WSBK 2019

Round Eight – Donington
Sunday Race Results / Report

---

Until a couple rounds ago, the Motul FIM World Superbike Championship seemed to have taken a very clear direction with Álvaro Bautista winning the first 11 races, seemingly without any rivals able to make any trouble for him.

But from the Jerez round and then with the next round in Misano, the Spanish Ducati rider made a few mistakes, leaving his flank exposed, and four-time World Champion Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK / Kawasaki ZX-10RR) did not stand idly by.

After the fantastic double in Misano, winning both Race 1 and Race 2, at Donington Park, the Northern Irishman did the triple, winning all three races and taking the lead in the rider standings already on Saturday, then increasing his advantage to 24-points ahead of Bautista on Sunday.

For his part, the Spaniard was unable to be as incisive as he had in the early part of the season, and on English soil he had to settle for a meagre bounty – third place in Race 2.

The Donington weekend, at least in the premier class, was certainly an important one for all the Kawasaki riders who also took two second place finishes here with the skilled Toprak Razgatlioglu (Turkish Puccetti Racing / Kawasaki ZX-10RR), and two third place finishes with Leon Haslam (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK / Kawasaki ZX-10RR).

If Kawasaki and Ducati seem to be the most incisive bikes in the World Championship for factory derivatives, in WorldSSP, it is a different story, because in this case, Yamaha is dominating, taking the top two positions on the podium, as well as fourth, thanks to the performances of Jules Cluzel (GMT94 Yamaha / Yamaha YZF R6), first across the line, and teammates Federico Caricasulo and Randy Krummenacher (Bardahl Evan Bros. WorldSSP Team / Yamaha YZF R6), second and fourth respectively. Yamaha also dominated in the FIM Supersport 300 World Championship race, won by Italian Kevin Sabatucci of Team Trasimeno Yamaha.

---

WorldSBK Tissot Superpole Race

The first race on Sunday lasted even less than the scheduled 10 laps, as it was red-flagged on the eighth lap due to an accident that involved no less than five riders.

At the start, pole man Tom Sykes (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team / BMW S1000 RR) got off well, managing to stay ahead of Race 1 winner, Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK / Kawasaki ZX-10RR), who had started from the second spot on the grid.Behind them was Toprak Razgatlioglu (Turkish Puccetti Racing / Kawasaki ZX-10RR) who succeeded in moving up from seventh to third.

However, the four-time World Champion Kawasaki rider was not giving up easily, and on the fifth lap he was able to overtake his former team-mate for the race lead. In the meantime, Leon Haslam (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK / Kawasaki ZX-10RR) and Álvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati / Ducati Panigale V4 R) moved respectively into fourth and fifth place.

It seemed like the race would end in that order, but during the eighth lap, Peter Hickman (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team / BMW S1000 RR) had a technical problem on turn 11 and leaked oil, ending up in the gravel. Unfortunately, the same fate awaited Sandro Cortese, Leandro Mercado, Alessandro Delbianco and Ryūichi Kiyonari, slipping on the oil left on the track by the British rider.

Race direction was therefore forced to wave the red flag, which decreed the end of the race, but on the final lap to return to pit lane, Tom Sykes, who had been lying second in the race, also slipped on the oil left behind by Hickman, crashing out. Unable to get the bike to Parc Fermé, Tom Sykes lost his second place in a crushingly unfair blow to the private Turkish Puccetti Racing team rider.

This made it an all-green podium with Jonathan Rea, Toprak Razgatlioglu and Leon Haslam respectively on the first, second and third step.

---

Superbike Race Two

In this race, the Kawasaki riders were once again the undisputed protagonists, with Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK / Kawasaki ZX-10RR) and Toprak Razgatlioglu (Turkish Puccetti Racing / Kawasaki ZX-10RR) going back and forth for the lead throughout the race, which was then won by the Northern Irishman.

Razgatlioglu managed to overtake Rea for the lead twice, first on the third lap and then on the eighth, but on the twelfth lap he was forced to relinquish the position to the four-time World Champion who had a slightly faster pace than his.

In any case, the Turkish rider was able to give Rea a run for his money all the way to the chequered flag, finishing just three tenths of a second behind the Championship leader.

The other Kawasaki rider, Leon Haslam, seemed to have third place in the bag, but on the thirteenth lap, Álvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati / Ducati Panigale V4 R) was able to overtake him, thereby taking the only podium finish of what was a difficult weekend for the Ducati riders.

