Canepa’s Comments – Round 2: Portimão

The Autódromo Internacional do Algarve would play host to the second round of the championship, and with a record crowd of 82,000 there was an incredible atmosphere to welcome the series back for another year on the European circuit.

After a challenging start to the season at Phillip Island, Yamaha’s WorldSBK teams were determined to make amends in Portugal, and while there were some signs of progress, it was also a tough weekend in some areas.

The weekend also saw the introduction of an all-new category, the FIM Sportbike World Championship, in which Yamaha would race its twin-cylinder R7.  Here’s the verdict from Yamaha Motor Europe’s Road Racing Sporting Manager, Niccolò Canepa on how the weekend went:

“The first round of the European season always feels a bit like having the first round of the season all over again – it’s the first time the whole paddock is together, with all the trucks, hospitalities etc – it’s the first time we see a lot of our colleagues in a new season.  And what a start to the European season it was, with an incredible crowd – up more than 50% on the year before – providing a brilliant atmosphere. It was quite something for us all to see, especially given this increase in attendance was down to one local hero. This attendance, and atmosphere, is a great thing for WorldSBK and hopefully many of those who came to support Miguel Oliveira this weekend can turn into lifelong WorldSBK fans.

“After the weather we’ve had in our recent visits to Portimão for testing, it was a big relief to arrive in Portugal to wall-to-wall sunshine and a strong forecast! And while we approached the event after a difficult round in Australia, we had reasons to be positive following our recent extended test at the Portimão circuit in which we finally got out on track in some dry weather.

“We did not have a lot of testing this year, and Phillip Island can also be a strange one – so it was nice to see Xavi Vierge arrive in Europe and continue to show the speed he had shown in testing and in Australia. He was consistently the quickest Yamaha across the weekend, and showed some clear signs of progress, including setting the fastest ever R1 lap of Portimão in Superpole by almost half a second.

“His sixth place in race one was a good result, and we were hopeful of pushing further towards the podium on Sunday which we believe would’ve been possible without the crash in Race 2.

“For Andrea Locatelli, it was another difficult weekend. We are working hard to understand his struggles with the bike this year, and while we made some progress with this there is undoubtedly still work to be done here as we are not seeing the full potential from either ‘Loka’ or the R1.

“Having struggled with the effects of the injury he sustained at the end of last season in Australia, Remy Gardner was closer to full fitness this weekend and showed some signs of speed. However, he still struggled a bit towards the end of both races but this is mainly down to a lack of bike time, which is obviously something which will improve with time.

“For Stefano Manzi, it has been a challenging start to his rookie year but he is beginning to make steps. For him, progress is not measured so much by position but by improvement during the weekend, and from race one to race two he improved the gap to the lead by over ten seconds – which is a clear step forward as he continues to adapt to the Superbike.

“Despite there being some positives to take from the weekend, we do have to be honest with ourselves that improvement is needed. Overall, we were slower in Portimão this year than we were last year, in race time, gap to the front and of course the final position. There is no doubt that we are not extracting the full potential from either our riders, or the R1, and this is something we will be working hard to address in the coming weeks. Assen should be a positive track for us, but we cannot take this for granted and need to at very least be looking to return to where we were last year, if not better.

“In WorldSSP, it was also a tough weekend overall. Can Öncü was undoubtedly the quickest rider on track, as shown by his dominant pole position, but a costly mistake saw him crash from the lead in Race 1 and things did not work for him in Race 2. It is important he learns from the mistakes made in Portimão, as while one or two mistakes during a season are OK, if you are looking to fight for a title then mistakes like this cannot happen on a regular basis.

“Rookie Albert Arenas continued to impress, and to be honest, to say he only walked away with one third place is perhaps not reflective of how well he rode this weekend. Still, another weekend, and another visit to the podium is the kind of consistency we want to see.

“The GMT94 Yamaha riders also impressed this weekend, it was good to see Lucas Mahias back on the podium and it was only through a bit of bad luck that he missed out on the podium in Race 2. The same goes for Roberto Garcia, who perhaps came closer than ever before to his first WorldSSP podium – it will arrive soon!

“After what seems like a long wait, we also welcomed the new Sportbike class this weekend. With 12 Yamaha R7s on the grid, we are the most represented manufacturer in the class and it’s great to see so many FIM Yamaha R3 BLU CRU World Cup riders stepping up, including champion Alessandro Di Persio.

“We can’t hide from the fact it was not the easiest weekend, but we saw some strong rides from Carter Thompson, Marco Gaggi and Di Persio given the circumstances. It is early days in this championship, and a lack of testing has also made things a little difficult, especially when some of the teams racing have already a year of experience with these bikes in national championships. It is also possible that it may take a few races for the FIM to get the Balance of Performance ‘right’ as there is such little data to work with when a class is brand new.

“The weekend also saw the return of the WorldSBK Manufacturer scheme, which we were one of few manufacturers to support with a product display in the paddock area – a huge thanks to Yamaha Motor Portugualfor their support with this!  Overall, it is clear there is work for us to do across all classes, but our teams, engineers and everyone else involved will not rest until we can be back fighting where we should be.”