WorldSBK Debrief: Circuit de Nevers Magny Cours

It was a mixed weekend for Yamaha, with cause for celebration in the WorldSSP300 championship with a 1-2-3 in Saturday’s first race, while a double podium performance saw Aldi Satya Mahendra strengthen his position ahead of the standings.

There was also podium success in WorldSSP for Glenn van Straalen and Stefano Manzi, while in WorldSBK things were a little more challenging, capped off by an injury to Pata Prometeon Yamaha rider Jonathan Rea.

Here’s Yamaha Motor Europe Road Racing & Motorsport Research & Development Manager, Andrea Dosoli’s take on the weekend:

It has been a rollercoaster weekend with a few challenges, but also some positives that we can take home. We know the weather in Magny Cours can be unpredictable at this time of year, so it was not too surprising to see mixed conditions in the races.

Let’s start with the challenges of the weekend; Jonathan getting injured was a real shame, especially as we know how fast he can be in wet conditions. We wish him a speedy recovery and hope to see him back on the R1 as soon as possible. This was the second of our contracted riders to miss racing at Magny Cours through injury, after Dominique Aegerter missed the weekend after he was injured in a training accident – we are looking forward to having him back with us as soon as possible too.

Clearly it was an unlucky weekend for Andrea Locatelli. The weekend started out okay, but then in Superpole it did not come together. In Race 1, he was one of the quickest guys in the mixed conditions in the beginning, but then he had a crash. He was able to re-mount, and the lap times showed without the crash he could have been fighting for the podium, so there are some positives there but we cannot ignore the mistake.

Another crash compromised his Sunday, but this time it was a racing incident, so not his mistake. Most probably the lack of dry time in the race did not help the crew to properly set up the bike for race two, where the performance was clearly far behind what we expected. Three top riders were missing, so P10 is not the result that we expect given the talent of the rider. There is a lot of work to be done in the garage to understand the reason and to improve the performance.

It wasn’t the easiest of weekends for Remy Gardner, but he kept fighting and improved race by race. In the wet on Saturday, things were a challenge and he had two crashes but in the Superpole race he was able to recover nicely to improve his grid spot for Race 2.

In Race 2, things were better and he was able to fight right until the end for a top six result, which is positive, especially starting on the third row. He felt comfortable on the bike and it was nice to see him fighting.  It was also interesting to hear his comments after the races, clearly highlighting our weakness, acceleration out of the corner and struggle to put the torque down, so this is the focus for the next races.

I must say that I have been positively impressed by the maturity and speed shown by Alessandro Delbianco this weekend. A last minute call to race in WorldSBK is not an easy task, it is a difficult class especially in a weekend where conditions are varied. He managed the job very well, with not a single mistake and scored a few points for the team. This is not always the case when you have a replacement rider, so congratulations to him.

In the Supersport World Championship, despite two podiums, we did not fully explore the potential of the R6. The bike works quite well on this track, as shown in qualifying, especially with Mahias. Unfortunately, the riders did not maximise this in the race, particularly with the mistake of Stefano in Race 1 and then the incident between Mahias and Debise in Race 2. The positive point, however, is that we were competitive.

Manzi rode well in Race 2, showing what both he and the machine were capable of, fighting for victory until the end, even though he did not have the strongest starting position. He was the quickest rider on track and missed the win by just a few tenths which was a nice come-back from the Race 1 crash. Well done to him and the team, it is just a shame for the points we lost in the championship in Race 1. We should also mention Glenn van Straalen’s podium in a challenging Race 1, it was a difficult race with the drying track but he was one of the quickest guys and secured a strong result.

Stepping down to WorldSSP300, we had an important victory on Saturday, so congratulations to Unai Calatayud for his debut win. In fact, all three bikes on the podium in Saturday’s race were R3, which is a great achievement, especially as all three riders were involved in the bLU cRU programme at some point.

It was nice to see the Indonesian brothers, Galang and Aldi share the podium together, both on Saturday and Sunday. This was something special, but it also means a lot in terms of the championship with Aldi Satya Mahendra now leading the standings by 12 points with two races to go. It’s looking promising for the remainder of the season, so he and the team need to keep their heads down, continue doing what they have been doing and we will see what happens.

Outside of the road racing world, I would like to extend congratulations to Lotte Van Drunen, who won the Womens Motocross World Championship this weekend with Yamaha. It is a remarkable achievement, so well done to her and her team.

I was very saddened to hear the news of the passing of Ryota Haga, the son of iconic Yamaha rider, Noriyuki Haga. It is always devastating when there is a fatality in racing, but Noriyuki is a close friend of Yamaha so this hits us hard. I want to send our condolences and thoughts to the whole family at this time.