---

Jonathan Rea

“It was incredible, a similar story to Misano with Toprak in Race 2. It was really difficult, he was so strong on the brakes, but my team gave me a great bike and physically this weekend I felt really good, so I was able to extract the best potential from my ZX-10RR. In free practices, I was a little bit unhappy about the setup, and we were quite far away, 0.9 s from the fastest lap time, but step by step we arrived and three race wins, and back in the lead of the championship I can’t quite believe it. We will keep working like we are doing and we go to Laguna next week, which is another good track for us, but I enjoyed the atmosphere here. There were a lot of people here at Donington and now let’s see what happens”.

Toprak Razgatlioglu

“Yesterday with the wet conditions we didn’t go well. We tried a similar setup to Misano but I didn’t feel good on the bike and it was sliding a lot at the rear, so I was waiting for today because I was expecting a dry race and I felt really strong on those conditions. The Tissot Superpole Race was good but it wasn’t perfect. We focused on Race 2, which was more important for me. I did a good start, I followed Johnny and after I overtook him we had a small fight together but he was strong and fast. On the final two laps, I tried to attack him again but it was impossible. I am happy with another podium and now we see what will happen in the US”.

Leon Haslam

“Honestly, I had a really good feeling on 80% of the track but I was just struggling on that last part with the stop/start areas. I am happy with the pace because I was losing so much in the last two turns but and making it back in the rest of the track – and that was against the fastest guys. I did feel that if we could have sorted those last two corners out we would have been in that battle for those top two spots today. We have had a run of podiums and a fifth place finish recently so we are there or thereabouts. We closed the points gap on third and we will keep on pushing on.”

Álvaro Bautista

“Today it was important to finish the weekend with a podium, after yesterday’s crash. In the Superpole Race I tried to stay with the front group and pushed as hard as I could; unfortunately, my Panigale V4 R was moving around a lot and I had to make a big effort to ride it and keep it upright. In Race 2 I made a good start, and tried to stay in the front group despite the same problems I had in the Superpole Race. Here at Donington we were struggling a lot, but I’m quite happy to have achieved the best possible result. We’re analysing the data to try and improve the weak points of the bike and tackle the Laguna Seca race stronger than before.”

Chaz Davies

“It was a really tough day. After the Superpole race, I was optimistic that we could potentially have a decent long race. We made some changes and felt the bike was a bit better. The start and the first few laps were good and I got up to fifth place, then things got a bit more difficult. After a few more laps my pace faded, because I had pretty bad arm pump as well. Donington is a bit of a strange circuit that requires a lot of physical effort; today things were tougher especially with me fighting the bike as much as I am. Unfortunately, there’s not much to be happy about after a weekend like this one, but now I can’t wait to get to Laguna, which is a track I like a lot.”

Alex Lowes

“The issues in Superpole yesterday set us back a little bit today. We made some changes to the bike ahead of the Sprint Race and, while I didn’t feel quite as good as I was expecting, towards the end I was coming on strong in what was quite a tight group. With only seven laps because of the red flag it didn’t feel like much of a race to be honest. In Race 2 I knew it was going to be difficult to get away with the leading group starting from further back, but I felt I managed the race well. I was really strong at the end, but not quite close enough to challenge for the final podium, but there were plenty of positives we can take into the Laguna Seca race next week.”

Michael van der Mark

“We made a change to the bike after the Sprint Race and I think we maybe went a little bit in the wrong direction, as I was struggling for rear grip from the start and couldn’t use the new tyre like everyone else. I actually got a good start but then dropped back quite quickly and there wasn’t much I could do about it. I had good pace, but I’d have liked to have been able to push harder. We have to be happy with the points we’ve scored this weekend, given the injury, but as a racer I know that if I had the grip then I’d have been able to fight with Alex and the other guys. The wrist was much better than I was expecting this weekend, so now I can look forward to Laguna with some confidence.”

Marco Melandri

“This was not a good weekend for us. After Misano I expected to have a much better feeling, especially here at Donington where I’ve had good results in the past. So, we were expecting a positive weekend here, but it turned out very different. I never really had a good feeling and I struggled a lot from the start. Either the bike doesn’t like me, or my riding style doesn’t suit the bike, so it’s difficult. Yamaha and the team are working incredibly hard to help me find a solution and so am I, but we’re still looking for the light at the end of the tunnel.”

