Rea quickest as red flags disrupt progress on Day 1 at Imola

As the opening day of on track action at Imola draws to a close, Jonathan Rea (Pata Honda World Superbike) heads into tomorrow’s final free practice session ahead of Tissot-Superpole as the fastest rider in the combined classification.

A fire in the adjoining park close to the circuit brought out the red flags after only 7 minutes after major improvements already for Eugene Laverty (Voltcom Crescent Suzuki) who had jumped to 9th and Marco Melandri (Aprilia Racing Team) and Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team) who had both also improved on their morning time.

When the session resumed virtually all of the riders improved, which was to be expected, with Jonathan Rea leading the standings from Sykes and Melandri but another red flag with 12 minutes of the session remaining meant another short stoppage before the session could finally resume.

Eventually with the stoppage reaching almost 45 minutes, the decision to cancel the on track activity for today was made due to a broken drainage cover at Turn 4.

The top ten riders were therefore classified as Jonathan Rea, Tom Sykes, Marco Melandri, Sylvain Guintoli (Aprilia Racing Team), Davide Giugliano (Ducati Superbike Team), Leon Haslam (Pata Honda World Superbike Team), Loris Baz (Kawasaki Racing Team) and the fastest EVO rider Leon Camier (BMW Motorrad Italia Superbike Team).

As it stands Michel Fabrizio (Iron Brain Grillini Kawasaki) is 20th and therefore the final rider to make into Tissot-Superpole. There is of course once final session tomorrow morning for everyone to improve.

Times: 1. Rea (Honda) 1’48.147 average 164.310 kph; 2. Sykes (Kawasaki) 1’48.187; 3. Melandri (Aprilia) 1’48.261; 4. Guintoli (Aprilia) 1’48.323; 5. Giugliano (Ducati) 1’48.329; 6. Davies (Ducati) 1’48.592; 7. Haslam (Honda) 1’48.999; 8. Laverty (Suzuki) 1’49.259; 9. Baz (Kawasaki) 1’49.600; 10. Camier (BMW) 1’49.610; 11. Lowes (Suzuki) 1’49.710; 12. Goi (Ducati) 1’49.920; 13. Canepa (Ducati) 1’50.015; 14. Salom (Kawasaki) 1’50.103; 15. Badovini (Bimota) 1’50.228; 16. Elias (Aprilia) 1’50.370; 17. Iddon (Bimota) 1’50.609; 18. Scassa (Kawasaki) 1’50.926; 19. Corti (MV Agusta) 1’51.034; 20. Fabrizio (Kawasaki) 1’51.357; 21. Andreozzi (Kawasaki) 1’51.544; 22. Guarnoni (Kawasaki) 1’51.572; 23. Foret (Kawasaki) 1’51.581; 24. Morais (Kawasaki) 1’51.707; 25. Toth (BMW) 1’52.445; 26. May (EBR) 1’54.669; 27. Sebestyen (BMW) 1’55.102; NC. Yates (EBR) 1’56.225.

Jonathan Rea - 1st - “I really enjoyed being back at Imola today. The bike is clearly working quite well here but we still need to make some good improvements, especially getting the power down off the slower corners and final turning with engine brake. But for our first day we’ve got to be happy because our pace is OK. The ultimate lap time I didn’t think was very fast compared to the race or the test here last year. But the track is quite fresh and there’s not a lot of rubber down – there haven’t been any big meetings here before us. Tomorrow when the track gets a bit more rubbered-in I think you’ll see the pace starting to hot up a little bit. We’ll work hard tonight to refine the bike even more and hopefully go with that pace.” — Jonathan Rea – 1st – “I really enjoyed being back at Imola today. The bike is clearly working quite well here but we still need to make some good improvements, especially getting the power down off the slower corners and final turning with engine brake. But for our first day we’ve got to be happy because our pace is OK. The ultimate lap time I didn’t think was very fast compared to the race or the test here last year. But the track is quite fresh and there’s not a lot of rubber down – there haven’t been any big meetings here before us. Tomorrow when the track gets a bit more rubbered-in I think you’ll see the pace starting to hot up a little bit. We’ll work hard tonight to refine the bike even more and hopefully go with that pace.”

Marco Melandri: 3rd - “I am really quite pleased. For us today was like a new, positive beginning. I feel good on my RSV4 and I am able to ride very smoothly. Today we did a lot of work in preparation for the race, trying to understand how the tyres behave and working on our electronics strategies. Tomorrow we'll continue in this direction, also looking for speed on the flying lap for Superpole. The interruption in the second session didn't even create any big problems for us. We already have a good base to build on". — Marco Melandri: 3rd – “I am really quite pleased. For us today was like a new, positive beginning. I feel good on my RSV4 and I am able to ride very smoothly. Today we did a lot of work in preparation for the race, trying to understand how the tyres behave and working on our electronics strategies. Tomorrow we’ll continue in this direction, also looking for speed on the flying lap for Superpole. The interruption in the second session didn’t even create any big problems for us. We already have a good base to build on”.

Sylvain Guintoli: 4th - “We started off well. As usual we are working on race pace, but my initial feeling with my RSV4 is very good. With all the red flags that interrupted the practice sessions there are still a few things left to test. I hope we can get some consistent time to work tomorrow and finish what we have planned. In any case our times are promising and I'm confident that starting from the good work we did today we'll be able to improve even more”. — Sylvain Guintoli: 4th – “We started off well. As usual we are working on race pace, but my initial feeling with my RSV4 is very good. With all the red flags that interrupted the practice sessions there are still a few things left to test. I hope we can get some consistent time to work tomorrow and finish what we have planned. In any case our times are promising and I’m confident that starting from the good work we did today we’ll be able to improve even more”.

