Three days after the fourth round of the World Championship World SBK in Misano Adriatico, some Superbike and Supersport teams met on the new circuit of the 2024 calendar south of Milan, Cremona, in order to become familiar with its (small) outline modified in spring.
Wednesday, Toprak Razgatlioglu (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK), absent during the previous tests in Cremona, did not do well by setting the new circuit record in 1'28.578, thus making the 1'28.860 held by Remy gardner since the first test in May. On this first day, the triple winner last weekend at Misano had relegated everyone to almost a second, thus making one regret the absence of the factory Ducatis on the renovated circuit.
On Thursday, the Italian track open without interruption from 9:00 a.m. to 18:00 p.m., which will host the WorldSBK from September 20 to 22, did not see Toprak Razgatlioglu, the latter preferring to keep a day of testing in reserve and undoubtedly believing that he had nothing more to learn on this route. In the absence of the cat, the mice dance, and in particular a green mouse, which did not run in the grass but on the 3 meters of the transalpine circuit, alex lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team) leading the way in 1'28.790, a time quite close to that achieved by the Turkish driver the day before.
This flourishing of the British in 2024 will perhaps make some people regret the departure of Jonathan Rhea from the Kawasaki fold, but with some…
“It was a good test. I didn't know the track and it's a special track, quite short and with a lot of small turns, so we had to take a lot of angles. Some corners are also a bit bumpy, which forced us to stray a bit from our base setting. But we worked well and we made progress. We improved the electronics a bit because it's also a new circuit for the bike, not just for the riders. There was room to improve the electronics and we made progress over the last day. We tried qualifying tires at the end of the day, while the track was still quite warm, and I was quite happy with our pace on the Q tires. We also did the race distance on a rear tire this afternoon. noon, but I don't think it's a very aggressive circuit for the tires. Overall, the day was positive, I enjoyed riding the bike and the circuit is interesting. It was fun to ride alone, but I think it will be difficult in race conditions. But at least we know where we're going now. »
Iker Lecuona (Team HRC) also rode well, finishing its 37 laps with a benchmark only 132 thousandths behind the leader of the day, thus managing to insert itself between the two Kawasakis.
“Overall, it’s not a bad test for us. We tried a lot of things related to the basic configuration of the bike. No new news, as we focused only on the settings and electronics of the bike to confirm the progress made during the Misano weekend. To be honest, we struggled on the first day, stuck in the 1'30s and unable to improve our lap times. But today things started to go well, from the first outing, and the times improved. It is true that the temperature was cooler earlier in the day, but even towards the end of the morning when it was warmer I could still ride consistently. I had a long run at a good pace, so it looks like we've taken a step forward, but we're going to keep our feet on the ground until the race. Now it's time for the team to verify all the data. Physically I feel tired, but what is positive is that my shoulder is much better this week than the first time we came to do tests here in Cremona. Every time I get on the bike I feel more comfortable, and I've been working hard at home to recover, so day by day I feel stronger. »
En Supersport, in the absence of the two championship leaders, the times continued to go down, Bahattin Sofuoglu (MV Agusta Reparto Corse) undermining the reference in 1'32.579 recorded the day before by Yari Montella with the Ducati V2 of the Barni Spark Racing Team. Number 54 scored 1'31.866 ahead of his teammate Marcel Schröetter et Valentine Debise (Evan Bros. WorldSSP Yamaha Team) also improving.
The Frenchman currently seems to be in a good trend, managing on several occasions to maintain Yamaha's spearhead Stefano manzi (Pata Yamaha Ten Kate Racing) behind him.