Sandro Cortese

“Today was a day to forget, if I’m honest. It started in the Sprint Race when I was the first to arrive in the corner where the oil had been dropped. I had no chance and crashed so heavily that the bike was literally in two pieces. I have to say a big thank you to my team, who did an incredible job to basically build a new bike in just two hours. They were still working on it on the grid and, even one minute before the start of Race 2, we weren’t sure whether we were going to make the start. After all this drama I wasn’t as focused I normally am but, after two crashes, it was important for me to finish the race and pick up some points to round out the weekend. Now we must look forward to the next race in Laguna, where I hope we can end the first part of the season with some good results.”

Tom Sykes

“It certainly was an unlucky day. When we came over the hilltop into Melbourne Loop after the red flag, there was a parked car right at the edge of the tarmac, riders, bikes and marshals, so I looked up just to try and understand if someone was coming on track. Then I hit the oil, Jonathan nearly crashed and I unfortunately did. What happened unfortunately completely changed the dynamic of the day and of the long race. Starting from tenth, I struggled as I would have needed some clear air. So the performance was certainly compromised in today’s race today. It’s a shame because we definitely had the pace for the podium. Yes, I’m disappointed but with the form we have shown this weekend, we still have a lot of positives to take away.”

Peter Hickman

“I’m a bit disappointed to be outside the top ten, to be honest. I felt I had some pace to be inside the top ten. But I did not quite have the grip in the final race compared to what we had earlier in the day and yesterday. Maybe the track temperature went a bit up but because of what had happened in the Superpole Race, we did not have the time to make changes on the bike for race two basing on what we had learned in the first race. But it’s the way it goes. I’ve had a good weekend, I enjoyed myself and learned some stuff. The team has been fantastic, really thanks to Smiths Racing BMW for allowing me to compete here and to Dunlop UK for allowing me to drop their weekend to come here. I hope to get some opportunity like this again sometime in the future.”

WorldSBK Results

---

Source: MCNews.com.au

---

World Supersport 300

As the rain continued to drench the Donington Park circuit, the WorldSSP300 riders took to the track and put in strong lap times, combatting the weather in the best way possible. It was a history-making two Tissot Superpole sessions, as Ton Kawakami (BCD Yamaha MS Racing) took his first pole position, becoming the first Brazilian rider to take a WorldSSP300 pole position and the first pole for a Brazilian rider in the entire WorldSBK paddock.

With Group A taking to the circuit first, the Brazilian rider took advantage of the bad weather, which often acts as a great leveller in motorcycle racing. Kawakami left it late to go to the top, pinching pole position from Indonesian rider, Galang Hendra Pratama (Semakin Di Depan Biblion Motoxracing). Hendra Pratama was demoted to third overall, as Andy Verdoïa (BCD Yamaha MS Racing) went top of Group B but only second overall.

Mika Perez (Scuderia Maranga Racing) moved up the order in Group A and finished fourth overall to the head of row two. Perez is ahead Hugo De Cancellis (Team Trasimeno Yamaha), who suffered a small crash during Group B, whilst he is ahead of Dorren Loureiro (Nutec – RT Motorsports by SKM – Kawasaki), who completes row two.

There were numerous shocks in the WorldSSP300 Tissot Superpole, most notably with Scott Deroue (Kawasaki MOTOPORT), who need to go through the Last Chance Race. Ana Carrasco, who won at Misano to go second in the championship, was only 16th on combined times. Having won at Donington Park last season, Carrasco will want to fight hard to try and get back to the front this year.

Perhaps the biggest story of the Tissot Superpole session was that the championship leader, Manuel Gonzalez (Kawasaki ParkinGO Team), who crashed heavily at Redgate Corner (Turn 1), needing medical assistance. He was taken to the medical centre for a check-up, with more updates to follow. There were numerous crashes in the sessions, with Verdoïa, De Cancellis, Marc Garcia (DS Junior Team), Bruno Ieraci (Kawasaki GP Project) and Omar Bonoli (Team Trasimeno Yamaha) to name all but a few of the crashers.

In the afternoon, WorldSSP300 action returned for the Last Chance Race, determining the six riders which will go up to join the main grid for the main race on Sunday. It was a fierce race which saw many accidents, although some unexpected names make it through to Sunday action for the first time, too.

