#AusWorldSBK Phillip Island: DAY ONE BRINGS MIXED EMOTIONS
It was a very different start into the weekend for Stefan Bradl, which saw up and downs during the first official practice sessions at the opening round for this year’s Superbike World Championship.
Round one of the new season got underway in good conditions though the Australian summer took a short timeout at the marvelous Phillip Island in the very southern hemisphere. Bradl and his technician in Red Bull Honda World Superbike Team made significantly progress to the all-new Fireblade SP2 during Friday morning’s FP1 to finish the session one second faster than during the previous test earlier this week at the fast and flowing Australian track.
However, during the break up to the second session in afternoon, the team continued eagerly to tackle the highly delicate electronics setup which turned out to be a step backwards. Bradl found himself suddenly struggling with the same issues as a few days before when his bike was hardly to ride under control. So, for this reason, the team will return to previous setup for Saturday, a day Bradl is looking forward particularly because as part of the Superbike world series two races held during each event. On Saturday afternoon, there will be the first World Championship points to conquer.
#6 Stefan BRADL (Red Bull Honda World Superbike Team, Honda CBR1000RR SP2), FP1: P16 – 1´31.707 / FP2: P16 – 1´32.022:
“Our start into the first race weekend was quite enjoyable. During FP1 in the morning, we were able to improve significantly compared to the test but this step was also urgently necessary. Unfortunately, in the afternoon we got somewhat of a bit out of the way in terms of the electronics because we thought that we would make further progress in this way. But it appears, however, that the setup works just in a very narrow area. Most probably we were a bit over-motivated and wanted to reach too much so during the second session, the performance of the engine was much more aggressive and it was extremely difficult to use a new tyre perfectly. During the entire session, I had to fight again with fierce and bumpy rear-wheels slides, which of course were costly to the lap times.
“I think, that we are not able to make improvements because we still miss a lot of testing kilometres. This is not only the case on my side in the garage, but also for my team mate Nicky (Hayden). In the afternoon, he even failed to match his best lap time from FP1 by 0.6 seconds. We still endure too many problems in many areas with our bike to find the necessary confidence. Therefore, it’s hard to make the next step. From this point of view, a lot of patience is required until we understand the whole package better and we are more able to ride faster, and also that the whole is coming more relaxed. For tomorrow’s race in the afternoon, however, we should be in a not so bad shape because our pace is significantly better than just one fast lap. I hope, therefore, that I’m able to recover some positions. In general, however, I’m very excited about the first race of the new season and hope that we can learn a lot during the race.”
WorldSBK – Free Practices Combined Results FP1/FP2:
1 #7 Chaz DAVIES / GBR / Aruba.it Racing – Ducati / Ducati Panigale R / 1´30.189 (FP1)
2 #1 Jonathan REA / GBR / Kawasaki Racing Team / Kawasaki ZX-10R / 1´30.255 +0.066 (FP1)
3 #12 Xavier FORES / SPA / BARNI Racing Team / Ducati Panigale R / 1´30.486 +0.297 (FP1)
16 #6 Stefan BRADL / GER / Red Bull Honda World Superbike Team / 1´31.707 +1.518 (FP1)