The Pata Yamaha Official STK1000 Team are relishing the return to action this weekend for the penultimate round of the 2017 FIM Supersport World Championship in Magny-Cours, France. Florian Marino is excited to race at his home round and the French rider is still firmly in the championship hunt. He currently sits third in the championship standings, 22 points behind the leader, with 50 points still up for grabs. His teammate Roberto Tamburini is looking to return to the podium after a tricky race last time out in Portimao and is currently fourth in the championship, just 18 points behind his teammate.
Marino is looking forward to racing in front of the passionate French supporters at his home round on his Pata Yamaha R1M, having been forced to miss the race for the last two seasons due to injury. At the last round in Portimao, the 24-year-old rode a superb race to finish in second and record his fourth podium of the season. Apart from his DNF at Imola, Marino has been ever-present in the top five this season and is still in with a chance of winning the championship, but knows he needs a good result in Magny-Cours.
Tamburini had shown great pace throughout the Portimao weekend, qualifying on the front row for the race but, unfortunately, when the lights went out he did not have the same feeling with his R1M and had to battle to a valiant sixth-place finish. The 26-year-old Italian is determined to right these wrongs at Magny-Cours and add to the three podiums he has to his name so far in 2017. Tamburini knows how important it is to find a good setup with his bike at the technically challenging circuit and is keen to start working hard from Friday morning’s FP1 to give him the best possible chance come Sunday’s race.
The Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours is located in central France, 250km south of Paris. The track was originally built back in 1960 but has been revamped a number of times, most recently in 2003. It is 4.411km long, consists of 17 corners – nine right and eight left-handed – and has a start/finish straight of just 250m. Most of the corners are modelled on famous turns from other tracks, with the corners bearing the track names that inspired them, and it comprises of a mix of slow, technical hairpins and high-speed chicanes, with very little elevation change.
The Pata Yamaha Official STK1000 Team hits the track on Friday morning at 9 am local time for Free Practice 1, with Saturday’s Qualifying at 15:00 pm and Sunday’s Race scheduled for 15:15 pm.
Roberto Tamburini
Pata Yamaha Official STK1000 Team – 4th – 82 points
“After a tricky race in Portimao, we go to Magny-Cours with the desire to make the best weekend we can. We will work as hard as we can from Free Practice 1 to find the best possible setup for the race. It will also be important to be prepared for bad weather, as it often the case at this circuit, but whatever happens with the track conditions the goal is always to try to be as fast as possible and get on the podium!”
Florian Marino
Pata Yamaha Official STK1000 Team – 3rd – 100 points