Tight at the top after opening day of WorldSBK practice at Most

2023 MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship
Round Eight – Most
Friday Practice

After a soggy FP1 riders were greeted with a dry track in the afternoon that saw 15 riders covered by less than a second by the end of the day.

Toprak Razgatlioglu on top of those time-sheets ahead of Remy Gardner.

Danilo Petrucci rounded at the top three as fastest Ducati rider for the day but there were another three V4 R machines right behind him.

Toprak Razgatlıoğlu – P1

“I’m very happy to come back to Most circuit again, because I like this track! Today for me was not bad in the wet condition! Good confidence and I am feeling my R1 is very good – and after we are riding in dry conditions, just I needed one more lap in FP1 for a good lap time! Then in the second session we were working for a good bike set-up, because we are using the hard tyre. Same for everyone, I think – we are using the SC1 rear. Looks “not bad” but still we are working for tomorrow. Just I need some improvement in the last sector – looks like my pace is not bad, but if we can improve this, my feeling will be much better but in general I am happy. Today, we started fast because my feeling was very good and I have good confidence on the R1 – also in the wet after nearly four years! Dry or wet now, it’s ok!”

Remy Gardner – P2

“It’s been a tricky day with the weather; we started in the wet and the feeling was not too bad, then we moved to dry asphalt. The Free Practice 2 was fully dry, which was good, and I enjoyed my first day in Most; my last time here was eight years ago, so it wasn’t easy to remember the lines! I’m not completely comfortable with the bike yet, but our race pace feels okay. We went out on used tyres in the afternoon and the feeling overall was good. In the latter stages we tried the harder front tyre; it was fine to push, but not easy to manage over distance. I also lost the front at Turn 2, thankfully I managed to save the crash, but for sure we need to improve the front-end feeling. I’m confident for the weekend, it’s still a long way to go, and we should focus on the qualifying as having a good starting position will be important.”

Michael Rinaldi – P4

“It was a special day because the track was half wet and half dry in the morning session. In the afternoon instead, we were able to work better. We are all very close but that is a characteristic of the circuit. That’s why it will be important to work on the details to be able to do a good qualifying first. I feel better: I can say I am at 95%”.

Alvaro Bautista – P6

“Today was a bit difficult for us, first because of the track conditions and then because of an issue we had in FP2. We weren’t able to ride as consistently as we would have liked but we still managed to gather important data ahead of tomorrow. Hopefully, we can work in FP3 in the best weather conditions“.

Andrea Locatelli – P7

“Here in Most it was a bit tricky with the weather especially in FP1, but anyway in the afternoon we were working well – I had a really good feeling with my R1 and also we tried to understand the feeling with the rear tyres, because we have two different SC1 options to choose from this weekend. We need just to look a bit at the data to prepare the bike for tomorrow, but honestly, the feeling is good in the dry – we just need to make some small adjustments to be able to improve. It’s important to qualify well tomorrow to start on the first two rows to be competitive in Race 1. If we can find a good way this evening to prepare everything, I think we can do a really good job.”

Dominique Aegerter – P8

“The day started in wet conditions, but luckily we had the final minutes of FP1 in the dry, so we could work on the setup from the morning onwards. In the afternoon the weather was perfect and we tried the two Pirelli compounds on the rear. We also worked on the electronics side and I think we found some good solutions, that we will check and confirm tomorrow. We’re closer to the top, where we should be, so it was a good day overall and I hope the weather will stay like this. I’m sorry to the guys for the small crash I had at the end of FP2, I gave them a little bit of extra work. Anyway, we’re all pushing and working together to achieve good results, so we’re moving in the same direction. We’ll try to be in the first two rows tomorrow, so we’ll have a good starting position for Race 1 and the Tissot Superpole Race.”

Jonathan Rea – P10

“I don’t think our position reflects our true pace. I felt OK on the bike and evaluated both rear tyre options. I wasn’t sure about the second one, so I came back and put the old tyre in. My rhythm was OK, just not fast enough over one lap to put me at the front of the timesheets. In the wet this morning I was quite good and we just need to get the bike to turn better. That is the focus for tomorrow because I feel I am using too much lean angle. At this circuit you need the bike to naturally turn. Our focus for Saturday is to try and do a good Superpole lap so that we can aim for the front row starting positions. I would prefer to race in the dry but we need to do a little bit more set-up work to fight for the podium in those conditions. I haven’t done a time attack yet, but for sure when it comes to doing one lap in Superpole, I can be OK and I hope to make it to the front row.”

