WorldSBK Rider Quotes after Misano
Jonathan Rea
“My pre-race target was achieved so I am super-happy. For many reasons I really wanted to win here and to make it a double is incredible. I love racing here; it is where I had my first career WorldSBK race win. Approaching the mid part of the season I had said many times just how important the next two races would be before the summer break, so to make it count this weekend is really good. Race two was a little bit of a different strategy. I set off so fast yesterday but today we used the 377 rear tyre and I think that made the difference. I want to say big thanks to Pirelli because they also brought the 375 tyre, the one we used in race one for the first time this weekend – and the 377, which we won race two with. That was the same tyre we used in Donington, so it is working in cooler and hotter conditions, which is big credit to them. Also credit to my crew because compared to race one we changed the bike quite a lot and we were able to conserve our tyre a little bit better.”
Tom Sykes
“I think today I was not as strong as I intended to be but probably Jonathan also found something extra, because that is how it looked. Two times second, and pole position, normally that would be an acceptable weekend so I am grateful for those things, but Jonathan is the one who we are challenging in the championship and we lost some ground. There are still five whole rounds to go, so we have a long time remaining. But my focus is not on that yet. We will test at Misano tomorrow and I hope we have clear conditions because I am very interested to find a solution for something. It is basically about turning and it was very clear in sector one of the track today. We will keep working to improve things because I want to win races.”
Davide Giugliano
“Yesterday was a big disappointment for us, because we had a strong pace but a crash took us out of contention. We knew we could bounce back today, and we’ve made another small step forward with our setup for Race 2. Early on, I was trying to manage the tyres because I was expecting a drop in the second half of the race, like yesterday, from Rea and Sykes. However, that didn’t happen. Anyway, it was important for us to get back on the right track and I want to dedicate this podium to Fabrizio Pirovano and his family.”
Chaz Davies
“I’m just disappointed, because we have shown a good pace and great potential on this track throughout the weekend, but we could not bring it to fruition. Yesterday we had the opportunity to win, and today we were ready to climb back after a cleaner start. It’s hard to explain the crash, I didn’t feel on the limit and I had the same corner speed and lean angle, but this is racing sometimes. At least I didn’t sustain serious injuries. My right wrist is sore but hopefully I’ll be back to 100 percent soon and fight for better results in Laguna Seca.”
Stefano Cecconi, Aruba.it Racing Ducati Team Principal
“Given the potential we’ve shown with both riders, it’s been a difficult weekend, which didn’t yield the results within our reach. To wrap it up with a podium partially makes up for our efforts, and now we’ll recharge our batteries with the great reunion that is World Ducati Week to arrive to Laguna Seca as ready as ever.”
Alex Lowes
“Today was a much better race. The position was not great, obviously to lose three positions in the last lap and a half of the race was a shame, but I was struggling with my condition a bit at the end. However, there are many positives to take as I did a better job than yesterday, kept pushing, and the bike felt good. We finished eighth, and I am quite frustrated that I still can’t ride the YZF-R1 the way I want to for the whole race duration but I’m looking forward to getting fully fit and showing what the bike can do in the next couple of races!”
Niccolò Canepa
“I’m not very satisfied with the position in today’s race but I’m really happy about my performance across the weekend! My pace was very consistent and I didn’t make any mistakes. Unfortunately I was involved in Reiterberger’s crash in the opening lap and I dropped to 22nd position. I was able to finish ninth, so the pace was really good, but without the incident it could have been much better! I want to say thanks to the Pata Yamaha team for making this weekend possible.”
Paul Denning – Pata Yamaha Team Principal
“The numbers themselves are not so exciting, but the whole team and both riders should be happy with today’s race, considering the challenges faced. Alex is clearly far from fit and the recuperation from the injury and subsequent operation is taking its normal course, we can’t expect miracles! However, compared to yesterday he was able to manage much better, set the fastest lap of the race and hold a very good rhythm to the end despite the lack of strength. This cost him some places, but when you have nothing left to fight with there is nothing more we can expect. The YZF-R1 and a fit Alex Lowes clearly had the potential to fight for the podium today, and this is the positive point we must build upon. It has been a pleasure to have Niccolò with us this weekend, and what a great job he has done! Despite bad luck in qualifying and on lap one today, he really rode well and moved forward strongly, with a pace towards the end that was fully competitive with the top riders. Nick’s technical understanding is excellent, this is also a big help, and we are looking forward to his further development assistance in the test tomorrow.”
Josh Brookes
“It was good to finish in the points in Race 1, but it was hard to take satisfaction when a few riders crashed. My lap times were consistent and I knew I was pushing the bike really hard, but ultimately our sheer pace wasn’t enough, and our biggest focus right now has to be making consistent and fast laps. We did a better race time in Race 2, but everyone else improved also which made it difficult to fight. We made some small changes to the bike overnight, and we improved some areas but went backwards on others. We mainly focussed on improving corner entry; the changes worked but it hurt the tyre wear. I’m now looking forward to the test on Monday because it’s a chance to experiment with lots of changes to the bike without the pressure of a race weekend, and we have quite a few things to work through. I’m also particularly looking forward to the next round at Laguna Seca. It’s another new track for me and I think it’s difficult to ride, but I can’t wait to see how it feels.”
