Friday WorldSBK/SSP/300 round up from Assen

2023 MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship

Round Three – Assen, Netherlands

Day One

The 2023 MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship is well underway and back in action at the Pirelli Ditch Round and the TT Circuit Assen in the Netherlands. It’s shaping up to be a belting weekend and with a myriad of protagonists, there remains one rider to be beaten. Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) was on top by nearly a quarter of a second going into Saturday, but don’t discount his rivals just yet.

Like in FP1, it was Alvaro Bautista who topped the running in the afternoon and his pace was quite simply relentless. 22 laps with multiple in the low-to-mid 1’34s, the reigning World Champion was in fine form as he placed Ducati on the top step.

Alvaro Bautista – P1

“It was a very positive first day. We worked this morning to find the best feeling and in the afternoon we were able to improve. We dedicated a lot of time to choosing the right tires for the races, and collecting important data. We definitely have a lot of confidence even though we know that our rivals have always been very competitive on this track. We also don’t know what kind of weather we’ll find tomorrow.”

First Kawasaki on the timesheets was Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK), with the #22 getting to grips with the Assen track like in many years previous with a front row last year and his only career pole coming back in 2018.

Alex Lowes – P2

“Alvaro’s pace was very fast but I was pretty good. I felt good with the bike. I just had one set of tyres on the bike in the first session and then one set of tyres in the afternoon session. Here, it is more the front tyre that you struggle with, so I tried to put a lot of laps on the front tyre. We have done some hard work in the past two tests. The weather this weekend is going to be changeable so we need to be ready to react to that. I worked on race pace and long runs in the tests because we had been struggling with the front tyre after ten or 12 laps. The changes we made in the tests I have used again today, and we have not gone back to the old settings. I am using the new riding position and I feel quite good. I am enjoying it and I’m looking forward to the races.”

Team-mate Jonathan Rea was the last rider to improve his overall time and took third in the session and overall. Although Rea’s technical crew changed some settings mid-session, they put them back to the starting point by the end of the day’s track action. Rea is only looking for small improvements in his set-up to take into the first 18-lap race of the Assen weekend, which takes place on Saturday 22 April.

Jonathan Rea – P3

“We came here with a new set-up that we found in the recents tests. We have such a good track record at Assen I thought surely we would start with the base set-up from before, but we were fast in the tests, so they have brought that exact bike set-up. We changed a spring and a turn of preload between the FP1 and FP2 session, but then we went back again halfway through the second session. The bike is working really well just as it came from the Barcelona test. We also worked to understand the front and rear tyres and now we have a good idea about our race tyre choices. I think everything is ready, I just need to optimise the real fine tuning – but we are in the ballpark. I don’t think we showed our full potential today.”

Once again, the Independent riders were in mighty form and it was the GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team who were fourth and fifth and therefore best Yamahas. Double WorldSSP Champion Dominique Aegerter was fourth and set the second-highest amount of laps throughout the session, whilst it was team-mate Remy Gardner in fifth place, having been third in the morning session.

Dominique Aegerter – P4

“It was definitely a good start to the weekend, and that’s important. We know very well that we’re still in a learning process and there are still a lot of things to get used to. Today we tried all the tyres we have, and it’ll be tough to make a choice for tomorrow’s race and it will depend on the conditions. It will be a long race, but our pace is not too bad. We’ll keep working very hard to be ready for Superpole and Race 1.”

Remy Gardner – P5

“That was a good Friday, we managed to have pace with used tyres. We’re conscious that there are still some areas to work on, and we’ll analyse everything with our guys to be ready for the Superpole and the race. The tyre choice will be tough, but let’s see what tomorrow brings and what happens.”

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Neither Toprak Razgatlıoğlu or Andrea Locatelli completed a “time attack” during the day, focusing on what is needed to perform in the point-paying races alone – as well as assessing the best tyre choice given the now dry forecast for tomorrow. While positives could be drawn from long runs on track, the team is continuing to work overnight to find adjustments to give Razgatlıoğlu and Locatelli the best feeling and confidence on their official Yamaha R1 WorldSBK machines to be in the fight when the lights go out for race one on Saturday afternoon.

They will have one more opportunity to evaluate the on-track performance of the package on Saturday morning with a 30-minute Free Practice 3 before Superpole qualifying.

Andrea Locatelli – P8

“It was difficult, especially in FP2 today – but the feeling with the bike immediately this morning was good, we just need to find something a bit more tomorrow during FP3 to be fully ready for the race. We need to focus around a bit more rear grip but around the rest of the track the feeling was good. It was not super impressive on the overall times today, the conditions were not easy – we will see what happens tomorrow, I think we can improve a lot and do something in the race!”

Toprak Razgatlıoğlu – P10

“We start again after the long break, but today I am not happy because we have not yet found a good set-up for the race. But, we keep working and I hope we can find a good setup – it is important, we are not looking for just one fast lap. The weather looks ok for tomorrow, we will see what we can do. My team is working hard always, I hope we can find a good setting to fight for the win.”