Alex Lowes – P11

“I felt quite good in FP2. We tried a new rear tyre from Pirelli but for me it just didn’t work and it upset the front. I didn’t have the right feeling on the front and I had a really slow crash. I got back on the bike but had to come into the pits, even though it was a slow crash. It was a shame to miss some track time because the bike wasn’t really damaged and it only just made it to the gravel. My pace was still pretty good. I used my tyres from this morning’s session again and my best lap was on Lap 16 on those tyres so that is quite promising for tomorrow. I want to have a bit of a better feeling stopping the bike, but I actually feel pretty good and I enjoy the layout of this track. I was 11th on the timesheets today but I actually feel pretty good. Let’s see what the weather brings tomorrow.”

Iker Lecuona – P13

“We didn’t make the best start to the weekend this morning to be honest because, as often happens, we struggled a lot in the wet/damp conditions that we saw in FP1. I had no confidence on the bike and although we worked hard to try and sort this out, conditions changed quickly and the track dried, which meant we didn’t have enough time to adjust our wet setup. Going into FP2 the feeling was again not the best at first but, run after run, and by adjusting the bike settings, things improved and I was able to set some good lap times. I took a yellow flag three times but was finally able to complete what is a good lap for us, “just” seven tenths from the top, which is OK considering the morning was pretty critical. I also began to feel comfortable on the bike again and could ride in a more natural way, with my own style. So we take these positives and will see what the weather will bring tomorrow before coming up with a suitable plan.”

Xavi Vierge – P16

“Our first day here was a challenging one, though it’s true we were able to improve with almost every run. Not enough though. This morning it was good to have the opportunity to ride in the wet as we hadn’t experienced those conditions for a long while, and the feeling was not so bad actually. The same can be said of the afternoon’s dry session but, with such a competitive field where everyone is so close to each other, we need to find something more to be able to fight up near the front, which is what we are here for.”

WorldSBK Friday Combined Practice Times

World Superbike Championship Points

WorldSSP

Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it WorldSSP Racing Team) was the rider to beat on Friday in the FIM Supersport World Championship.

The only man with a chance to prevent Bulega from walking away with the championship is Stefano Manzi, and the Yamaha was seventh on Friday after his best lap was cancelled due to yellow flags.

Tom Edwards was the highest ranked Aussie in 16th despite going down at turn 15.  Countryman Luke Power was 21st on the Friday time-sheets while compatriot Oli Bayliss is missing from those time-sheets altogether as he recuperates at home in Australia after shoulder surgery earlier this week.

WorldSSP Friday Combined Practice Times

World Supersport Championship Points

WorldSSP300

Home hero Petr Svoboda (Fusport – RT Motorsport by SKM – Kawasaki) topped the Friday times in the FIM Supersport 300 World Championship as dry conditions greeted the riders in the afternoon.

After a wet track in Free Practice 1, Svoboda took full advantage of the dry circuit in Free Practice 2 to top the times at the Autodrom Most for the Acerbis Czech Round as he looks to get his Championship challenge back on track at his home circuit.

WorldSSP300 Friday Combined Practice Times

World Supersport 300 Championship Points

WorldSBK Most Schedule
(AEST)

2023 FIM Superbike World Championship Calendar
Date	Circuit	WSBK	WSSP600	WSSP300
24-26 Feb	Phillip Island	X	X
3-5 Mar	Mandalika	X	X
21-23 Apr	Assen	X	X	X
5-7 May	Catalunya	X	X	X
2-4 Jun	Misano	X	X	X
30 Jun-02 Jul	Donington Park	X	X
14-16 Jul	Imola	X	X	X
28-30 Jul	Autodrom Most	X	X	X
8-10 Sep	Magny-Cours	X	X	X
22-24 Sep	Aragón	X	X	X
29-Sep-01 Oct	Algarve	X	X	X