Karel Abraham
“It was really disappointing to have another technical problem and another retirement in Race 1. The guys know the full details of what went wrong, but basically it was an electrical issue. The bike didn’t respond in some corners and I couldn’t put the power down properly, so I had to retire. It was good to get more points in Race 2, but I wasn’t happy with how the race went. The bike was more or less working OK, but we still had some issues and haven’t had much running in Practice this weekend. It took some time to get used to the bike in the race after we made some changes to it, but I began to trust it and I was able to push hard at the end and made my best lap time. I hope the test will be useful tomorrow and that we can learn some things about how the bike works. We have a few settings that we want to try so we will do our best to improve. Looking to the next round, I love Laguna Seca and can’t wait to go back. It’s a challenging track but I hope that we can improve our performance and get more points.”
Mick Shanley, Milwaukee BMW Team Coordinator
“It’s been a very challenging weekend for us, and we need to reassess a few things moving forward to the next round at Laguna Seca. We scored points in both races but unfortunately they weren’t representative of where we are due to other riders crashing. We’ve a few new things to try in the test plan tomorrow, particularly on the electronics side which should give us some good improvements. Hopefully the weather will hold out for us and we’ll get some dry weather to work through our developments. It’s early to say how we’re looking for Round 9 at Laguna Seca. It’s an unfamiliar track for Josh so he’ll need to learn it quickly, but Karel has ridden it before and will hopefully capitalise on his experience. We need to have a smooth start to the weekend and if all goes to plan then we should be able to score points.”
Nicky Hayden
“After yesterday’s disappointment I was hoping to bounce back with a better performance. I got an OK start but in turns one, two, three and four I ended up being out of place and not aggressive enough so I got shuffled back through the field. But then I started to feel better on the bike despite running off-track at turn one at one stage. From then on my pace improved a little and, if I want to take a positive out of the race, I did my fastest time on lap 19. It was a little too late: I closed down on Savadori on the last lap after I got past Torres. Sixth is surely not a disaster but definitely not something to be too pumped about either. I’m a little bit disappointed with my performance today and I’ll try to make up for it in Laguna.”
Michael van der Mark
“This morning we tried some different things with the set-up but due to the cold temperatures we couldn’t really get any real information on it so we decided to revert back to yesterday’s settings, with some little tweaks here and there. I got a good start, although I got held up a little in the first two turns after what happened yesterday and that cost me some places. I then took them all back in the following turns and settled into a nice rhythm, until Chaz crashed in front of me. It was a weird one, because it was really early in the race. I picked my bike up immediately because I knew there were a lot of laps left and then just went as fast as I could. Considering the circumstances, tenth is a good result but a frustrating one, too, because I had a great pace. Without that setback, I think it would have been another podium for us.”
Pieter Breddels – Honda WorldSBK Technical Manager
“Nicky was quite fast in warm up and his set-up looked good for the race, but unfortunately his start was not as quick as yesterday’s. He eventually found the pace and felt comfortable with the bike. It wasn’t easy for him to overtake but in the end he was the most competitive of the riders battling from fifth to eighth places. He couldn’t quite make it to P5 in the end, but I think with a better first half he could have been fighting for a higher position. We worked on some different damper settings with Michael but the cold warm up didn’t give us any clear indication. Tyre choice for both riders has been a bit of a gamble, too, because we knew the track was warming up but nobody really knew how warm it was going to be. It’s a shame for Michael’s result, especially because there was nothing he could do to avoid someone else’s accident. He was great in not losing concentration and his pace was simply amazing, and certainly as fast as the front-runners. With today’s performance, he has definitely proved that he is back where he belongs. Despite what could have been, we must be happy with the work done this weekend. In 2015 we were fighting for the top ten, and now we have managed to get on the podium. Hopefully we will carry some of this momentum into the next round.”
Jordi Torres
“Honestly I’m happier today than I was yesterday. I’m sorry about the crash in warm-up, which was unexpected, but luckily it wasn’t anything serious. In the warm-up we tried a different tyre which appeared to offer more support, so we went with two totally different tyres for race 2 in the end. We took this risk but it paid off I think. I made quite a good start but soon saw, when I almost risked a crash, that while the tyre offered more support it also provided slightly less grip, but there’s always a compromise I guess. All in all, despite the final position, I’m satisfied because we took a calculated risk, and the path we took proved to be the right one.”
Raffaele De Rosa
“What can I say? I’m sorry that today’s race ended due to a contact between me and Mercado. I’m very disappointed and angry, because the win was ours for the taking and we’d been working so well all weekend. Despite everything, I thank my team as they all worked so hard this weekend, as ever. We’ll come back stronger than ever after the summer break.”
Genesio Bevilacqua – Althea BMW Racing Team
“A weekend that started positively but that ended with two race incidents, one for Reiti and one for De Rosa. Torres ran his race, bringing home important points for the championship. Unfortunately, Markus has been injured, fracturing the D12 vertebra, and will not be able to take part at the Laguna Seca round. As for De Rosa, the win was within his reach and he battled right to the end, until contact between the two riders eliminated them both. The important thing is that there were no physical consequences in his case. A very difficult day for the Althea BMW team.”
World Superbike 2016 – Misano – Superbike Championship Standings
- Rea 343
- Sykes 277
- Davies 244
- Giugliano 165
- Van Der Mark 163
- Hayden 146
- Torres 137
- Camier 105
- Savadori 100
- Lowes 81
- Fores 75
- Reiterberger 68
- Guintoli 58
- Brookes 55
- Ramos 53
- De Angelis 49
- West 39
- Abraham 26
- Canepa 16
- Baiocco 12
