For his return to the Superbike World Championship, Loris progressed regularly for three days on the Angel Nieto Circuit in Jerez, discovering the Yamaha YZF-R1 with the prestigious Ten Kate team. He finished the second Sunday race of 18 laps 20 seconds behind the winner, which was very positive for the baptism of this new Baz-Ten Kate-Yamaha trio.
Loris, how did your re-establishment of contact with the Superbike World Championship go?
“It was a good time. It was something I had been waiting for for a long time, both the team and me. It was a good weekend, we were happy to be there. There was a lot of effort from a lot of people.”
“We arrived with a lot to discover and with the desire to play at the forefront straight away. But there is still a time when you have to be intelligent and tell yourself that you need to have a little more patience. We have to accept the fact that there is some catching up to do.”
“It is certain that we arrive wanting straight away with a little luck to aim for the front but even if it is a very accomplished bike, the team must learn it, I must also learn it. learn and together we manage to shape it and adapt it to my driving style. We took our time and at the end of the weekend we were still satisfied with the work that was done.”
First of all, how was your impressive fall during free practice? Were you physically touched? Has your motorcycle suffered a lot?
“It was a fall that obviously didn't come at the right time, but I didn't make a blatant mistake. I didn’t make any obvious mistakes, we looked at the recorded data for a long time and everything was very similar to the previous data.”
“Maybe I was just a little too eager at the time. The start of free practice went very well, but as there are a lot of new tires in the allocation provided by Pirelli, there was a tire intended for the sprint race that we wanted to try. I left and then got caught on the first lap of a run that was supposed to last ten laps. In fact the rear tire pushed the front. It was our problem until the second race to have a tire that was a little capricious when releasing the brake. The bike didn't want to turn and I had to angle a lot.”
“I was surprised in a very fast corner. I got nothing, which was really lucky, even though the bike was destroyed. That's why I was really angry with myself because there were few pieces in the team. The guys worked intensely to build this bike and then we had to do another one overnight, so I blamed myself. But it's also part of learning to ride a motorcycle and for us it was a sort of “winter testing” weekend. It was like riding in November, except it was a race weekend, so you had to hurry a little more than during real winter testing. We can't take our time so much. This fall didn’t happen at the right time, but we were lucky that it went well afterwards.”
Were you satisfied with your qualification in 15th position during the Superpole, 1.7 behind the pole position established by Jonathan Rea?
" No. I was not satisfied with the weekend in general. There is no place that I have achieved that has satisfied me because I want to play for the podium and the front positions.”
“I knew that qualifying was going to be the most complicated moment because I hadn't put a qualifying tire on this bike. I actually had one in Misano but in somewhat special conditions. So in fact the first time I passed one under normal conditions was during qualifying. And all the riders who have used it know that you have to have total confidence with your bike and understand where to push a little more with this qualifying tire which normally saves a second, but this didn't save me a lot. But I wasn't surprised because I expected it. I knew it was going to be the most complicated moment of the weekend.”
Twelfth in the first race, then a technical withdrawal, and ninth in the third race, 20 seconds behind the winner over 18 laps. For a return without a race for seven months, this ninth place is pretty good.
“Yes, but more than the place – because there were quite a few falls at the front in this race – it is the progression between the first and the second round which was positive, without having been able to participate in the warmup or in the race sprint. So it’s this progression that’s really satisfying.”
“In fact we understood a lot of things during the first round. We had a big meeting with the Yamaha engineers who helped us a lot. They gave us directions. It's not always easy for the technicians because my size involves constraints that are not the same as those of a smaller and lighter pilot. We simply found another direction. They gave us an idea of a direction in which we wanted to go, but we were hesitant because it was a big step.”
" That's what we did. We would have liked to try it in the warmup, but unfortunately we had a breakdown, a problem with the fuel supply, and we couldn't do a lap. The mechanics changed every possible part between the warmup and the sprint race, but it wasn't resolved, so I couldn't do this race. It was normal, we are all learning to ride a motorcycle, including me.”
“I started the last race with a completely different bike, so during the first few laps I had to be nitpicky trying to discover the new behavior. Afterwards I got into my rhythm and I had pretty good feelings. I managed to have a lot more fun on the handlebars than in the first round. And I understood a lot of things when Alex (Lowes) overtook me, even though he was a lap behind. It's a bike that seems simple to understand, but there are still things to discover due to its somewhat atypical engine. There are slightly different trajectories to take. I finished 4 seconds behind the group in front of me with Jordi Torres and Tom Sykes. Now that we have found a good direction, we can't wait to be in Misano! ".
Is the Yamaha competitive? What are its qualities ?
“She’s definitely competitive, especially after this weekend (Editor’s note: Victory for Michael van der Mark)! It's the bike that has progressed the most since last year, apart from the Ducati which is a new machine. Michael, Alex, Marco and Sandro did great things. Its big strong point is this engine which is very smooth and which allows you to make a difference in the angle without wearing out the tires too much. The front axle, once properly adjusted, can be a big positive point too. He just lacks a bit of top speed.”
How do you see the rest of the season?
“My goal is to get as close to the podiums as quickly as possible. The important thing is to progress. In Misano we will already know the bike much better and we will try to get closer to the leading men.”
Photos: Ten Kate Racing Yamaha and @photopsp_lukasz_swiderek for Loris Baz
