Round Three – Motorland Aragon, Spain 10-12th April 2015
Opening Day Practice – 10th March
Conditions: Dry, sunny
The Motorland Aragon circuit in Spain provides the venue for the latest round of the FIM Superbike World Championship and after the first day of action Team Hero EBR riders Niccolò Canepa and Larry Pegram placed 16th and 23rd respectively.
Canepa had to overcome the effects of a fast crash in the first of two sessions on the opening day, making improvements in the afternoon practice period to end up inside the top 16. He reduced his best lap time to 1’53.752 in the second session, at a circuit he knows well.
The 5.077km Motorland circuit near the town of Alcaniz in north east Spain is fast and technical and for a first-time visitor like Pegram it was not a simple layout to learn, especially as he lost track time at some stages today. Larry posted a best lap time of 1’57.907, which he feels he can improve on greatly on the second day of practice.
Consistently dry and sunny weather conditions helped the whole field to try and find their ideal set-up at what is a new-style Motorland Aragon layout for this year. The previous tight final hairpin has been replaced with a longer left-hand curve, making the circuit shorter than the previous version.
Larry Pegram
“It was a good day for the team because I think Nick did really well but a bad day for me. I just had a bunch of little things that meant I did not get all my track time and that does not bode well when you do not know the circuit. In the second session I got some laps in and it felt a lot better but I just never got a chance to go out and go fast. Tomorrow morning we will have everything ready and I know there is something left there as I do not know the track completely yet. Nick always wants to go faster but I am really impressed how fast he is going right now. He looks really good and that is positive for the team, so for me personally I just hope to get in the laps tomorrow. There are a lot of blind corners here but we will get it by the end, as long as we get a little more track time.
Niccolò Canepa
“I am pretty satisfied about today because although I had a really big crash in the morning, at the chicane before the back straight, I was lucky I was not injured. I was not so comfortable this afternoon riding the bike but lap-by-lap my feeling got better and I found a stronger pace, setting a couple of good laps. We are not to far from the top ten and the most important thing is that we are still working. I also expect to feel better tomorrow because today my back and shoulders hurt a lot after the crash. It was difficult to make a lot of laps but it was OK and I am happy with what we did today.”
