Rinaldi tops opening WorldSBK practice session at Mandalika

2023 MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship

Round Two – Mandalika, Indonesia

World Superbike FP1

For the opening World Superbike practice session the track temperature was 43-degrees and the ambient 31-degrees.  Later this afternoon in FP2 track temperatures of up to and perhaps even beyond 60-degrees are expected.  This morning the track was very dirty and grip hard to find.

Loris Baz fell ten minutes into the session but was able to ride back to the pits.  Only minutes later Iker Lecuona went down a little harder at turn 16 and had to walk back to the pits. A couple of laps later Lorenzo Baldassari joined the FP1 crash club with a tumble at turn six and then Michael Rinaldi went down at turn ten just under 20-minutes into the session.

Many riders were biding their time before heading out, waiting for the circuit to clean up and some rubber go down. 20-minutes into the session many riders had turned a wheel, including Jonathan Rea and Alex Lowes.

In fact, Rea didn’t head out of pit-lane until only 18-minutes were left in the 45-minute session. At that juncture Toprak Razgatlioglu led the way from Alvaro Bautista and Remy Gardner.

Michael Rinaldi bounced back from his early fall to top the session with a 1m34.613 to push Razgatlioglu back to P2 and Alvaro Bautista to P3. That time more than three-seconds behind the pole record and 2.5-seconds behind the race lap record, both of those benchmarks set here last year.

Jonathan Rea only put in six laps but was quick enough to go P4 ahead of Xavi Vierge and Remy Gardner.

World Superbike FP1 Results

World Supersport FP1

Despite only putting in nine laps during FP1 Aruba Ducati’s Nicolo Bulega has started out at Mandalika in the same fashion he left Phillip Island, on top.

Nicholas Spinelli was second this morning ahead of fellow Yamaha rider Stefano Manzi.  Marcel Schroetter fourth on the MV Agusta F3 800 RR ahead of Raffale De Rosa on a Ducati while Can Oncu was top Kawasaki in sixth.

Oli Bayliss was P12 on the FP1 time-sheet and put in a considerable 20 laps in the session.

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The track temperature for FP1 was 42-degrees and the ambient 31-degrees but for FP2 track temperatures of up to 60-degrees are expected.  This morning the track was very dirty and grip hard to find.

World Supersport FP1 Results

Mandalika WSBK Round Schedule

World Superbike Championship Points

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