09-13 Italy – Misano – Statements by WSBK 2018 drivers in Misano: first race –

Statements by WSBK 2018 drivers in Misano: first race

09-13 Italy - Misano - Statements by WSBK 2018 drivers in Misano: first race -

The ninth round of the WorldSBK 2018 took place this weekend in Misano (Italy). In order to complete our almost live reports, Site provides you with the main reactions of the Superbike riders at the end of the Italian 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 Misano circuit. For latecomers:

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

Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki n ° 1), 1st:

09-13 Italy - Misano - Statements by WSBK 2018 drivers in Misano: first race -

"We had a good pace all weekend and the idea was to try to do a holeshot and then print my pace. I got off to a good start and was able to place my bike correctly in the first one. corner. {From there I was able to ride at my own pace. It was the kind of exemplary race. In the first three laps with the bigger tread tires, especially the rear tire, you have to find your marks . Then I realized that I was able to widen the gap lap after lap. So the last seven laps were stress-free. My bike was well balanced and I didn’t feel like I was overshooting the limits. ".

Chaz Davies (Ducati n ° 7), 2nd:

09-13 Italy - Misano - Statements by WSBK 2018 drivers in Misano: first race -

"We have to be happy with this result, because it was not easy to get back from 7th place on the grid. I feel like we got the best out of the material and myself today. Panigale R was performing well, we just need to make some more progress to win. Overall it was a positive day. During the race I really understood the bike and got a clear idea of ​​what what we need to do to improve. We will try to make the most of the data collected and come back even stronger for the second round. We will start from the third row, but I’m used to it and today we took a lightning start. I hope we will be able to repeat it ".

Eugene Laverty (Aprilia n ° 50), 3rd:

09-13 Italy - Misano - Statements by WSBK 2018 drivers in Misano: first race -

“The Superpole was a big surprise: I didn’t expect to finish first. The pace was good over the long distance, but qualifying is generally not our strong point, and that helps me in the race. I started well from third place and withstood an attack from Chaz [Davies]. I managed to pass Sykes after his mistake and stay second. Then Davies got back behind. There was a gap that I did. thought I could maintain it, but a sensor failure caused me to lose some rear grip which made it really difficult to ride. It was of course a little hard to get third when I knew second was possible, but I’m happy with the result for the team. The rules put me back on the grid for the second round, we’ll see if overtaking will be easier than in Laguna. I will try to make some overtaking at the start , and see if we can improve ".

Michael van der Mark (Yamaha n ° 60), 4th:

09-13 Italy - Misano - Statements by WSBK 2018 drivers in Misano: first race -

“I felt better on the bike this morning and took a big step forward in Superpole 1, improving my lap time considerably. Unfortunately in the second session I was skating so much with the qualifying tire towards the end of the I couldn’t improve myself as much. But starting from eleventh place in Misano is far from ideal. I got off to a very good start, I was a little lucky in the first corners, and I got into the top group quite early. My pace was really consistent and I was a little faster at the end, but not enough to get on the podium. I’m really happy with the job we did. Tomorrow. , we will start from pole position, so I hope we can fight for the podium "

Tom Sykes (Kawasaki n ° 66), 5th:

09-13 Italy - Misano - Statements by WSBK 2018 drivers in Misano: first race -

“I thought we would be a lot stronger. I was comfortable in the first few laps, and happy with the way things were going. Then we started having the same kind of problem as in Thailand. I started to let go of the brakes, the front rebounded and didn’t follow the road. I started wasting a lot of time and even at the start of the race it wasn’t exactly 100%. I was in the Jonathan’s wake in the first two laps, that’s where you can normally gain the advantage. After about a third of the distance, things started to get worse. Given the problems I endured, I was happy to finish fifth. Hopefully our race tomorrow will be less arduous ".

Xavi Fores (Ducati n ° 12), 6th:

09-13 Italy - Misano - Statements by WSBK 2018 drivers in Misano: first race -

"I expected a little more, especially after the Superpole where I had done a good job. The problem was the same as in Laguna: I couldn’t keep up with the lead drivers at the start of the race. race. After ten or eleven laps I was able to ride like them, but our pace was similar and I couldn’t catch them. I struggle a lot in the first part of the race and that’s our problem right now. have to work on this if we want to fight for the podium again ".

Marco Melandri (Ducati n ° 33), 7th:

09-13 Italy - Misano - Statements by WSBK 2018 drivers in Misano: first race -

“As we were unable to continue working on the settings yesterday afternoon due to the rain, we knew the FP4 would be crucial, especially to improve the feel with the new front tire. However, we had a technical problem. kept in the pits. It forced us to run without the usual confidence. Also, I had a fair ordinary start today, which made the race difficult. We still managed to gather some useful information, that we will use to make other changes before race 2. ".

Lorenzo Savadori (Aprilia n ° 32), 8th:

09-13 Italy - Misano - Statements by WSBK 2018 drivers in Misano: first race -

“I was a bit disappointed with qualifying. I think we could have taken pole position. I don’t know why, but I couldn’t feel the extra grip with the qualifying tire. Fifth place didn’t. was not so bad. In the race, I lost too much time on the leading group at the start. I lost even more in the middle of the race and I had to attack really hard, but I still lost places. I think we can do a good result in the second run as long as we extend the life of the tire. We got a good result today and I’m happy for Eugene who finished 3rd. But we can certainly do better tomorrow "

Leon Camier (Honda n ° 2), 9th:

09-13 Italy - Misano - Statements by WSBK 2018 drivers in Misano: first race -

“We managed to finish in the Top 10, but we expected better today. While my pace on worn tires was very good in the second half of the race, I was unable to pull the better use of the new tires in the first part which really did us a disservice. The team and I will look at the data and work on what happened so we know how to fix that for the second round. find a solution and starting from the second row tomorrow, I hope to be able to achieve the result that we are capable of here … "

Loris Baz (BMW n ° 76), fall and retirement:

09-13 Italy - Misano - Statements by WSBK 2018 drivers in Misano: first race -

“Physically I’m fine. Morally, on the other hand, I’m of course disappointed. During FP4 I had a very good pace, although Jonathan Rea and Chaz Davies seemed a bit faster than the others. We still knew. that a podium was possible. In Superpole, I was second, wearing the race tire. With the qualifying tire, I made a small mistake and had to widen my trajectory. I therefore missed the first row narrow, but there was nothing alarming. I had a rather average start and the first braking went well. At the change of angle in the second corner, Marco Melandri raised his machine and I did not anticipate enough. To avoid a collision, I also had to straighten up. I ended up in the dust and lost the front. It was my fault … Unfortunately, I did not was able to start again, my half-handlebars were broken. I’m really sorry for the team. We shouldn’t waste time at the start trying to hang on the right group. Maybe I should have taken more risks to avoid being blocked by traffic. I have another chance tomorrow, that’s the advantage of WorldSBK. However, I will start from tenth place on the grid, but the objective is still to aim for the Top 5 or even the podium. We will try to make a clean sweep of this disappointment on Sunday ".

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