With the Last Chance Race getting underway, wildcard Kade Verwey (Team XG Racing) took the lead, putting on a show in front of his home crowd, in a bid to try and make a name for himself and get through to Sunday’s race. However, as he dropped back through the order, he found himself surrounded by faster riders. Attempting to make up time, Verwey crashed but in the process, wiped out joint-second in the championship, Scott Deroue (Kawasaki MOTOPORT), as the Dutchman had to go through the Last Chance Race for the first time.

At the flag, it was Nick Kalinin (Nutec – RT Motorsport by SKM – Kawasaki) who prevailed ahead of the chasing pack, after they had spread out. He won, ahead of Jan-Ole Jahnig (Freudenberg KTM Junior Team), Robert Schotman (Kawasaki MOTOPORT), Manuel Bastianelli (Prodina IRCOS Kawasaki), Paolo Giacomini (Kawasaki GP Project) and Beatriz Neila (BCD Yamaha MS Racing). Giacomini makes it through to the Sunday race for the first time this season.

Supersport 300 Superpole Combined

Pos	Rider	Bike	Class	Superpole
1	T.  Kawakami	Yamaha YZF-R3	A	1m52.914
2	A. Verdoïa	Yamaha YZF-R3	B	1m53.025
3	G. Hendra Pratama	Yamaha YZF-R3	A	1m53.047
4	M. Perez	Kawasaki Ninja 400	A	1m53.246
5	H. De Cancellis	Yamaha YZF-R3	B	1m53.409
6	D. Loureiro	Kawasaki Ninja 400	B	1m53.626
7	F.  Rovelli	Kawasaki Ninja 400	A	1m53.838
8	O. König	Kawasaki Ninja 400	A	1m53.917
9	D. Otten	Kawasaki Ninja 400	A	1m53.922
10	K. Sabatucci	Yamaha YZF-R3	A	1m54.189
11	B. Ieraci	Kawasaki Ninja 400	B	1m54.340
12	L. Loi	Kawasaki Ninja 400	A	1m54.580
13	M. Gonzalez	Kawasaki Ninja 400	B	1m54.638
14	V. Steeman	KTM RC 390 R	B	1m54.652
15	E. De La Vega	Yamaha YZF-R3	A	1m54.708
16	A. Carrasco	Kawasaki Ninja 400	A	1m54.916
17	T.  Edwards	Kawasaki Ninja 400	A	1m54.990
18	J.  Buis	Kawasaki Ninja 400	B	1m55.031
19	Y. Okaya	Kawasaki Ninja 400	A	1m55.115
20	T.  Bramich	Kawasaki Ninja 400	B	1m55.290
21	O. Bonoli	Yamaha YZF-R3	A	1m55.362
22	S. Di Sora	Kawasaki Ninja 400	B	1m55.745
23	J.  Perez Gonzalez	Kawasaki Ninja 400	B	1m55.873
24	B. Sanchez	Kawasaki Ninja 400	B	1m55.897
25	K. Meuffels	KTM RC 390 R	A	1m55.944
26	D. Iozzo	Kawasaki Ninja 400	A	1m55.962
27	M. Kappler	KTM RC 390 R	B	1m55.986
28	K. Aloisi	Kawasaki Ninja 400	A	1m56.067
29	R. Dore	Yamaha YZF-R3	B	1m56.071
30	F.  Hernandez Moyano	Yamaha YZF-R3	A	1m56.074
31	K. Verwey	Kawasaki Ninja 400	A	1m56.235
32	J.  Facco	Yamaha YZF-R3	B	1m56.283
33	M. Bastianelli	Kawasaki Ninja 400	A	1m56.834
34	A. Quinet	Honda CBR500R	B	1m57.069
35	K. Hartmann	Yamaha YZF-R3	A	1m57.258
36	J.  Foray	Kawasaki Ninja 400	B	1m57.294
37	R. Schotman	Kawasaki Ninja 400	A	1m57.600
38	M. Luna Bayen	Kawasaki Ninja 400	A	1m57.818
39	P. Giacomini	Kawasaki Ninja 400	A	1m57.882
40	S. Deroue	Kawasaki Ninja 400	B	1m58.158
41	J.  Jahnig	KTM RC 390 R	A	1m58.286
42	A. Pelikanova	Kawasaki Ninja 400	B	1m58.343
43	B. Neila	Yamaha YZF-R3	B	1m58.661
44	F.  De Bruin	Yamaha YZF-R3	B	1m59.060
45	T.  Finocchiaro	KTM RC 390 R	B	2m00.683
46	S. Naud	Kawasaki Ninja 400	B	2m1.342
47	M. Pedeneau	Yamaha YZF-R3	B	2m01.376
48	M. Garcia	Kawasaki Ninja 400	B	2m01.429
49	L. Verwey	Kawasaki Ninja 400	B	2m02.124
50	N. Kalinin	Kawasaki Ninja 400	A	2m02.425
51	B. Molina	Yamaha YZF-R3	A	2m03.203
52	E. Mcglinchey	Kawasaki Ninja 400	A	/

