WSBK – Forest in progress and Bayliss unbeatable –

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Forest in progress and Bayliss unbeatable

WSBK - Forest in progress and Bayliss unbeatable -

In a month’s time, the third round of the World Superbike will take place in Valencia. In order to prepare properly, the pilots met this week on the same Spanish track. And while Fabien Foret progresses, Bayliss transcends himself…

Next April 23 will take place the third round of the Superbike World Championship. Far from the slopes since the Australian round (read), the pilots took advantage of the mild weather to chain laps at an infernal pace and collect valuable data..

Masterful and unbeatable during the three days of testing, Troy Bayliss on his official Ducati not only achieved excellent qualifying times on tires, but he also signed a bluffing race simulation: 33 seconds under the time set by Corser in the race. last year (read and) !

The Australian is thus a big favorite for the next two rounds, after which he should confirm his position as provisional leader in the championship..

Ruben Xaus makes a noticeable return to the forefront after a discreet start to the season: his time allows him to place second in these tests but the Spaniard nevertheless remains almost a second behind Bayliss…

Young Lorenzo Lanzi, Bayliss teammate, completes a 100% Ducati "virtual podium". The Italian, although he did not manage to match the performance of the best on racing rubber, is pleased "to be in front with guys like Corser or Haga". However, he admits to being disappointed to have been beaten by Xaus:"he uses the same bike as me last year !"

Second fastest time of the first two days, Troy Corser is fourth at the end of the third and final day. The reigning world champion explains that he was a bit dispersed in testing many parts, but is not too worried about what will happen next.

"We have been here many times so we have a good idea of ​​the basic settings", assures the crocodile, believing that the important point to remember from these last tests is above all"the consistency of the clutch, even after a start simulation", which had been sorely lacking during the last races.

Steve Martin followed Carlos Checa’s example in MotoGP: on a motorcycle that was behind the competition, he managed to set an unexpected 5th fastest time! A pace his teammate Craig Jones was unable to keep up with as the young Englishman is in last place.

Noriyuki Haga signed an honorable 6th fastest time but seems to be apprehensive about the race. The Japanese could not perform a full simulation and did not perform "so many laps on qualifying tires"… Enough for the next two rounds of Superbike !

Behind Nitro Nori is a youngster with particularly long teeth: Fonsi Nieto on Kawasaki. Once again, the third driver Kawa allows himself to turn faster than his teammates Walker and Laconi, respectively 12th and 17th !

On his Yamaha R1, Andrew Pitt sets the 8th fastest time and claims to have taken a big step forward: "this is the first time that we have grip where we want !"It is in particular the work on the engine mapping that would have enabled this progress:"we played with the settings, removing a little power here and putting it back there".

The first Honda CBR is only in 9th place. On his handlebars, the Brazilian Barros had started the tests well, but in the end it was the rookie Fabrizio who established himself as the leader. Relegated to 16th place, James Toseland says it is the lack of grip and inability to use the power they have that penalizes them.

Fabien Foret achieved for his part an excellent 13th time on the handlebars of a motorcycle which he considers more and more to be his own. Better still, the Charentais is starting to have fun! But due to a strong wind on the last day, he wisely decided not to "not attack too much and risk making a mistake".

The Marseillaise will however have a better chance of resounding in the Supersport category, where Sebastien Charpentier largely dominated in front of Curtain, Sofluoglu, Parkes and Roccoli. Young Yoann Tiberio ranks 10th and Julien Enjolras 22nd.

Finally, remember that in Superbike, at the end of these three days, only one second separates Corser (4th) from Laconi (17th)! The two races are therefore likely – as usual in World Superbike – to be hotly contested and it will not be enough to finish the race to enter the points….

Pilot 3rd day 2nd day 1st day Tours
1 Bayliss T. 1’33.758 1’34.987 1’35.220 182
2 Xaus R. 1’34.659 1’36.175 1’37.553 138
3 Lanzi L. 1’34.848 1’36.009 1’36.360 178
4 Corser T. 1’34.933 1’35.571 1’36.080 195
5 Martin S. 1’35.178 1’36.413 1’37.075 156
6 Haga N. 1’35.295 1’35.618 1’36.309 176
7 Nieto F. 1’35.377 1’35.974 1’36.808 201
8 Pitt A. 1’35.423 1’36.215 1’36.740 180
9 Fabrizio M. 1’35.437 1’36.724 1’37.256 178
10 Kagayama Y. 1’35.538 1’35.899 1’36.725 209
11 Barros A. 1’35.663 1’36.419 1’36.292 165
12 Walker C. 1’35.758 1’35.827 1’36.450 157
13 Drill F. 1’35.771 1’36.577 1’37.242 202
14 Borciani M. 1’35.834 1’36.703 1’37.374 150
15 Iannuzzo V. 1’35.873 1’37.607 1’38.198 138
16 Toseland J. 1’35.879 1’36.323 1’36.922 178
17 Laconi R. 1’35.954 1’36.644 1’37.158 211
18 Muggeridge K. 1’35.956 1’36.034 1’36.327 144
19 Abe N. 1’35.967 1’36.985 1’37.075 217
20 Clementi I. 1’36.261 1’36.488 1’37.301 105
21 Rolfo R. 1’36.310 1’37.230 1’37.495 179
22 Chile P. 1’36.470 1’36.486 1’37.369 122
23 Nakatomi S. 1’36.737 1’37.491 1’38.122 203
24 Alfonsi L. 1’36.900 1’37.982 1’38.779 170
25 Battaini F. 1’36.983 1’37.984 1’38.160 159
26 Neukirchner M. 1’37,000 1’37.331 1’38.084 90
27 Pedercini L. 1’37.875 1’38.616 1’38.690 72
28 Jones C. 1’38.020 1’38.759 1’40.226 152

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