2021 WorldSBK Round Seven
Navarra (Spain)

The opening day of action was as fierce as ever as the seventh round of the Superbike World Championship got underway at Circuito de Navarra in Spain.

Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) led the opening session however an increase in temperature during the afternoon left Rea in seventh for the vast majority of that session. Conversely, Alex Lowes made good improvements throughout the afternoon as the heat became more of a factor. As the chequered flag waved at the end of the day though, it was still Rea on top overall thanks to his marker in FP1, whilst Lowes was tenth.

Jonathan Rea

“We had two very different sessions today to confirm some items that we used at the recent Montmelo test. I felt OK getting up to speed with the track and the bumps. When the temperature came up in the afternoon it changed the track little bit, so the grip level dropped. We went back to some components that we had been using previously in FP2. Basically we confirmed that we had been going in the right way at the Montmelo tests.”

Alex Lowes

“I actually felt good on the bike today. Our lap times don’t reflect how I felt out on track. With the bike set-up we are looking to improve our corner entry, especially in the trail braking area, to be ready for Race One on Saturday. That’s the area we are going to focus on most of all. The circuit layout is fun – I like it.”

Having led most of the afternoon session, Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK) was in good form in the FP2 heat of Navarra. Despite most of the riders struggling to improve on their morning times due to the higher temperatures and greasier track surface. In the end, Toprak was able to top FP2, and was second overall thanks to his better time in FP1.

Toprak Razgatlıoğlu

“Today we are happy because it was a good start on Friday to finish second position overall for fastest times. For me, the race simulation is the most important but we are very strong, and also I am feeling like my bike is much better in the second session. We are feeling ready to race, but we will see because I think it will not be an easy race – very hot in Navarra! We will see, maybe it is not easy but I will try again to fight for the win.”

Team-mate Andrea Locatelli was once again right in the mix as the Italian continues to grow in stature. He was in third for the majority of the session before finishing fourth at the flag, and fifth overall at the end of the day.

Andrea Locatelli

“In the end, I’m very happy because we have worked very hard on this first day and finished in a good position – P4 in the second session where conditions were hottest, P5 overall. We tried to search for a good rhythm in the heat and the feeling with the bike is not so bad. For sure for tomorrow we will try to improve a little bit more and try to take some more speed especially in sector four because we lose a little bit here. In general, I’m confident and tomorrow we will improve – but we will see, it will not be easy because it is so hot! Tomorrow we will be ready to race.”

Third place on the combined timesheets was Scott Redding (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati), the British rider picking up his strong pace from the last round at Most. In the closing stages of FP2, it was Redding who was looking strong as he made gains throughout various sector times but returned to the pits with a technical issue in the final minute of the session. His team-mate Michael Ruben Rinaldi also improved throughout the afternoon, finishing third in FP2 and actually improving his time from the morning, one place behind Redding. Overall, however, it was Redding third and Rinaldi seventh.

Scott Redding

“It was a very positive day and I must admit I had a lot of fun. I completed a lot of laps and even when at the end of FP2 the team asked me to come back to the box, the feeling was so good that I kept lapping then running out of gas. That’s good, also because the pace was strong even in the afternoon with the higher temperature“.

Michael Rinaldi

“We encountered some difficulties today. This morning I didn’t have a good feeling with my bike while in the afternoon, on a much warmer tarmac, we were able to improve while the others struggled a bit more. For this reason, I’m quite satisfied even if we have to work to make a small step forward“.

The battle for Independent supremacy is set to be a big one this weekend; Garrett Gerloff (GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) took the honours on the overall times but in FP2, he suffered a crash at Turn 4. This afternoon’s pace was still enough however, although Chaz Davies (Team GoEleven) is a serious contender this weekend and looks like he may be able to go with Gerloff, although grid position will be vital. Gerloff was fourth overall, Davies sixth, whilst another Independent rider who impressed were Axel Bassani (Motocorsa Racing) who was 11th overall but the fastest in the final sector in FP2.

Eighth place in the combined times was Alvaro Bautista (Team HRC), with the Spaniard particularly strong in the morning session before setting his fastest FP2 time on his final lap of the session. Whilst Bautista was the lead Honda, team-mate Leon Haslam had a positive afternoon as he improved his time in comparison to the morning to finish in 14th, although he was still left in 15th in the combined times, despite being the third-fastest through the opening sector in the afternoon heat.

Alvaro Bautista

“We tested here a couple of months ago and conditions remain similar now, in that the track is still bumpy. It’s a challenging one, with many slow corners – I think the most enjoyable section is the first fast corner. This morning we had issues with the braking, my bike rather unstable, so in the afternoon we tried to work on this but the track conditions were hotter and so we had less grip. I tried some different compounds but the grip, particularly at the edge of the tyre, was very low. We have some more ideas for tomorrow anyway, and this morning we weren’t so far from the front, so let’s see if we can find something to improve the bike’s stability and rear grip.”

Leon Haslam

“This morning we had a small crash, unfortunately it came when I put a new tyre in so results in the end were not so good. We are having some problems trying to stop the bike. Conditions this afternoon were very hot, and we spent most of the session trying to understand how to improve in terms of corner entry because we had the same issue as in the morning and I could not go any faster with the new tyre. We still have some work to do tomorrow, but we knew this circuit would be tough. We are competitive at many tracks, but the very tight corners are one of the areas in which we need to improve, and this circuit in particular has a lot of these. It’s a good track at which to test our weak points anyway, and we will keep trying and pushing for this.”