Paul Denning – Team Principal, Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK

“Whilst cold, the traditional end of April weather lottery in Assen was a little bit kinder to us today than it was yesterday and we were able to complete both Free Practice sessions in dry – albeit windy – conditions. It has been an encouraging but also challenging day on both sides of the garage, with both riders needing further adjustments to make themselves feel fully comfortable on this fast and flowing circuit. We’re not far away and the rhythm on used tyres is quite positive so our potential is certainly much better than the final positions on the timesheets. The Yamaha R1 WorldSBK has always worked quite well at this circuit, we just need to find solutions to allow both Toprak and Loka to ride with more flow and confidence – and I am sure we can achieve that overnight and in FP3 tomorrow.”

WorldSBK Friday Combined Practice Times

World Superbike Championship Points

WorldSSP

The FIM Supersport World Championship burst back into action on Friday at the iconic and historic TT Circuit Assen for the Pirelli Dutch Round and there was nothing to separate the top two in the timesheets at the end of Friday’s action. Can Oncu (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) led the way in both Free Practice 2 and the combined classification, finishing just 0.005s clear of Championship leader Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Racing WorldSSP Team).

Oncu posted a best time of 1’37.951s, coming in the closing stages of FP2, on his Kawasaki ZX-6R to finish on top of the timesheets as he finished ahead of five Italian riders. In second was Bulega who posted s 1’37.596s to finish only 0.005s behind Oncu. Bulega had initially gone fastest before Oncu pipped the Championship leader. The pair had a gap of more than half-a-second to third-placed Yari Montella (Barni Spark Racing Team) in third place, with the Italian racing for the first time in WorldSSP since he sustained injuries in Australia. Montella’s best time was a 1’38.172s.

Raffaele De Rosa (Orelac Racing VerdNatura) took fourth spot courtesy of his 1’38.225s set in FP2 as he, like all riders, go in search of a strong result at the start of the European part of the season. He finished ahead of Stefano Manzi (Ten Kate Racing Yamaha) in fifth place, with Manzi’s day coming to a premature end after he crashed at Turn 10 in Free Practice 2. His best time was a 1’38.316s, set in the opening session of the day, to finish ahead of Federico Caricasulo (Althea Racing Team) in sixth place.

It was a tough day at the office for the Aussie contingent.  A highside in FP1 stunted the progress of Oli Bayliss which puts the teenager behind the eight-ball for the rest of the weekend. Luke Power made his debut and like countryman Tom Edwards will only contest the European rounds of the championship, the duo 19th and 22nd respectively.

WorldSSP Friday Combined Practice Times

World Supersport Championship Points

WorldSSP300

Day one of 2023 for the FIM Supersport 300 World Championship concluded at the TT Circuit Assen for the Pirelli Dutch Round with very little to separate the field after Friday’s two intense practice sessions. Three tenths were all that kept the top six apart in the combined classification as Italian rider Matteo Vannucci (AG Motorsport Italia Yamaha) topped the times with a late lap in Free Practice 2 as he topped the times in both FP2 as well as the combined classification.

Vannucci posted a 1’45.529s on his final lap to move into top spot for the day’s action as he finished three tenths clear of Jose Luis Perez Gonzalez (Accolade Smrz Racing BGR) in second with the Spanish rider also leaving it late to post his best time. It meant the pair leapfrogged Samuel Di Sora (ProDina Kawasaki Racing) and demoted the French rider to third place after he soared to top spot with around seven minutes remaining in the session.

German rider Lennox Lehmann (Freudenberg KTM – Paligo Racing) took fourth spot as the lead KTM rider on Friday on his KTM RC 390 R machine, finishing less than a tenth ahead of Dutch rookie Loris Veneman (MTM Kawasaki) in fifth. Humberto Maier (Yamaha MS Racing/AD78 Latin America Team) took sixth after enjoyed a strong Friday, finishing less than a tenth behind Perez Gonzalez in second.

There are no Aussies in the WorldSSP300 category.

WorldSSP300 Friday Combined Practice Times

WorldSBK Assen Schedule
(AEST)

2023 FIM Superbike World Championship Calendar
Date	Circuit	WSBK	WSSP600	WSSP300
24-26 Feb	Phillip Island	X	X
3-5 Mar	Mandalika	X	X
21-23 Apr	Assen	X	X	X
5-7 May	Catalunya	X	X	X
2-4 Jun	Misano	X	X	X
30 Jun-02 Jul	Donington Park	X	X
14-16 Jul	Imola	X	X	X
28-30 Jul	Autodrom Most	X	X	X
8-10 Sep	Magny-Cours	X	X	X
22-24 Sep	Aragón	X	X	X
29-Sep-01 Oct	Algarve	X	X	X
13-15 Oct	San Juan Villicum	X	X