WorldSBK: Blue skies and high temperatures have greeted the WorldSBK paddock at the UK Round.
Perfect conditions at Donington Park, the venue of the series inaugural round in 1988, saw Nicolo Bulega top the times from Danilo Petrucci (Barni Spark Racing Team) around the famous 4.023km venue
A Turn 9 crash in Free Practice 2 was a blot on the copybook for Bulega (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) but the championship leader leads the way by almost two tenths of a second. The 25 year old lost 20 minutes of track time as his team repaired his bike
Alex Lowes (bimota by Kawasaki Racing Team) ended the day third fastest but led the way in Free Practice 1. Having finished on the podium at the previous round the bimota rider arrived at his home round in confident spirits. He competed 42 laps today which included a 19 lap race simulation in the afternoon
The home crowd saw four British riders inside the top eight positions with Sam Lowes (ELF Marc VDS Racing Team) fourth fastest, Scott Redding (MGM BONOVO Racing) seventh fastest and Ryan Vickers impressing on the Motocorsa Racing Ducati eighth fastest
Toprak Razgatlioglu (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) ended the day fifth fastest, 0.250s slower than Bulega
P1 – Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati)
“I entered the corner too fast but I now understand where the limit is. That’s the most important thing. When you crash, you have to understand why. Overall, it was a good session because my feeling was strong and I pushed from the first lap to find the limit immediately. We continued to work but the bike wasn’t perfect so I’ll try to improve tomorrow. It was quite a good day and I think we found a good solution with the bike. I can’t ride exactly how I want but it’s close. I want to take another step tomorrow and try to improve.”
P2 – Danilo Petrucci (Barni Spark Racing Team)
“This was a good Friday. I’m not really used to this kind of heat in the UK but I think it’s better for the fans and spectators. For us it’s quite tough! You have to work hard to manage rear tyre wear. The tyre choice will also be tricky because it’s a long race. One tyre option works better at the start the other at the end of the race. We’ll have to make a decision but starting at the front will be important. We’re all really close to each other so a good qualifying lap will make the difference. Overall, I’m quite happy with today.”
P3 – Alex Lowes (Bimota by Kawasaki Racing Team)
“This was my first taste of Donington Park on the bimota. I always enjoy it when we come to England and the weather’s good because a lot of the guys in the team are from Spain and they’re always complaining about the English weather! I tried a longer run in the afternoon and felt okay on the bike. I think we can improve the front of the bike a bit for this track and that’s an area we’ll look at for tomorrow. We did a lot of laps and, as always in World Superbike, the times were really close today. I felt quite good overall and I think we can do a good job tomorrow.”
P5 – Toprak Razgatlioglu (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team)
“The bike wasn’t working well. We tried to improve it in the afternoon and we focused more on the setup but we haven’t found the right one yet. We’ll keep working and in FP3 we’ll need to improve. I hope we can find something because the grip is very strange. The bike isn’t turning or stopping how I want and I’m really surprised because I’ve never felt like this at Donington before. It’s very hot this weekend and we’ll keep working. I hope we can find a way to improve.”
Combined Results after FP2
1. Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) 1’26.342s
2. Danilo Petrucci (Barni Spark Racing Team) +0.181s
3. Alex Lowes (bimota by Kawasaki Racing Team) +0.202s
4. Sam Lowes (ELF Marc VDS Racing Team) +0.249s
5. Toprak Razgatlioglu (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) +0.250s
6. Garrett Gerloff (Kawasaki WorldSBK Team) +0.282s
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©Words/Images are from official press release posted courtesy of WorldSBK.com