Source: MCNews.com.au

2019 WorldSBK

Round Eight – Donington Park

Friday Results / Report

---

Both sessions were held in relatively warm conditions at Donington Park on Friday, with the afternoon track temperature rising to an unusually high 43°C at this British circuit. The fastest 13 riders finished within a second of pace-setter Tom Syke after two 50-minute sessions at the relatively short 4.023 km track.

Tom Sykes has nine victories at Donington Park in WorldSBK and the Huddersfield rider showed why on Friday as he topped both practice sessions on home soil.

Tom Sykes – P1

“This has been coming, we’ve been building and building and in Misano I feel we didn’t get what we deserved because we had three podiums in us. Coming into Donington its really a circuit of two halves, there’s four sectors and the first two sectors you need one bike and in the last two you need a completely different one… but after the first run this morning I came in and said the boys they’ve done a great job in getting the bike well balanced to suit the track, so a big thanks to the whole BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team. We made a few changes in FP2 in preparation and I didn’t really have to go chase a lap time which is positive. I feel sooner or later we will add to the “49 superpoles” tally and tomorrow we will have a good go at it”.

In second position was Alex Lowes (Pata Yamaha WorldSBK Team), who was flying the Yamaha flag high inside the top three. The British rider put in a strong lap time at the end of the session to finish just 0.018s away from Tom Sykes at the top.

Alex Lowes – P2

“It’s great to be here and riding in front of my home crowd. I feel really good on the bike, even with the little tip off this morning. I say little, but you don’t have a small crash at Craner Curves. It was my mistake; I crashed on a cold tyre after a slow lap, so sorry to the guys for giving them some unexpected extra work today. This afternoon the bike felt good again, but I still want to improve the braking phase a bit more tomorrow, to give me a little more margin. It’s been a positive day, I’m happy with where we are and it’s also good to see Michael back on the bike so soon after his injury. It shows just how tough he is.”

Toprak Razgatlioglu (Turkish Puccetti Racing) showed strong single lap and race pace from the start today and was the top ranked Ninja ZX-10RR rider of all; third. This is the track he scored his first WorldSBK podium finish at last year and he has arrived ready for another strong weekend in the UK.

KRT riders Jonathan Rea and Leon Haslam finished fourth and fifth fastest respectively after one day of track action at their home round at Donington Park.

Jonathan Rea – P4

“I was able to do a long run this afternoon and I felt great physically, which was a positive after the first day. The bike was more difficult to ride this morning and I struggled to get any weight onto the front to help the bike turn, especially in the fast areas. I also went back a little bit with my riding position, because I felt I had so much weight on the rear of the bike. I was getting traction but it was not finishing the corner in the best way. This afternoon I felt very comfortable, my rhythm was much faster and I was doing it comfortably – which is always nice here. We are not far away for the first day, really, so we will keep working.”

Leon Haslam – P5

“The track felt quite different because I don’t think I have ever been here when it was hot! I know this track so I know where I need to be and where I am struggling with the set-up. We made a positive step from this morning’s session in that area, so we are closing the gap. Getting the bike to stop and then squirt out of that last section was my main priority and we bridged the gap to the front to about a tenth. We made a good step from the morning to the afternoon.”

Championship leader Álvaro Bautista was sixth quickest with team-mate Chaz Davies ending the day in ninth.

Álvaro Bautista – P6

“For sure the memories I had with this track were much different, and with the Superbike it seems that all the track is narrower and there is not a lot of space to make a mistake. In any case I’m quite happy because in the morning I spent some time trying to understand the track better, gaining some reference markers with my Panigale V4 R and in the end it wasn’t too bad. Then in the afternoon we made a few modifications to improve the set-up because earlier I had struggled to make the bike turn well. We found something that gives me a good feeling and I improved our lap time and our pace. There is still margin to improve but it was a good first day.”