Leon Haslam - 7th - “This morning felt pretty good and I did the whole session on the harder tyre. I felt we could have got into the 48s with our last tyre but I got held up a bit. This afternoon I got a couple of laps together on the SC0. I went slightly quicker but couldn’t really get a good lap together and then the red flag came out. I just didn’t really get a chance to go for a good lap time on a softer tyre. Generally, I felt really happy this morning and just didn’t get a really good go at it this afternoon.” — Leon Haslam – 7th – “This morning felt pretty good and I did the whole session on the harder tyre. I felt we could have got into the 48s with our last tyre but I got held up a bit. This afternoon I got a couple of laps together on the SC0. I went slightly quicker but couldn’t really get a good lap together and then the red flag came out. I just didn’t really get a chance to go for a good lap time on a softer tyre. Generally, I felt really happy this morning and just didn’t get a really good go at it this afternoon.”

Eugene Laverty: 8th - “How many timed laps did we do today, maybe six proper flying laps? We didn’t get anything done in the first practice with the electrical problem we had, and then in the second practice, the activity was cancelled with 13 minutes left. The bike is feeling quite good considering we haven’t done any laps yet and we’re not too far away, so I’m looking forward to actually starting some real work tomorrow morning!” — Eugene Laverty: 8th – “How many timed laps did we do today, maybe six proper flying laps? We didn’t get anything done in the first practice with the electrical problem we had, and then in the second practice, the activity was cancelled with 13 minutes left. The bike is feeling quite good considering we haven’t done any laps yet and we’re not too far away, so I’m looking forward to actually starting some real work tomorrow morning!”

Alex Lowes: 11th - “Today was good; obviously frustrating at the end because we had a plan for the session. I worked really hard on old tyres, learning the track and feeling more comfortable, and I was hoping to improve at the end on new tyres which I didn’t get the chance to do. So it’s frustrating when you don’t get the session that you want, but obviously everyone lost those last 12 minutes. I think I’ll make a big-step tomorrow after sleeping on it tonight. It’s a fun track to ride so I’m looking forward to tomorrow.” — Alex Lowes: 11th – “Today was good; obviously frustrating at the end because we had a plan for the session. I worked really hard on old tyres, learning the track and feeling more comfortable, and I was hoping to improve at the end on new tyres which I didn’t get the chance to do. So it’s frustrating when you don’t get the session that you want, but obviously everyone lost those last 12 minutes. I think I’ll make a big-step tomorrow after sleeping on it tonight. It’s a fun track to ride so I’m looking forward to tomorrow.”

Geoff May: “We worked very hard today and I am sorry that the red flag stopped the session. We improved during the 2nd session and hopefully tomorrow we will gain some more time so that in the races on Sunday we can fight with some riders. I’m really having fun here in Imola, this is a beautiful race circuit.”

Aaron Yates: “We made a little improvement during the 2nd practice session but I feel positive. I really love this track and hope tomorrow we will be more competitive.”

World Supersport

With blistering temperatures gracing the Imola circuit, the World Supersport riders enjoyed two sunny sessions ahead of the 4th round of the championship on Sunday. The Italian track always provides close racing and judging by the Free Practice times from today, Sunday’s race could be a nail biter.

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Lorenzo Zanetti (Pata Honda World Supersport Team) gave the local fans something to smile about, powering his Honda CBR600cc machine to the fastest time this morning but it was former Champion Kenan Sofuoglu (Mahi Team India Kawasaki) that ended the day on top after a significant improvement by the Turkish rider in FP2.

With almost all of the riders improving, Kev Coghlan (DMC-Panavto Yamaha) and Assen winner Michael van der Mark (Pata Honda World Supersport Team) completed the top three ahead of Lorenzo Zanetti and Jules Cluzel (MV Agusta Reparto Corse – YMS) who recovered from a morning technical problem to end the opening day in 5th.

Florian Marino (Kawasaki Intermoto Ponyexpres) was the only rider in the top 18 who failed to improve in FP2, the Frenchman rounded out the top six.

Riccardo Russo re-joined at turn 7 after falling towards the end of the session.

Alex Baldolini (ATK Racing MV Agusta) was 14th on his return to the championship with Thai rider Ratthapark Wilairot (Core PTR Honda) claiming 18th after the two sessions on his first visit to Imola.

Times: 1. Sofuoglu (Kawasaki) 1’51.744 average 159.021 kph; 2. Coghlan (Yamaha) 1’52.090; 3. Zanetti (Honda) 1’52.147; 4. Vd Mark (Honda) 1’52.168; 5. Cluzel (MV Agusta) 1’52.292; 6. Marino (Kawasaki) 1’52.461; 7. Tamburini (Kawasaki) 1’52.741; 8. Kennedy (Honda) 1’52.768; 9. Bussolotti (Honda) 1’52.855; 10. Jacobsen (Kawasaki) 1’52.868; 11. Russo (Honda) 1’52.929; 12. De Rosa (Honda) 1’52.985; 13. Rolfo (Kawasaki) 1’53.195; 14. Baldolini (MV Agusta) 1’53.305; 15. Nocco (Kawasaki) 1’53.697; etc.