#AragonWorldSBK: SUNDAY’S PLAN NOT QUITE THAT SUCCESSFUL
After Saturday’s first good race at Aragón, Stefan Bradl finished in twelfth position, collecting more points, however, he was less satisfied with this outcome.
The second race day during round three of the FIM Superbike World Championship at Spain’s MotorLand Aragón circuit got started in unusual cool temperatures last Sunday. In addition, strong winds made conditions more difficult. So, the 15 minutes long Warm Up session didn’t allow to get a taste of what teams and riders would expect for the race at lunch time.
By the time the red lights went out for race two at 1:00 pm, temperatures raised to normal values, whereas the winds were still strong. Thanks to his ninth position in Saturday’s race, Bradl started from sixth in the second row into the sixth points haul this season. Meanwhile, for Sunday’s race the 27-year-old and his crew had chosen a different strategy. This was intended to compensate the ongoing main issue with too much spinning on the rear in acceleration. But a too aggressive riding under breaking was costly to the front tyre.
Bradl and his Red Bull Honda World Superbike Team remain for an official one-day test on Monday at the MotorLand.
#6 Stefan BRADL (Red Bull Honda World Superbike Team, Honda CBR1000RR SP2), 12th – World Championship position 12 (19 points):
“We can’t be satisfied by the outcome of the second race. But I must admit that we went with a different strategy into today’s race. We tried to make the bike’s handling a bit smoother by changing the front’s setting slightly. This meant, that we tried to achieve a better turning. Unfortunately, however, this attempt did not been worked out. During the last laps, I struggled a lot because the front tyre was too much stressed obviously. Our plan behind was to be more aggressive under breaking which was truly in case but towards the end of the race I didn’t have any reserves. In any case, we tried to compensate our spinning by a slightly modified adjustment to the steering head angle to get a better drive whilst accelerating in corner exit.
“The idea basically was good as I was able to break later and therefore I could better use the strengths of our bike. But I always must ride in great lean-angle to achieve this better drive in corner exit – otherwise I will lose everything. By the way, my start was good today in general, but in the first corners I was in a poor position and therefore I lost a few positions. Subsequently, I just tried to make up ground by riding more aggressively under breaking, pushing the front harder, but this, as said, didn’t quite work out.”
WorldSBK Aragón – Result Race 2 (18 Laps):
1 Chaz DAVIES / GBR / Aruba.it Racing – Ducati / Ducati Panigale R / 33´30.906
2 Jonathan REA /GBR / Kawasaki Racing Team / Kawasaki ZX-10R / +0.483
3 Marco MELANDRI / ITA / Aruba.it Racing – Ducati / Ducati Panigale R / +2.479
12 #6 Stefan BRADL / GER / Red Bull Honda World Superbike Team / Honda CBR1000RR SP2 / +25.829
WorldSBK Standings:
1 Jonathan REA / GBR / Kawasaki Racing Team / 145
2 Chaz DAVIES / GBR / Aruba.it Racing – Ducati / 95
3 Tom SYKES / GBR / Kawasaki Racing Team / 91
12 #6 Stefan BRADL / GER / Red Bull Honda World Superbike Team / 19
Next Race: 29/30 April, Assen / Netherlands