test done here a couple of weeks ago we were a bit more competitive, but weather conditions were different today, hotter and more humid, and we struggled a bit more to make good lap times. In particular, I don’t have enough confidence with the front, and we’re on the limit with grip. We also need to tweak a few things with the electronics. We analysed the data in depth, we’re working to improve and I’m confident we’ll be able to better express our potential tomorrow.”