Alcaniz (Spain), Saturday 11 April 2015 – The Aruba.it Racing – Ducati Superbike Team and its riders Chaz Davies and Javier Forés have closed the third Superpole of the 2015 World Superbike season at Motorland Aragón with positive results, obtaining second (Davies) and fifth (Forés) position on the grid for tomorrow’s races.
During the third and final timed practice session, which took place this morning, Davies continued to make progress, recording an impressive 1’50.934 in the opening phase and projecting himself to the top of the timesheets as a result. His lap was to remain the overall fastest of the combined sessions, meaning that the Welshman qualified in first place for the afternoon’s Superpole 2. A modification made to his Panigale R prior to his final exit on track allowed Forés to improve on his best of yesterday by almost a second. The Spaniard recorded a fastest time of 1’51.293, only three tenths from Chaz, to secure overall third position. He too therefore qualified directly without any difficulty for the second Superpole.
Superpole 2: Having completed a first lap on the race tyre, Chaz was already lying first, Javier fourth. Then, returning to the track just a few moments later with the qualifier, Davies was able to set an extremely fast 1’49.697. Thanks to this time, which he achieved despite making a couple of small mistakes through the first sector, the Welshman closed today’s Superpole in final second position, missing out on the pole by just 0.033 of a second. Forés, using the qualifying tyre for the first time this season, also put together a good lap, recording a time of 1’50.449 thanks to which he scored overall fifth position. The Spanish rider will therefore line up on row two of the grid, in fifth place, for tomorrow’s two 18-lap races.
Quotes after the day’s sessions:
Chaz Davies (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati Superbike Team #7) – 2th (1’49.697)
“In Superpole I was able to put together a good lap, not a great lap. Unfortunately I made a mistake in the first sector which I actually thought might have cost me the front row, so I was pleased to finish second, as a front row start is important. Compared to yesterday, things have gone better today, particularly this morning when I was able to complete race distance with good results. It looks like Rea and I have a similar pace from what I’ve seen so far but we’ll have to see tomorrow; the races won’t be easy, and we need to try and keep the grip in the rear tyre for as long as possible…”
Javier Forés (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati Superbike Team #112) – 5th (1’50.449)
“I don’t think I made the most of the qualifying tyre but in the end, as a first approach, I can only be pleased with a second row start. Then as far as pace is concerned, I think we’re in a fairly good place. In the free practice I tried to make as many consecutive laps as possible on the same tyre and results were not bad – we’re lapping with similar times to the frontrunners I think. I know it will be very difficult tomorrow, but the aim remains to finish the races inside the top seven or eighth – we’ll see, but I’ll be doing my best…”
Weekend schedule (CET):
Sunday
8.40 – 8.55 – SBK Warm-up
10.30 – SBK Race 1
13.10 – SBK Race 2
