#ItalianWorldSBK: “IMOLA PROVIDES LOTS OF FUN”
After the opening day, the 27-year-old Superbike rookie is enthusiastic about the track’s varying layout in Imola.
The 4.9 kilometres long circuit at the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari differs in so many aspects to the world’s most other race tracks. Most obvious is the location of the circuit in the middle of Imola. From the paddock, it is only a few minutes’ walk to the city centre. But the layout itself has a lot more to offer, as Stefan Bradl had to learn.
Round five got started in good conditions with nice weather. At the challenging circuit in the Emiglia-Romagna, it was not easy for Bradl to set decent lap times straight away so, Friday morning’s FP1 was therefore to get familiarized with the track at the famous named Autodromo . During the second session, however, the Honda rider was able to improve his lap times significantly, but he still faces the challenge to qualify for Superpole 2 going through the first timed session on Saturday.
As usual, both races of the weekend will be broadcasted by Austrian channel ServusTV. The show starts on Saturday and Sunday at 12:30 pm respectively with a detailed pre-reporting from the Italian round.
#6 Stefan BRADL (Red Bull Honda World Superbike Team, Honda CBR1000RR SP2), FP1: P14 – 1´49.616 / FP2: P12 – 1´48.766:
“My first impressions about this track aboard my race bike are pretty much ok. I like the layout very much, because it is just completely different to many other race tracks. Nevertheless, it is hard for me to really enjoy riding for the moment. Of course, it took some laps to find the way around here because one lap is enormously varied. There are many high-speed parts, followed by hard breaking points. Compared to Thailand, it is much harder to get around quickly.”
“But apart from the fact that I must improve my riding first, we have massive problems in accelerating. It is frustrating, to wrap up the opening day with a 2.5 seconds’ gap to the front runners. There are many places where you are gearing from first gear and in these parts of the track, we lose a lot of time. In this area, we must improve significantly for tomorrow. Hopefully we are able to sort out some of these weak points to qualify for Superpole 2. For the race, however, I still have to learn a lot at this track.”
#ItalianWorldSBK – Free Practice Combined Results (FP1/FP2):
1 Chaz DAVIES / GBR / Aruba.it Racing – Ducati / Ducati Panigale R / 1´46.229 (FP2)
2 Jonathan REA / GBR / Kawasaki Racing Team / Kawasaki ZX-10R / 1´46.694 +0.465 (FP2)
3 Tom SYKES / GBR / Kawasaki Racing Team / Kawasaki ZX-10R / 1´47.125 +0.896 (FP2)
13 #6 Stefan BRADL / GER / Red Bull Honda World Superbike Team / 1´48.766 +2.537 (FP2)