Tom Sykes (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) took BMW into ninth place and was one of the many riders who couldn’t improve their time in the afternoon session. Sykes was less than a second off the top spot, whilst his team-mate Michael van der Mark couldn’t crack the top ten on the opening day; the Dutchman completed 38 laps but was 11th, something he will hope to improve on as the weekend evolves.

Tom Sykes

“It’s not been a bad day. We have been understanding the package off the back of a test in Catalunya and we understood a few of the parameters. This afternoon in the hotter conditions we really looked at some of the tyre selection that Pirelli have brought here. I was overall happy with our consistency and the pace at the end on used tyres. Hopefully now we have got a lot of information of that and overnight we will now make some fine adjustments and try again tomorrow. It is looking like it is going to be a very hot weekend so hopefully we can maintain that pace from FP2.”

Michael van der Mark

“I think if you look at the position from today it is not really where we want to be. This morning I felt good on the bike and did some OK lap times, but the times from 7th to my position are really close. Unfortunately, my fastest lap got cancelled so that is why I am back in eleventh place. I think otherwise I potentially would have been 7th which is not so bad. This afternoon was good for us in the warmer conditions to try some things on the bike and see how it works, I was happy with the bike it just seems we are missing some things in a few areas. I think we can fix this and be higher up the grid tomorrow.”

The rest of the field saw Jonas Folger (Bonovo MGM Racing) in 13th, Tito Rabat (Barni Racing Team) in 14th – the Spaniard however showing flashes of hope throughout – and then the returning Lucas Mahias (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) in 16th, despite an FP1 technical issue and FP2 crash at Turn 15, although he was OK on both occasions. Kohta Nozane (GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) was 17th, although he was third-fastest in the final sector in the afternoon, ahead of Christophe Ponsson (Gil Motor Sport – Yamaha) in 18th and another returnee, Leandro Mercado (MIE Racing Honda Team), in 19th. Wildcard Naomichi Uramoto (JEG Racing) completed the top twenty overall, ahead of Loris Cresson (OUTDO TPR Team Pedercini Racing) and his teammate, American Jayson Uribe.

WorldSBK Friday Combined Times

WorldSBK Championship Points

WorldSSP

Spanish rider Gonzalez heads into the Navarra Round on the back of his first two WorldSSP podiums and, in buoyant mood, posting a 1’41.181s in the morning Free Practice 1 session to top the times for the day with the 19-year-old not able to improve his best time in the afternoon session. Aegerter, leading the Championship, was able to improve in the second 45-minute session but it was not enough to overhaul Gonzalez, claiming second place but just 0.016s behind. Four tenths away from the leading duo was Federico Caricasulo (Biblion Iberica Yamaha Motoxracing) as the Italian rider showed strong pace on Friday at Navarra despite a crash at Turn 3 in the morning Free Practice 1 session; the former WorldSBK rider was able to re-join the session following the crash.

Simon Jespersen (Kallio Racing) had an eventful day as the Danish rider replaced the injured Hannes Soomer at Kallio Racing as he secured fourth place in the combined standings on his WorldSSP debut, but also had a crash in the second session of the day at Turn 15. French rider Jules Cluzel (GMT94 Yamaha) was fifth fastest after posting a time of 1’41.781s, an improvement from Free Practice 1 and good enough for second place in the afternoon session. 2019 Champion Randy Krummenacher (EAB Racing Team) rounded out the top six with a strong showing from the Swiss rider as he searches for a return to the rostrum. Krummenacher’s time was just 0.014s slower than Cluzel.

Currently second in the Championship, Steven Odendaal (Evan Bros. WorldSSP Yamaha Team) was seventh after Friday’s action at Navarra and finished more than six tenths down on Gonzalez’s time while Sammarinese Luca Bernardi (CM Racing) was eighth after finding almost seven tenths of a second between FP1 and FP2. Niki Tuuli (MV Agusta Corse Clienti) secured a top ten finish with ninth place ahead of Finnish compatriot Vertti Takala (Kallio Racing); the top nine in the standings separated by just one second.

Philipp Oettl (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) has shown remarkable consistency in the 2021 campaign so far with six podiums from ten races and will be hoping he can improve on his 11th place finish on Friday, although the German did lose his best lap time in FP2 for slow riding; his overall best time coming in the morning session. Raffaele De Rosa (Orelac Racing VerdNatura) was 12th and Can Öncü (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) in 13th despite the Turkish rider having a crash at Turn 9 in the second session.

VFT Racing’s Marcel Brenner secured a top-15 finish after Friday action with 14th place with Borja Gomez, replacing Pawel Szkopek at Yamaha MS Racing rounding out the top 15. Just two tenths of a second separated Öncü in 13th and Christoffer Bergman (Wojcik Racing Team) in 19th place, showing how competitive the field is in WorldSSP.

David Sanchis Martinez, who is taking the reins of WRP Wepol Racing’s Yamaha YZF R6 machine from Danny Webb, claimed 16th place while Oscar Gutierrez Iglesias, replacing the injured Marc Alcoba at Yamaha MS Racing, was 17th. Indonesia’s Galang Hendra Pratama (Ten Kate Racing Yamaha) was 18th with Bergman 19th and Hikari Okubo (G.A.P MOTOZOO Racing by Puccetti), standing in for the injured Shogo Kawasaki and making his return to the Championship in 20th; Okubo also the highest-placed WorldSSP Challenge rider.

WorldSSP Friday Combined Times

WorldSSP Championship Points

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Source: MCNews.com.au