13-13 Qatar – Losail – Statements by WSBK 2018 drivers at Losail: first race –

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Statements from 2018 WSBK drivers at Losail: first race

13-13 Qatar - Losail - Statements by WSBK 2018 drivers at Losail: first race -

The thirteenth and final round of WorldSBK 2018 took place this weekend in Losail (Qatar). In order to complete our almost live reports, Site provides you with the main reactions of Superbike riders at the end of the Qatari races.. Here are those of the first round … Do you speak french ?

Site readers – who, as everyone knows, are a little more fortunate than others – have already been able to follow Saturday and Sunday, almost live, the unfolding of the 2018 World Superbike and Supersport races on the Losail circuit. For latecomers:

Below are the statements of the drivers who distinguished themselves on Saturday during the first Superbike round. Honor to the winner !

Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki n ° 1), 1st:

13-13 Qatar - Losail - Statements by WSBK 2018 drivers at Losail: first race -

“It took a lot of hard work to achieve this result. Everything is really difficult: shaping the bike, creating the team atmosphere and finding the feeling with the bike. This weekend I didn’t really feel myself on the bike. Last night I told my guys that this race is really about confidence. The luck that we have had this year is to have had such a good feeling with the bike, and having had that little extra. It gives you confidence and enables you to ride a certain way. That’s how it goes: the confidence that the bike gives me, the teamwork. we are struggling, or my confidence is diminishing, my team leader, Pere Riba, finds a way to reinvent ourselves and change things. I am very grateful for that. You can find a good team and a good bike, and a good team can find a good driver, but trying to put all the pieces together is really hard. That’s exactly what I have with the ‘Kawasaki Racing team ".

Tom Sykes (Kawasaki n ° 66), 2nd:

13-13 Qatar - Losail - Statements by WSBK 2018 drivers at Losail: first race -

“I think overall we had a good race. Yesterday on the long rides another rider and I destroyed the front tire. Today I think everything went as planned. This morning in FP4, we used a pair of tires from yesterday, the pace was there, improving all the time. Then we put on the qualifying tire for the Superpole. Instantly, when that tire arrived, I switched to my driving style more natural, and everything just gets easier. It was fun to win the Superpole. In the race, in the first eight or so laps, I felt like I could attack a little more in some fast right-hand corners , but I kept some in the grip, which turned out to be a good idea in my opinion. I saw the gap close behind me at one point, so I pushed to finish second".

Alex Lowes (Yamaha n ° 22), 3rd:

13-13 Qatar - Losail - Statements by WSBK 2018 drivers at Losail: first race -

"It’s a solid weekend so far, with a good qualifying session followed by an even better race. I was struggling a bit with the rear grip in the race: that’s something we have to work on for tomorrow. But towards the end I could see that Eugene was also starting to wrestle with the front. That opened a door for me so I took the opportunity to pass him to the end and finish third. great to be back on the podium here in Qatar, and it was fun to be involved in such a big fight. The team did a great job this weekend and yesterday’s race simulation made me feel has clearly helped improve the feel of the R1 on worn tires. Now we just have to try to finish the season with another podium tomorrow! "

Eugene Laverty (Aprilia n ° 50), 4th:

13-13 Qatar - Losail - Statements by WSBK 2018 drivers at Losail: first race -

"Disgusted to lose the third step of the podium in the fight on the last lap with Alex Lowes. But I know I gave everything I had! My front tire was destroyed a few laps from the finish so we are going have to correct that for the second run. Other than that, the Aprilia Milwaukee team is really on the right wavelength. ".

Marco Melandri (Ducati n ° 33), 5th:

13-13 Qatar - Losail - Statements by WSBK 2018 drivers at Losail: first race -

“I wasn’t expecting a race like this is today going into this event. Unfortunately it was tough for all Ducati riders. We couldn’t really do what we wanted with the bike, we had struggling to stop and spin it, and we had some traction issues as well. Because of that, I had to ride more aggressively and the tires suffered a lot. Tomorrow we will start from the front row so is better. But we still need to improve the settings at the rear to be up to the task. The Warm-Up will be important from that point of view. We would like to finish the season solidly. ".

Loris Baz (BMW n ° 76), 6th:

13-13 Qatar - Losail - Statements by WSBK 2018 drivers at Losail: first race -

"A good day! I had a great time with the race tire. I made a mistake with the qualifying one and unfortunately I missed sixth place, but it’s still positive! In the race, as usual, I missed my start. Even though I started better, I still lost 4 or 5 positions. We made the right choice of tires and I was able to recover little by little. fights against Lorenzo Savadori, Chaz Davies or Michael van der Mark to equal my best result of the year. We will try to end the season as it should by taking two points back from Savadori to secure tenth place in the championship ".

Michael van der Mark (Yamaha n ° 60), 7th:

13-13 Qatar - Losail - Statements by WSBK 2018 drivers at Losail: first race -

“I got off to a good start, but I was very busy in the first few laps and couldn’t catch up. I felt reasonably comfortable on the bike and finally managed to overtake a few riders, but then I started to struggle to get the bike to turn and accelerate. I also had wrist pain from the halfway point, which didn’t really help. a very difficult race, but in the end I gained two places on the last lap which is very important for the championship. So we can be relatively happy with that. We need to make some improvements to the bike to tomorrow. If we get there, and if I get a good start from the second row of the grid which gives me access to the leading group, then I think I can fight for the Top 5 ".

Chaz Davies (Ducati n ° 7), 8th:

13-13 Qatar - Losail - Statements by WSBK 2018 drivers at Losail: first race -

“We started a bit far after a tough qualifying and then we started to pick up. I ended up catching Marco and Xavi, midway through the race, but I started to feel the front lock at five. laps of the finish and it gradually got worse. Our priority is to finish second in the championship, so I tried to keep my position. When Baz passed me, I saw the "Last Lap" lap, editor’s note) on the screen at the finish line. But it was displayed a lap too early by accident. So I closed the throttle once I passed the line in the next lap … I lost a point and a position on the starting grid for tomorrow, which is a bit disappointing, but it is also up to us to improve ourselves to finish stronger our last race of the year ".

Jake Gagne (Honda # 45), 9th:

13-13 Qatar - Losail - Statements by WSBK 2018 drivers at Losail: first race -

"Qualifying was not very good, we had the speed to be up there, but I made a few mistakes. Then we had a good race. I was alone in the first half, but it worked out. is settled with tire wear: I think we handled them a lot better than some of those around us. I started to get a bit more sunk, and the Honda performed really well on the worn tires, though. although we finish ninth. We can improve the bike a bit in the Warm Up. The second row will make a big difference, we started from the fifth row pretty much every race and that makes the start difficult. escaping with the faster guys will make things a lot easier ".

Xavi Fores (Ducati n ° 12), 13th:

13-13 Qatar - Losail - Statements by WSBK 2018 drivers at Losail: first race -

“Two laps in a row I saw ‘Last Lap’ on the finish line screen. It made me think the race was over with one more lap to go. Lots of other drivers were affected by this erroneous display, but I was penalized the most. It was a big mistake on the part of the race management. It’s a shame because I had a good race. But we have to think about tomorrow ".

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