Record upon record for Pirelli at the Estoril WorldSBK round

WorldSBK Race 1

With SC1 front and SCX rear, Álvaro Bautista wins Race 1 and tightens his grip on the championship lead; Dominique Aegerter takes victory in WorldSSP

 

 

FOCUS ON SUPERPOLE

WorldSBK

In qualifying, thanks to the new SCQ solution, many riders were able to improve on their personal times, but Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) was the first to break the circuit record by over half a second with a time of 1’35.346, thereby taking pole position. Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK) and Álvaro Bautista (Aruba.It Racing – Ducati) will round out the front row of the starting grid. With the fourth-place spot going to Scott Redding (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team), four different manufacturers will occupy the first four positions.

WorldSSP

Swiss rider Dominique Aegerter (Ten Kate Racing Yamaha) proved to be the man to beat throughout qualifying: he managed to consistently improve his time until setting the new circuit record with a time of 1’39.046 and taking pole position. Nicolò Bulega (Aruba.it Racing WorldSSP Team) put in an outstanding performance, taking the second spot on the grid, whereas Glenn van Straalen (EAB Racing Team) closes out the front row.

WorldSSP300

It was Japanese rider Yuta Okaya (MTM Kawasaki) who took pole position astride his Kawasaki Ninja 400, also setting the new circuit record. Rounding out the front row are Marc García (Yamaha MS Racing) and Kawasaki rider Samuel Di Sora (Leader Team Flembbo).

TYRES IN ACTION: RACE 1

WorldSBK Race 1
WorldSBK Race 1

WorldSBK (asphalt: 30°C / air: 19°C)

Razgatlioglu moved into the lead straight away with Rea following closely. In the first half of the race, the two battled it out for the top spot with plenty contact and overtaking. Following at a gap of more than two seconds were Álvaro Bautista, Andrea Locatelli (Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK) and Scott Redding (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team). In the second half of the race, Bautista exploited the situation to close the gap and six laps from the end, he managed to take advantage of a mistake by Rea to snatch second and launch his attack on Razgatlioglu. The Spaniard succeeded in overtaking the Turkish rider only after the final turn, thanks to the slipstream on the straight. In Race 1, most of the riders chose the A0674 SC1 development solution for the front and the super soft standard SCX solution for the rear. Going against the flow was Rea, winner of the PIRELLI BEST LAP AWARD for his record lap at a time of 1’36.204, preferring to rely on the A0674 SC1 development solution on the front and the standard SC0 on the rear.

WorldSBK Race 1 podium
WorldSBK Race 1 podium

WorldSSP (asphalt: 35°C / air: 19°C)

Nicolò Bulega (Aruba.it Racing WorldSSP Team) started extremely well, taking the provisional race leadership but, due to a mistake during the first lap, he dropped back to sixth. The leading group included Can Öncü (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing), Dominique Aegerter (Ten Kate Racing Yamaha)Glenn van Straalen (EAB Racing Team), and Jules Cluzel (GMT94 Yamaha) who battled it out for the podium positions. In the second half of the race, Swiss rider Aegerter managed to maintain an outstanding pace, progressively widening the gap ahead of the rest of the group. Behind him was Italian rider Luca Baldassarri (Evan Bros. WorldSSP Yamaha Team) who exploited the crashes involving van Straalen and Cluzel to move up into second place. Aegerter finished first with Baldassarri second and third place going to Bulega who managed to gain the upper hand against Öncü during the final lap. The entire WorldSSP grid chose to race on the standard SC1 solution at the front, whereas at the rear, most of the riders opted for the extra soft standard SCX solution.

Dominique Aegerter
Dominique Aegerter

 

WorldSSP300 (asphalt: 28° C / air: 18° C)

At 12:40 in the afternoon local time, Race 1 of the FIM Supersport 300 World Championship started, with the top step of the podium going to Marc García (Yamaha MS Racing), Samuel Di Sora (Leader Team Flembbo) finishing second, and pole man Yuta Okaya (MTM Kawasaki) third.

WorldSSP Race 1 start
WorldSSP Race 1

GIORGIO BARBIER, MOTO SPORTS ACTIVITIES DIRECTOR

“I am extremely satisfied with the performance of the tyres on a track as demanding as Estoril. In the qualifying session for all three classes, all-time track records were broken with Rea improving on the old record by more than half a second on the new SCQ rear tyre. In WorldSBK and WorldSSP300, we saw two extremely hard-fought races today with breathtaking finishes. The protagonists battled to the limit, making small mistakes that influenced the final outcome. The supersoft SCX solution is proving to be significantly versatile and was, in fact, chosen by four out of five riders on the Superbike and Supersport starting grids. This is a considerable step forward if we consider that one year ago, on the same track and with these temperatures, the choice would have automatically fallen to the SC0 solution.”

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