Van der Mark on the crest of the wave in Magny-Cours with the new Pirelli rain tyre
The Dutchman is back to his winning ways in WorldSBK Race 1, taking full advantage of the pit stop and the new SCR1 development solution. Pole position for Huertas in WorldSSP but Race 1 is postponed due to foul weather
After three years, Michael van der Mark (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) is back on top in WorldSBK, winning at Magny-Cours in a Race 1 made eventful by the weather conditions. After starting on slicks, all the riders made a pit stop at around the mid-race point due to the rain. The BMW rider proved to be the most skilled at managing the bike change and, in the second part of the race, the new rear rain tyre which Pirelli brought to début right here on the French track. It was a development SCR1 tyre in D0737 specification, used in combination with the standard SCR1 rain tyre at the front.
In WorldSSP, pole position went to Adrian Huertas (Aruba.it Racing WorldSSP Team – Ducati) with an SC1 tyre at the front and an SCX at the rear, both standard versions. Race 1, initially scheduled for the afternoon, was postponed to tomorrow due to excessive rain.
GIORGIO BARBIER INGLESE
Winning début for the new rear rain tyre with all the slick options also performing well
“The decision to provide two development slicks for WorldSBK turned out to be a good choice. Almost all the riders tried them yesterday and found improvements or, at the very worst, different characteristics compared with the standard options. This created a rather broad range of possible combinations which, in the event of a dry track, would have allowed each rider to find the most suitable pair for their respective riding styles and bike settings. It would have been helpful to gather more information today, but this was not possible with the rain. In any case, the adverse weather conditions allowed us to validate the performance of the new development rain tyre. In all the excitement of the pit stops and considering the fact that the only true wet session was Superpole, a large part of the riders understandably opted for the standard SCR1 solution with which they already have experience, but van der Mark gambled on the new development specification, and the result paid off. As we had hoped, the improvements introduced in the compound and the carcass provided good support, limiting wear. In any case, both of the rain solutions proved to be valid, even in conditions which became extremely difficult toward the end of the race, so much that WorldSSP was cancelled for today. This is a weekend with extremely unpredictable weather, and in a setting where interpreting the conditions is so complicated, we are satisfied that the options we brought are proving to be allies to the teams, leaving them maximum freedom to work with the solutions they prefer, since all of them are valid alternatives.”
TYRES IN ACTION
WorldSBK
· In Race 1, all the riders came out of pit lane with rain tyres, only to swap them out on the grid in favour of solutions more suitable for the track conditions at that moment. Most of them opted for slicks, with the standard SC1 as an almost unanimous choice for the front, except for Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Team Motocorsa Racing – Ducati) and Ivo Lopes (PETRONAS MIE Racing Honda) who opted for the SC1 development solution in D0715 specification. At the rear, eleven riders chose the SC0, five went with the standard SCX, and only one opted for the SCX development tyre in D0820 specification. Among those who did not start on slicks for both front and rear, five riders preferred intermediate tyres on front and rear, whereas Iker Lecuona (Team HRC – Honda) chose a mixed combination with intermediate front and SC0 slick rear.
· With the return of the rain and the progressive worsening of track conditions, around the mid-race point of Race 1, the riders made a pit stop to put on Rain tyres. The forced choice from the front was the SCR1. At the rear, race winner Michael Van der Mark and teammate Scott Redding, the two Kawasaki riders, Alex Lowes and Axel Bassani, Andrea Locatelli (Pata Prometeon Yamaha), and Sam Lowes (ELF Marc VDS Racing Team – Ducati) chose the new SCR1 development tyre in D0737 specification, unlike the others, who opted for the standard SCR1.
· Unlike today, both of the Friday sessions were held on a dry track. The riders tested various combinations, alternating between the two options of SC1 front and SCX rear, both in the standard and development versions. The Saturday morning qualifiers, on the other hand, were held in the wet. Both pole man, Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK), and Nicolò Bulega (Aruba it Racing – Ducati), second place, used the standard SCR1 rain tyre front-rear combination. Scott Redding (Bonovo Action BMW), third place, opted for the rear development version, the SCR1 in D0737 specification, combined with the standard Rain tyre at the front.
WorldSSP
· In qualifying on a dry track Friday, Adrian Huertas (Aruba.it Racing WorldSSP Team – Ducati) took his fifth pole position of the season using an SC1 front tyre and an SCX rear tyre, both standard. Like him, Lucas Mahias (GMT94 Yamaha) and Jorge Navarro (Orelac Racing Verdnatura – Ducati), ranking respectively second and third, made the same choice.
· For the initial order of the Race 1 starting grid, all the riders chose SCR1 rain tyres for both the front and the rear, the only choice available for this category. However, the race was postponed to tomorrow due to the excessive rainfall on the Magny-Cours circuit.
