With a temporary leader who had to undergo a medical examination before racing, a teammate who is well ahead of his leader at Kawasaki, a BMW satellite pilot who, through his fault, did not benefit from all the riding time but finished in extremis 3rd, as well as the headliners of the championship relegated to 6th, 7th and 8th provisional places, the least we can say is that the first day of the 7th round of the Superbike world championship in Imola was surprising!
They said…
1st – Michael Rinaldi (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati): “ It was a special day, different from the others, not only because we haven't raced at Imola for a few years, but also because the days following the Donington incident were difficult. Besides the high temperature and ankle pain that challenged me in FP1, we were always fast and improved in FP2. I still need to work on the last area where there is room for improvement, but overall it's positive. »
2nd – Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team): “ This morning, on the first day of testing, I used the hard tires at the front and I slipped a lot. It's been a few years since I've been here and this is my first time on the Kawasaki Ninja ZX-10RR. To be honest, the bike settings didn't seem too bad to me, even in the first practice session. In FP2, I immediately felt good. My plan was to do 15 consecutive laps, then a shorter run towards the end. With the red flags I couldn't do consistent laps, but even with the 15 laps I had done on the same tire I was able to set a good time. I think it will be a hot and long race on Saturday, but I feel like I was pretty competitive today. »
3rd – Garrett Gerloff (Bonovo Action BMW): “ I'm sorry for Loris and the whole team. I'm really embarrassed by what happened, but I'm glad everyone is okay. Loris' wrist hurts a little. It was really unfortunate. I hate being in this position, but it's not the first time. I'm happy to be in the top three of the day. I used a SCQ at the end which helps a lot. I feel like we're still missing a bit of pace with the racing tires. We have work to do, but I'm happy to have a good team around me and they will work as hard as they can to improve the bike for tomorrow. My schedule was affected by other things. Red flags are an interesting thing that we all need to think about. This is something to think about in Superpole and also for races, in order to have reserve tires. I hope no one falls and there are no red flags. »
4th – Axel Bassani (Motocorsa Racing): “ It was a good day. We started with a good feeling from the first practice session and in the second I felt good with the bike from the first laps. I think I have a good racing pace, very consistent. Tomorrow we will pass the SCQ and we will see if we are fast or slow in Superpole and if we can start from the first or second row to have a good race. Usually I'm not fast in Superpole, but here we have a different SCQ, like in Misano: there I was also fast in Superpole. I'm confident. At Donington we were fast, but we had a really lousy Superpole. It wasn't easy to climb back up. I want to do a good Superpole to try to have a good race. »
5th – Andrea Locatelli (Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK): “ It's a good circuit for me, I have good memories of it and I had good feelings today. We had a really good start from the first free practice session, we found a good basic setup and we tried to ride a lot and make some adjustments around my R1, because the feeling is really good. I think we can be fast at this circuit, we just need to work on the rear grip, especially at this temperature. If we can find a little more grip, something that allows me to be more relaxed on the bike, I think we can be really competitive. I feel good and it is important to continue like this. We know that the driver who finished first was equipped with the Q tire, and we did not use it. So it’s a good Friday for us to end the first day like this! Every weekend the objective is to try to get on the podium, but also to stay in the top 5 and take points for the championship. »
6th – Toprak Razgatlıoğlu (Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK): “ For me it wasn't a bad day, but I feel less grip with the rear tire. I hope we improve for tomorrow, but overall we did a good job – it looks like Bautista and I tried a race simulation today with a lot of laps. I did 14, 15 laps, even with the red flags and good times. Only two or three of my tours were canceled! My best lap was also canceled because I think I hit the green in turn 22. We just need to improve the rear grip and we'll see what we can do. Just thinking about the race now, 19 laps and you need good pace! It seems that we are strong, but for me it is not enough. With more rear grip, we can ride more relaxed and ready to fight. »
7th – Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team): “ I like this circuit, it offers good sensations. We can forget, after so many years spent here, that to go quickly to Imola, you have to commit 100%. So it takes a little time to build confidence and when you're fast and committed, the times start to show. In the afternoon session there were a lot of red flags. My pace was really good at the start of the session when everyone was using the racing tires. Then at the end when the soft tires were used I didn't feel very good. I crashed when I changed the front tire and I didn't feel good with that option, and the electronics weren't very good in the last chicane. I lost a little confidence, but in the end we put an SCX rear tire and we were able to improve the situation a little. We started this weekend with the settings of the 2019 bike, in terms of chassis balance, but of course the bike has evolved. On Saturday, we will move to settings closer to those of 2023. We will still try to refine the electronics and take a step, especially on the engine braking side, because braking for the chicanes is very important here. I just want to give myself a little more confidence for Saturday. »
8th – Álvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati): “ I used this Friday to familiarize myself with a circuit where I have only raced once in 2019. The feeling with the bike was not at the highest level as has been the case on many occasions this year. season, but this is normal, especially considering the extremely high temperature. We weren't chasing lap times and, in fact, we didn't change tires during the sessions. There are still several details to work on, but I am confident that we will improve the feeling tomorrow. »
FP1-FP2 Superbike results at Imola:
Classification credit: WorldSBK.com
