WSBK, Jerez, J1, Free Practice: Álvaro Bautista in the lead, Loris Baz thirteenth

After the Imola event, which saw Rea beat Bautista for the first time this year, there is revenge in the air in Jerez. Loris Baz makes his return to the Superbike World Championship with the Dutch team Ten Kate and a Yamaha.

After the last tests in Misano, Jonathan Rea said : " We worked on a different balance and weight distribution, as well as some Pirelli tires. We tested different front fork settings, but the biggest thing we did was change my position on the bike. This test was the perfect opportunity to do this sort of thing because these big changes can't really be tested during race weekends. It was a very positive test and it made me happy ". With a total of 147 Top 3 finishes to his name, Rea will attempt to claim the 150th podium of his WorldSBK career in Jerez, a figure never before achieved in the category. It could also beat the record for podiums obtained with a single manufacturer currently held by Tom Sykes (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) with Kawasaki which has 107, while the four-time World Champion has 105. Furthermore, Rea recorded his 24th podium in a row at Imola, equaling Colin Edwards' record in 2002, of the Race 1 at Phillip Island to the final race of the season at Imola.

His teammate, Leon Haslam, said : " We came to test here in November and January in Jerez and the times were competitive. Outside of Australia, just before the opening round, Jerez was the first race of the year where I took part in testing before returning for a race. I was fast at Jerez during winter testing, on a track where Johnny had been so dominant. We have also made progress in certain areas. I hope this weekend we can get to work ". If Leon Haslam (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) managed to get on the podium at Jerez, the gap between his first and last podium would be more than 15 years. Only two drivers have had a greater margin, Troy Corser, 16 years, 1 month and 25 days between his first Top 3 at Donington in 1994 and his last at Misano in 2010, and Noriyuki Haga, 15 years and 1 month between Sugo in 1996 and Imola in 2011.

According to Alvaro Bautista, (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) « After the last round at Imola, Jerez is a track that I know very well and so I hope everything is back to normal! Last week we tested for two days in Misano with a good impression, although the conditions were not great. It was an important and positive test for a range of reasons, including for the future, and we carried out back-to-back tests with different components of the bike rather than aiming for a fast time. For me, Jerez is another home race, so we hope to have fun here and put on a good show in front of a growing Spanish crowd ».

To Loris Baz, back in Superbike: “ Although the conditions at the Misano test weren't ideal for me or the team, given it was our first outing with the Yamaha R1, we were certainly all happy to be back! We managed to think carefully about the test, although it would have been nice to spend a third day in the dry. But I was happy with the test. I managed to improve my time every ride, which was cool, but I still need to know how to get the most out of the bike with a new tire. We now start our first race at Jerez, a track that I know very well, which is an advantage. It's fun to race again and I'm really happy that we now have three races every weekend because it gives us more opportunities to learn the bike and the tires. This Friday I will try to find the basic settings on the bike and find my rhythm after such a long break ».

Leon Camier (Moriwaki Althea Honda Racing) withdrew due to his left shoulder injury, was replaced by Yuki Takahashi, a former Grand Prix winner, who was making his WorldSBK debut. “ I am of course very disappointed to miss Jerez and miss the opportunity to continue the development of the bike, regretted Camier. But we have to accept it because shoulder joints are complex and it is normal for damaged ligaments to take some time to heal.”

The pilots had Pirelli front 125/70 and rear 200/65 for a total of 8 slick solutions. The frontal options already used in Aragón, Assen and Imola have all been confirmed. Drivers could choose between the standard front SC1 in 125/70 and soft compound and the SC2 development tires X1071 and X1118 in medium compound. There are confirmations and something new for the rear options. At this point there is SC0 in 200/65 and the Y0446 development, which uses the same structure as SC0, but a compound more geared towards performance when asphalt temperatures are particularly high. The novelty is represented by the new SC0 X1351 development tire which uses the same compound as the standard SC0 but a new construction which guarantees improved performance thanks to a larger ground surface. Regarding qualification and pre-qualification solutions, Pirelli confirms the SCX in specification Y0447 and SuperSoft for Superpole in specification X0684.

Yamahas at the forefront

During the first practice session, Michael van der Mark (Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK) beat his teammate alex lowes three minutes from the checkered flag, whileAlvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) occupied third position ahead of Marco Melandri (GRT Yamaha WorldSBK), Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) and Michael Ruben Rinaldi (BARNI Racing Team).

Next came Leon Haslam (Kawasaki Racing Team), Toprak Razgatlioglu (Turkish Puccetti Racing), Tom Sykes (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) and Sandro Cortese (GRT Yamaha WorldSBK), while Loris Baz (Ten Kate Racing – Yamaha) set the 13th fastest time. Markus Reiterberger experienced a technical incident.

Result of the first free practice session:

In the second session, Marco Melandri, then fourth in the general classification, lost the front and fell without seriousness. The first to improve was Loris Baz who moved to eleventh in 1'40.855. Alvaro Bautista et Jonathan Rhea progressed slightly, but retained their third and fifth positions in the combined standings of the two sessions. The ground temperature of 47° (23° for air) did not favor performance. Very few drivers had improved by mid-session.

A quarter of an hour from the end, Michael van der Mark fell below 1'40, in 1'39.798. He was then clearly the fastest. Loris Baz fell without gravity in Turn 4. 8 minutes from the end, the session was stopped at the red flag due to the presence of debris in Turn 4.

The session started again at 16 p.m., for 8 minutes of action. Alvaro Bautista took the opportunity to take the lead in 1'39.428. Tom Sykes moved up to fourth place ahead of Johnny Rea. But Rea snatched third position from him shortly after. Bautista ultimately retained first position ahead of van der Mark, Rea, Lowes, Sykes and Melandri.

Loris Baz finished thirteenth and explained that “ It was a good day until this fall which unfortunately gave the team a lot of work. It was a stupid fall, but in a fast sector. I lost the front when opening the throttle. That's how it is, it's also part of the game ". Fortunately, it wasn’t all negative: “ We made good progress throughout the two sessions, in particular on the setup of the bike as well as on my feeling. We'll see how it goes on Saturday morning and above all I hope to do a good Superpole. We will take the opportunity to put on a qualifying tire for the first time. This is a bit of an unknown factor for us. It will then be a matter of completing a good first round, gaining confidence and collecting as much data as possible for the team. It will be crucial to reach the finish to further improve the behavior of the bike ».

Combined result of the two sessions: