Jonny Rea leads day one as WSBK gets underway at Aragon

Jonathan Rea leads day one as WSBK gets underway at Aragon

Round 2 of the eni World Superbike Championship got underway in near perfect conditions at MotorLand Aragon with Jonathan Rea (Pata Honda World Superbike Team) having the honour of topping the first European day of the season.

Reigning World Champion Tom Sykes improved his morning session time, but the Kawasaki Racing Team rider was edged out by Rea, who ensured that his last lap of the day at the Spanish track would keep him at the top of the standings.

Sykes was therefore 2nd ahead of Aragon wizard Chaz Davies (Ducati Superbike Team) who moved up to 3rd. Loris Baz (Kawasaki Racing Team), Davide Giugliano (Ducati Superbike Team) and Aprilia’s Marco Melandri completed the top 6.

Championship leader Sylvain Guintoli (Aprilia Racing Team) was 7th with winner of the first race of the year Eugene Laverty (Voltcom Crescent Suzuki) improving in the last five minutes to elevate himself to 8th. His new teammate Alex Lowes continued to adapt to the Spanish track eventually finishing in 11th.

In the EVO category Niccolò Canepa (Althea Racing Ducati) held on to tenth position despite a late crash. Local rider David Salom (Kawasaki Racing Team) ended the day as the 3rd placed EVO rider in 14th just behind the returning Leon Camier (BMW Motorrad Italia).

The other Spaniard in the field Toni Elias had a difficult day, the Red Devils Aprilia only managing 12th position.

Bimota on the other hand had an encouraging start to their return to superbike competition with Ayrton Badovini and Christian Iddon finishing in 17th and 21st.

There is one more free practice session tomorrow morning which gives the riders currently placed 21st and below the chance to make the grid deciding Tissot-Superpole.

Times: 1. Rea (Honda) 1’58.180 average 162.789 kph; 2. Sykes (Kawasaki) 1’58.417; 3. Davies (Ducati) 1’58.575; 4. Baz (Kawasaki) 1’58.579; 5. Giugliano (Ducati) 1’58.717; 6. Melandri (Aprilia) 1’58.763; 7. Guintoli (Aprilia) 1’58.855; 8. Laverty (Suzuki) 1’58.971; 9. Haslam (Honda) 1’59.103; 10. Canepa (Ducati) 1’59.861; 11. Lowes (Suzuki) 2’00.309; 12. Elias (Aprilia) 2’00.480; 13. Corti (MV Agusta) 2’00.749; 14. Camier (BMW) 2’00.966; 15. Salom (Kawasaki) 2’01.032; 16. Guarnoni (Kawasaki) 2’01.076; 17. Badovini (Bimota) 2’01.463; 18. Foret (Kawasaki) 2’01.511; 19. Morais (Kawasaki) 2’01.801; 20. Toth (BMW) 2’02.672; 21. Iddon (Bimota) 2’02.709; 22. Fabrizio (Kawasaki) 2’02.716; 23. Scassa (Kawasaki) 2’03.138; 24. Andreozzi (Kawasaki) 2’03.217; 25. Yates (EBR) 2’04.075; 26. Sebestyen (BMW) 2’05.570; 27. May (EBR) 2’05.593.

Jonathan Rea - P1 - 1m58.180s "I’m quite satisfied with today - it’s been a really good start to the weekend for us. We’ve got quite a good base already, but I still need to work on optimising our engine braking quite a lot. The last time we were here it was quite good, but maybe a change in conditions has thrown some other issues into the mix. We can work a bit more on chassis settings tonight but, for day one, I’m quite happy with my out-and-out pace. With the change in raceday schedule, we need to do a long run tomorrow morning to work with a cooler race-one temperature in mind. We’ve got two rear options to check and see if our preferred tyre will work in cooler conditions around 10.30. So, after a longer run in the morning, I’ll get ready for Superpole." — Jonathan Rea – P1 – 1m58.180s “I’m quite satisfied with today – it’s been a really good start to the weekend for us. We’ve got quite a good base already, but I still need to work on optimising our engine braking quite a lot. The last time we were here it was quite good, but maybe a change in conditions has thrown some other issues into the mix. We can work a bit more on chassis settings tonight but, for day one, I’m quite happy with my out-and-out pace. With the change in raceday schedule, we need to do a long run tomorrow morning to work with a cooler race-one temperature in mind. We’ve got two rear options to check and see if our preferred tyre will work in cooler conditions around 10.30. So, after a longer run in the morning, I’ll get ready for Superpole.”

