World Superbike riders’ statements in Portimao
The tenth round of the 2017 World SBK took place this weekend in Portimao, Portugal. To complete our near-live reports, here are the statements of the Superbike riders at the end of their two Portuguese races.
#PORWorldSBK: statements from the 1st round
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 progress of the Mondial Superbike and Supersport races on the Portimao circuit (for latecomers, read, then).
Find below the statements of the drivers who distinguished themselves on Saturday during the first round, and on the following page the statements of those who animated the second WSBK race on Sunday. Honor to -double – winner !
Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki n ° 1), 1st:
"It’s great to get 10 wins, it’s one more than last year. I couldn’t believe my first lap. When our bike had full grip it felt like it was on the rails, but when the grip went down I had to compensate with my riding and change the way I braked and turned in the corners. We have 20 more laps of experience with the new tire today, we have to so work with that a bit. It was a tough race, you had to keep my concentration because with a gap like that, things can easily go wrong when you slow down a bit. I just tried to keep my pace and that ‘did in the end ".
Chaz Davies (Ducati n ° 7), 2nd:
“Honestly, we couldn‘t have done better today. Rea has been a cut above so far here, but I felt very confident about the pace in the race. We got off to a good start, regaining five positions in the race. the first corners, but unfortunately I was not very comfortable halfway through the race, we had a few warnings and although I wasn’t pushing too hard I felt we were still on the edge. At that point I was moving away from Marco but not coming back up anymore. So I tried to play with my style a bit to see what I could learn for the second round. We have to figure out how to improve, the bike and me ".
Marco Melandri (Ducati n ° 33), 3rd:
"It was a difficult day because during the race we couldn’t use the tire we worked with all weekend. Safety must come first, but it caused some problems to configure our electronics, in particular regarding the arrival of power and the engine braking. I couldn’t attack as much as I wanted, I struggled with the grip the whole time. When I saw Camier coming back strong, I had to tried to give myself 100% without making any mistakes. We clearly want to improve our performance in the second race so that we can fight with Chaz at least until the end. It will be crucial to get a good start because it is not it’s not easy to overtake on this track, but we are usually good in these conditions, so I’m confident ".
Leon Camier (MV Agusta n ° 2), 4th:
"I didn’t expect to take up so many places, but the bike was running really well and I was able to perform some great maneuvers at the start. I really pushed hard in the last laps to try to catch up with Melandri, but at the end in fact, I made a few small mistakes trying to close the gap and I couldn’t join it. Anyway, I’m really happy with this result and I want to thank my whole team for their excellent work. I’m really looking forward to see you tomorrow ".
Michael van den Mark (Yamaha n ° 60), 5th:
"I’m pretty happy with my race! I got off to a good start, but I was passed by some drivers on acceleration and I had to fight to come back up. I had some pretty good battles but, for to be honest after a few laps i had some grip issues before and Alex passed me because I almost crashed so I tried to follow Alex, we had a similar pace I think. Had to manage the pace from the start of the race. I wasn’t completely happy with how I felt with my R1 so I think finishing fifth is a really good job. I hope I can make some progress on the setup for tomorrow. It’s good to be in the top five after some disappointing results lately. I’m really happy and can’t wait to start the second round from the front row! ".
Jordi Torres (BMW n ° 81), 6th:
“We were really strong in SP1, and we also posted some good times in SP2, so we were able to start the race in sixth position. Unfortunately, despite the grid position, we lost some ground at the start, like this is often the case, due to electronic problems. It penalizes us and I find myself with a lot of work to recover everything that we lost at the start. After a few laps, however, I adopted a good pace, passed several runners, but I would have liked to catch up with Van der Mark and Camier too. Unfortunately, that was not possible today. I hope to do better tomorrow … "
Eugene Laverty (Aprilia n ° 50), 7th:
“The Superpole was great and the bike was good the whole session, and one lap in particular. We were really strong then and we knew this weekend could be our weekend. The first race was disappointing. From the start. I knew we were going to have a hard time with the rear. The guys who passed me still had some rear grip, which made my defense difficult. So that’s an area we need to improve on. ".
Lorenzo Savadori (Aprilia n ° 32), 8th:
"Qualifying went well, and I was really happy to start from the front row again. We made some good changes to the setup, which clearly helped us to qualify, but there is a big difference between a lap and the distance of a race. I struggled with the rear grip in the first run, it affected my pace, and I struggled to pass and defend myself. first laps but by the fourth the grip was gone. I hope we can find something tonight that will allow us to use the rear longer and attack harder tomorrow. We still did some good progress this weekend, and we just have to keep working. I hope we can get a good result in the second run. ".
Xavi Fores (Ducati n ° 12), 9th:
"It’s very difficult to drive in these conditions (Pirelli took Xavi’s favorite tire out of the race allowance, editor’s note). I got off to a good start but it was quite clear that the rear was slipping a lot. . Because of that, I lost some ground on the leading group. The race was more like a "survival test" than anything else. For tomorrow we will try to find the right settings for the tire. we are forced to use, but it’s like starting from scratch ".
Stefan Bradl (Honda # 6), crash:
"It’s really unfortunate that this fall took place during the race: I occupied a good place (8th, Editor‘s note) and I felt comfortable on the bike, but I maybe attacked a little too hard in turn 14 because the bike skidded slightly and then threw me over the handlebars. It’s a shame, but fortunately we have a new chance tomorrow: I was examined by the medical center and I am ready to run i feel good and ready to try. We have to take the good things from the day because i think we can have a good run and end the weekend on a good note ".
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