Chaz Davies – P9

“It was quite a good start, we made progress from the morning to the afternoon and I improved my lap time by almost one second. We are still clearly missing something in the feeling with the bike, but we are not as far behind with the race pace as the position looks in the standings. Donington is quite a different track to the previous one at Misano, but we seem to be suffering from similar problems in the same areas. For the moment we are about on par with expectations but hopefully we’ll improve tomorrow.”

Michael van der Mark made a brave return from injury and managed to finish the opening day of practice in P11.

Michael van der Mark – P11

“I think I was more nervous ahead of FP1 today than I am before a race. I was pretty confident the injury wouldn’t be a problem, but you never really know until you’re actually on the bike. I felt good on the bike from the start, with no pain, but I am missing a little bit of mobility, which means I can’t move around the bike quite so well. Every lap I was feeling a bit better but I’m not as smooth as normal and that made it a little difficult to get the bike set-up. In the afternoon we tried to improve the bike, to make it a little smoother and easier to ride and, while I didn’t manage to improve my lap time, this wasn’t really the goal. I did a lot more laps than I was expecting today; this morning before FP1 I would have been happy to pick up some points in the races, but now I think we can target the top ten.”

Alongside Tom Sykes in the BMW WorldSBK garage this weekend is Peter Hickman as the TT winner stands in for the injured Markus Reiterberger on the second of the Factory BMW machines. Hickman quickly adapted to the WSBK spec’ bike by lapping quicker than he has ever managed before around Donington Park, and did it in his first session.

Peter Hickman – P12

“I’m happy enough with today. It’s all new however the bike feels fairly similar to what I’m running in BSB. We have a lot more adjustability on this bike along with the electronics so it’s a lot different in some areas. I’m really happy to get into the 1’28’s this afternoon, it’s the fastest I’ve been around here with a 1’28.567, so half a second faster and I’m looking towards the top 6….so I’ve got to be happy with the progress on day 1. Tomorrow is a different day, I’ve not rode on the ‘Q’ tyre in a long time as we don’t run that in BSB so that’s going to be interesting, I don’t have an aim as such but I’m just going to keep chipping away and let’s see how our lap time goes and where we end up in the race”.

Other notable names outside the top ten included Marco Melandri (GRT Yamaha WorldSBK), who was only 13th, whilst Michael Ruben Rinaldi (BARNI Racing Team) was down in 15th.

WorldSBK Friday Combined Times

Pos	No. Rider	Bike	Time
1	T. Sykes	BMW S1000 RR	1m27.733
2	A. Lowes	Yamaha YZF R1	1m27.751
3	T. Razgatlioglu	Kawasaki ZX-10RR	1m27.775
4	J. Rea	Kawasaki ZX-10RR	1m27.812
5	L. Haslam	Kawasaki ZX-10RR	1m27.859
6	A. Bautista	Ducati Panigale V4 R	1m28.005
7	S. Cortese	Yamaha YZF R1	1m28.235
8	L. Baz	Yamaha YZF R1	1m28.257
9	C. Davies	Ducati Panigale V4 R	1m28.414
10	J. Torres	Kawasaki ZX-10RR	1m28.483
11	M. Van Der Mark	Yamaha YZF R1	1m28.529
12	P. Hickman	BMW S1000 RR	1m28.567
13	M. Melandri	Yamaha YZF R1	1m28.631
14	L. Mercado	Kawasaki ZX-10RR	1m28.929
15	M. Rinaldi	Ducati Panigale V4 R	1m29.005
16	A. Delbianco	Honda CBR1000RR	1m29.800
17	R. Kiyonari	Honda CBR1000RR	1m30.357
18	E. Laverty	Ducati Panigale V4 R	1m30.409

World Supersport

In the final WorldSSP session of the day, it was once again a raging battle at the head of the field, with Jules Cluzel (GMT94 YAMAHA) maintaining his advantage ahead of the chasing pack. With the sun beating down, Cluzel was able to improve incrementally through the session before finding a third of a second in the final ten minutes of the day to maintain the first position ahead of Saturday.

Having looked the dominant force throughout the opening day, Jules Cluzel’s search for his second win of the season continues. The Frenchman was the only rider to dip into the 1’30 bracket on Friday, continuing to push on right the way through the session. Having dropped points in recent rounds, Donington Park acts as a make or break round for the Pirelli Thai Round winner. Randy Krummenacher (BARDAHL Evan Bros. WorldSSP Team) was in second position, whilst Hannes Soomer (MPM WILSport Racedays) impressed once again in third.

