Tom Sykes tops day one at Jerez
Anthony West 14th – Josh Brookes 16th
FP2 action began for WorldSBK at 13:30 local time with entry to Tissot-Superpole 2 for the top ten. Xavi Fores (Barni Racing Team) led the charge in the opening minutes of the session before times tumbled with Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team) putting in the fastest time. By the end, all of the top ten were within seven tenths of a second of each other on the timesheets, making for a promising weekend of racing ahead.
Sykes maintained the fastest time throughout the session, while Chaz Davies (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) improved his time from the morning to finish second fastest. Alex Lowes (Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team) put in a last minute dash that saw him steal third on the timesheets.
Temperatures rose by midday and with extra rubber on the circuit, the conditions allowed for riders to set their fastest times, with the entire top ten improving their times from the morning session. Michael van der Mark (Honda World Superbike Team) was fourth, while Fores was the first Spaniard home continuing his good pace on Friday afternoon, to finish in fifth.
Sylvain Guintoli (Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team) improved from the morning session, setting his fastest time in sixth to secure his entry to Tissot-Superpole 2. Nicky Hayden (Honda World Superbike Team) was seventh fastest in the combined times ahead of Leon Camier who set the eighth quickest time despite sliding out on turn 1 in the final minutes of the session. The MV Agusta Reparto Corse rider walked away in the top ten with his sights firmly on Saturday’s Tissot-Superpole 2 shoot-out.
Kawasaki Racing Team’s Jonathan Rea finished in ninth, while Davide Giugliano (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) finished in tenth gaining a direct seeding to the Tissot-Superpole 2 qualifying session. Giugliano put in a solid performance after sitting out for most of FP2 with his recovering shoulder.
Anthony West finished the opening day in 14th place while Josh Brookes was 16th.
Tissot-Superpole 2 qualifying session will see Friday’s top ten battle it out for pole position on Saturday 15th of October at 10:55am local time (GMT+2) ahead of lights out for Race 1 at 13:00.
Tom Sykes
“I am quite happy to be fastest here at Jerez, on a circuit I would not consider to be my strongest one. This is positive for us and we are trying out hardest to improve the set-up again to get a little bit more feedback from the Ninja ZX-10R. In general, I have had some limitations this year and I have not found a cure for them yet which can be frustrating. We are still looking at working on set-up, evaluating some other parameters and possibilities. We will keep working now for tomorrow and Sunday. I feel well prepared even on used tyres, but we need to make sure we are strong in qualifying to set ourselves up for the races.”
Chaz Davies
“Today was good, I’m generally happy with the bike. This afternoon we were right in the ballpark towards the end of the session. The overnight rain made the track quite slick in FP1, but it was just a case of working our way into it. We’ve picked up from the strong form we had in the last couple of races, where we’ve been competitive in every condition, and our goal is to build on that tomorrow. For the race, it will be important to find grip right away, because 21 laps are a long distance to cover. We still need to tweak a few things with the electronics and improve the front end a bit, but we’re definitely going in the right direction.”
Alex Lowes
“It’s been a good day and I feel a lot better on the bike, which after feeling a little second-hand at Magny-Cours is nice! The guys have done a great job, we’ve gone back to a setting that I know from testing and it’s the best feeling I’ve had over the year on the front of the YZF-R1 so I’ve got more confidence. If I can keep working hard with that tomorrow to try to improve my confidence a little more, then we should be good. I’m not too worried about the race result I just want to be solid and close the gap on the guys at the front over the race distance, which is my goal for this weekend but so far it’s been good!”
Jonathan Rea
“It seems like it is going OK but when we are looking for some improvement it is not coming. I feel I am riding well and the bike is behaving itself on the entry of the corner, and chassis-wise in general, but we are struggling everywhere with traction. We are having more spinning than we did here during testing and the electronics are cutting in everywhere in acceleration. So we just need to focus on that. I normally never struggle with traction and everywhere else on track the bike feels quite good. Consistently we are a couple of tenths off where we should be but there is just one main issue we need to focus on.”
WorldSBk – 2016 – Day One Results
1 Tom Sykes Kawasaki GBR 01’41.739
2 Chaz Davies Ducati GBR 01’41.777
3 Alex Lowes Yamaha GBR 01’41.804
4 Michael van der Mark Honda NLD 01’41.859
5 Xavi Fores Ducati ESP 01’41.895
6 Sylvain Guintoli Yamaha FRA 01’41.901
7 Nicky Hayden Honda USA 01’41.994
8 Leon Camier MV Agusta GBR 01’42.070
9 Jonathan Rea Kawasaki GBR 01’42.098
10 Davide Giugliano Ducati ITA 01’42.343
11 Jordi Torres BMW ESP 01’42.356
12 Lorenzo Savadori Aprilia ITA 01’42.480
13 Markus Reiterberger BMW DEU 01’42.531
14 Anthony West Kawasaki AUS 01’42.715
15 Alex De Angelis Aprilia SM 01’42.726
16 Joshua Brookes BMW AUS 01’42.926
17 Román Ramos Kawasaki ESP 01’43.022
18 Luca Scassa Ducati ITA 01’43.730
19 Gianluca Vizziello Kawasaki ITA 01’44.074
20 Peter Sebestyen Yamaha HUN 01’44.558
21 Mattieu Lussiana BMW FRA 01’44.769
22 Saeed Al Sulaiti Kawasaki QAT 01’44.953
23 Dominic Schmitter Kawasaki CHE 01’45.324
24 Karel Pesek Yamaha CZE 01’47.084
WorldSSP: Krummenacher Tops the Timesheets
Friday afternoon saw a mid session duel play out between Kawasaki Puccetti Racing Teammates Kenan Sofuoglu and Randy Krummenacher who fought each other for the fastest time in FP2.
Times stayed the same at the top of the timesheets for the Kawasaki teammates until they caught each other mid lap, half way through the session. They battled side by side for a couple of laps with Krummenacher putting in his best time to beat Sofuoglu. The reigning World Champion remained in second keeping a consistent pace, but wasn’t able to improve his time from the morning session. Niki Tuuli (Kallio Racing Team) improved in the combined times, setting the third fastest time of the day despite a crash in the first half of the session. The young Finn was quick to rejoin practice and was able to maintain his place in the top three.
FIM Europe Supersport Cup contenders Axel Bassani (San Carlo Italia Team), Illia Mykhalchyk (DS Junior Team) and Alessandro Zaccone (San Carlo Team Italia) fought it out on the timesheets, all setting times within a second of each other. Bassani set the best lap of his Cup challengers in fourth, while Kyle Smith (CIA Landlord Insurance Honda) broke up the ESS pack to finish fifth fastest. Mykhalchyk set the sixth quickest time ahead of Zaccone in seventh.
Though he had a mid session spill, Federico Caricasulo (BARDHAL Evan Bros. Honda Racing) rejoined to finally secure eighth and gain direct access to Tissot- Superpole 2. Honda World Superbike Team’s PJ Jacobsen couldn’t match his FP1 place on the timesheets and finally finished the combined times in ninth, while GRT Racing Team’s Gino Rea locked out the top ten but was declared unfit following a crash at the end of the session.
Bryan Staring in Superstock 1000