Marco Melandri 6th: “I'm pleased. This is definitely the best day of practice since I've been on the Aprilia RSV4. We chose not to use a new tyre this afternoon to see what the best option would be for the races. Both the electronics strategies and the bike setup have been improving constantly so all that's left now are those areas where we can still improve and we'll work on those today and tomorrow, but overall I am quite satisfied with today's results.” — Marco Melandri 6th: “I’m pleased. This is definitely the best day of practice since I’ve been on the Aprilia RSV4. We chose not to use a new tyre this afternoon to see what the best option would be for the races. Both the electronics strategies and the bike setup have been improving constantly so all that’s left now are those areas where we can still improve and we’ll work on those today and tomorrow, but overall I am quite satisfied with today’s results.”

Sylvain Guintoli 7th: “Two excellent sessions for us today. We were fast and consistent. The improvements we found at Jerez came out here at Aragon as well so that is quite comforting. We worked mainly on race length. We still have some more fine tuning to try tomorrow but the base setting that we reached today is definitely good. The RSV4 really works well here, I hit 327 kph and that is just more good news in view of the Sunday races.”

Eugene Laverty 8th: “A difficult day, but we expected it to be tough here, and it’s good that we had two dry sessions testing the bike to allow us to improve. We made a good start this afternoon with the feeling on the front but we still need to improve the turn-in. Aragon has a long straight and we are working hard to allow us to keep-up with the Aprilias, but it’s going to be tough. We had a frustrating time at Jerez, with a number of issues that we are working through, but the lap-times are good considering the problems we’re facing. It’s going to be a tough job to keep at the front, but we are confident we can progress as the weekend goes on.”

Niccolò Canepa 10th : “This track does not have the most favourable layout for our bike. Despite this, we have achieved some great results and were consistently fast. The tests we made in Vallelunga proved really useful and I’m really pleased with my Panigale. But we cannot stop now – we have to continue to work and improve, because our rivals will do all they can to get past us. It’s been a positive day that spurs us on to continue to do our best and confirm our position, both tomorrow and in Sunday’s races”.

Alex Lowes 11th: “My first day at the track, and it’s been quite difficult, but I’m looking forward to sleeping-on-it tonight and making some improvements tomorrow. I’m learning the track quickly, so it’s just a case of getting back out on the Suzuki GSX-R in the morning and continuing the progress we’ve been making so far.”

Aaron Yates 25th position: “I am happy with the progress that we made in today’s sessions. There was a big gap since Phillip Island and we have been working hard. I feel more comfortable on the bike and am happy to be back racing. Of course we still have a lot of work to do but we are moving in the right direction and we are all confident that over the coming races we will see big improvements, starting I hope tomorrow.”

World Supersport

Frenchman Jules Cluzel (MV Agusta RC – Yakhnich Motorsport) is heading the field after the opening two World Supersport free practice sessions at MotorLand Aragon.

With conditions perfect, the current leader of the championship posted a lap time of 2.02.461 to edge out the fastest rider from this morning Kev Coghlan (DMC Panavto-Yamaha) who also improved, just missing the top spot by 0.019s.

“I feel great” said Jules Cluzel after the session “because we got a much faster and easier start of the weekend than in Phillip Island, the team have done a really good job during the break. We definitely improved in some areas of the bike and we are aware now of what still needs to be sorted out. We are competitive already, but there is still big room for improvement. Today it was only free practice, but it’s still a big boost of confidence for the remaining days.”

Michael van der Mark (PATA Honda World Supersport team), Florian Marino (Kawasaki Intermoto Ponyexpres), and the second PATA Honda of Lorenzo Zanetti was fifth.

Kenan Sofuoglu recovered from a session one technical problem to end the day in 6th overall, the multiple champion hoping to have better luck this weekend that on his recent visits to the MotorLand Aragon venue.

Jack Kennedy (CIA Insurance Honda), who suffered an injury at Phillip Island rode to 10th position, just ahead of his team mate and debut podium finisher in Australia, Raffaele De Rosa, who ended the session 11th.

The Supersport riders have one final free practice session tomorrow before they take to the track for their 45 minute grid deciding qualifying session which is scheduled to take place at 1555 local time.

Times: 1. Cluzel (MV Agusta) 2’02.461 average 157.098 kph; 2. Coghlan (Yamaha) 2’02.480; 3. Vd Mark (Honda) 2’02.684; 4. Marino (Kawasaki) 2’03.055; 5. Zanetti (Honda) 2’03.160; 6. Sofuoglu (Kawasaki) 2’03.173; 7. Jacobsen (Kawasaki) 2’03.362; 8. Wilairot (Honda) 2’03.875; 9. Russo (Honda) 2’03.907; 10. Kennedy (Honda) 2’04.042; 11. De Rosa (Honda) 2’04.226; 12. Menghi (Yamaha) 2’04.382; 13. Tamburini (Kawasaki) 2’04.519; 14. Bussolotti (Honda) 2’04.638; 15. Leonov (MV Agusta) 2’04.695; etc.