Fourth position will have to be good enough for Lucas Mahias (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing), as the Frenchman slipped a couple of positions, compared to his FP1 start. The 2017 WorldSSP champion proved his worth however and proved that he was back at the front of the championship, looking as competitive as ever. Fifth place may be an uncharacteristic position for Federico Caricasulo, as the Italian struggled to break into the top positions like he had done before. Raffaele De Rosa (MV AGUSTA Reparto Corse) was sixth.

Back in seventh place, it was Ayrton Badovini (Team Pedercini Racing) will hope to be firmly inside the top ten for the rest of the weekend, as the veteran Italian gets better session-by-session. Wildcard Jack Kennedy (Appleyard Macadam Integro) was in eighth and consolidated his top ten pace, proving the strength of himself and the team at their home circuit. Ninth place belonged to Isaac Viñales (Kallio Racing) whilst Brad Jones (Appleyard Macadam Integro) completed the top ten, backing his teammate up with good pace – just over one second from top spot.

Thomas Gradinger (Kallio Racing) was only 11th, whilst Hikari Okubo (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) was down in 13th, with home-hero Kyle Smith (Team Pedercini Racing) in 15th position.

Supersport 600 Friday Combined Times

Pos	Rider	Bike	Time
1	J. Cluzel	Yamaha YZF R6	1m30.888
2	R. Krummenacher	Yamaha YZF R6	1m31.078
3	H. Soomer	Honda CBR600RR	1m31.308
4	L. Mahias	Kawasaki ZX-6R	1m31.392
5	F. Caricasulo	Yamaha YZF R6	1m31.399
6	R. De Rosa	MV Agusta F3 675	1m31.483
7	A. Badovini	Kawasaki ZX-6R	1m31.601
8	J. Kennedy	Yamaha YZF R6	1m31.739
9	I.  Vinales	Yamaha YZF R6	1m31.847
10	B. Jones	Yamaha YZF R6	1m31.909
11	T. Gradinger	Yamaha YZF R6	1m32.051
12	P. Sebestyen	Honda CBR600RR	1m32.163
13	H. Okubo	Kawasaki ZX-6R	1m32.248
14	R. Hartog	Kawasaki ZX-6R	1m32.381
15	K. Smith	Kawasaki ZX-6R	1m32.468
16	C. Perolari	Yamaha YZF R6	1m32.527
17	L. Cresson	Yamaha YZF R6	1m33.295
18	J. Danilo	Honda CBR600RR	1m33.516
19	N. Calero	Kawasaki ZX-6R	1m33.535
20	G. Van Straalen	Kawasaki ZX-6R	1m33.677
21	F. Fuligni	MV Agusta F3 675	1m33.820
22	J. Van Sikkelerus	Honda CBR600RR	1m34.530
23	C. Stange	Honda CBR600RR	1m34.635
24	A. Toledo	Yamaha YZF R6	1m34.777
25	G. Sconza	Honda CBR600RR	1m36.183
26	A. Gyorfi	Yamaha YZF R6	1m36.676
27	G. Matern	Kawasaki ZX-6R	1m39.140

World Supersport 300

Setting about his business from the green light, Gonzalez put in a lap time more than half-a-second quicker than the two groups combined. Behind him in the leading positions, Andy Verdoïa (BCD Yamaha MS Racing), who was top of the timesheets for some time and the top Yamaha at the end of day one. Dutchman Scott Deroue (Kawasaki MOTOPORT) was in third place, as he goes in search of reigniting his WorldSSP300 championship hopes.

Marc Garcia (DS Junior Team), was fourth come the end of the day, whilst another Dutchman was in fifth place, this time, Robert Schotman (Kawasaki MOTOPORT). He had topped Group A after the opening two sessions but slipped to fifth overall. Completing the top six was fellow countryman, Victor Steeman (KTM Freudenberg Junior Team), as Dutch riders accounted for 50% of the top six!

Other notable names outside of the top six included Galang Hendra Pratama in eighth (Semakin Di Depan Biblion Motoxracing), whilst Ana Carrasco (Kawasaki Provec WorldSSP300) had a difficult session, down in 17th. Top British rider was Eunan McGlinchley (Flemmbo Leader Team), one place higher.

Supersport 300  Friday Combined Times

Source: MCNews.com.au