The past weekend saw the FIM Superbike World Championship return to it’s ‘home’, the venue where the very first WorldSBK races took place back in 1988 – Donington Park. It was also a significant round for Yamaha, as not only the home round of the Pata Prometeon Yamaha WorldSBK Official Team and rider Jonathan Rea but also the venue of the first Yamaha wins in WorldSBK after our return to the championship in 2016. While the weekend was not straightforward for Yamaha, there were clear highlights including Jonathan Rea’s first-ever podium in blue in the Tissot Superpole race. Here’s what Yamaha Motor Europe Road Racing and Motorsport R&D Manager Andrea Dosoli had to say on the weekend’s action in this week’s ‘Dosoli Debrief’.
“It was a positive event in Donington, there were a lot of spectators which shows how healthy the championship is at the minute. The interaction of the British fans with our riders and teams was also super special, the way the paddock is organised at Donington and the passion shown by the British fans always makes for a great atmosphere.
“Generally speaking in terms of the overall performance of the R1 at Donington, even though our race pace was quicker than last year, clearly it was not enough to fight at the front. It did not help that due to the nature of the track, we had to use the harder SC0 rear tyre, which meant we could not fully exploit the strengths of the R1 and our riders struggled with a lack of grip out of corners, which hurt our acceleration. Understanding why this is and looking at improvements in this area is a priority for our engineers.
“Despite these difficulties, it was a positive event for Jonathan Rea with his first Yamaha podium. I think we can say that he made a step with the R1 this weekend, and the podium in the Superpole race shows that, but it wasn’t just that, he also had a positive Race 1. It was nice to see him more relaxed and happier during the weekend, which shows we are working in the right direction. For sure, the home race may have played a part in this, especially as he was together with his family and kids.”
Jonathan Rea hugs his mechanic
“Jonathan’s pace was good in the first race, after the race we saw that if the first laps had been stronger then the result could have been even better, which we saw in the Superpole race, he had a strong start and was quick on the first few laps and this was enough to secure the podium. In the final race, he had an unexpected lack of rear grip which meant we could not maximise the result. But overall, it was a strong weekend for him which shows the commitment and motivation of everybody involved in the project and it was nice to see these efforts rewarded with his first Yamaha podium and there is without doubt more to come – we are not at the maximum.
“There were also a lot of positives for our other riders this weekend, even if the race results did not reflect their true potential. In the first race, Locatelli rode well and crossed the line just behind Jonathan. Unfortunately, in the Superpole race he did not get as strong a start as his team-mate and this meant he was stuck in the battle behind. ”
Dominique Aegerter qualified fifth
“We have to make a note of the performance of Dominique Aegerter, who was quick all weekend and the top Yamaha in Superpole with a very fast lap time and he had some solid races with good results. All four of our official Yamaha riders were underneath the circuit record in Superpole which shows the level of improvement.
“Remy Gardner was the first rider to go underneath that record when he was the fastest rider in FP3, but unfortunately the races were difficult for him. In the early stages of Race 1 he was pushed wide by another rider so he then had to fight back through to tenth. In the Superpole race, not just Remy, but also Aegerter and Locatelli, got caught up in a group battle, which was quite aggressive, with a lot of overtakes which meant they could not show their true pace as they were fighting for track position. This then hurt their grid positions for Race 2.”
Manzi finished second on Saturday
“In Supersport, the story was very similar to Misano. Stefano Manzi was riding very well, especially in Superpole and Race 1, where he was able to take a very impressive second place. In Race 2, the red flag made things a little more difficult for him. At the minute, I think it is fair to say that Manzi is riding at the maximum, this is shown by the gap to the riders behind him, and certainly in Race 1 he achieved the best result possible at the moment, so congratulations to him and the Pata Yamaha Ten Kate team.
“Once again some of the best racing of the weekend was demonstrated in the FIM Yamaha R3 bLU cRU World Cup, which were also some of the only races of the weekend to be impacted by the weather. Congratulations to Marc Vich and Alessandro Di Persio on their victories.
“Unlike the other races so far this season, there is no gap until the next race with Round 6 in Most taking place this weekend. Back-to-back races always pose some challenges, mainly with logistics as the teams pack up in Donington and look to arrive in the Czech Republic by Tuesday/Wednesday, but from a sporting side it will be nice to get straight back on track without such a long wait!”
