Magny-Cours (France), Friday 2 October 2015 – The Aruba.it Racing – Ducati Superbike Team is on track at Magny-Cours this weekend for the penultimate round of the 2015 Superbike World Championship. After the day’s two timed practice sessions, Chaz Davies lies second, Luca Scassa ninth.
In fairly cold, but dry conditions, Davies and Scassa were on track this morning for the first timed practice session. The team worked steadily and efficiently during this opening session, with Chaz scoring the fourth fastest time, 1’38.956, and Luca closing in eleventh with a time of 1’40.039.
The second timed practice took place later in the day on a slightly warmer track. The riders and their technicians continued to work to adapt their Panigale R bikes to the French track, focusing on suspension and electronics. Both Aruba Ducati men improved by approximately a second on their earlier times, setting a best of 1’38.044 (Davies) and 1’39.039 (Scassa).
Quotes after the day’s sessions:
Chaz Davies (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati Superbike Team #7) – 2nd (1’38.044)
“I’m fairly pleased with how today went. I’ve always had a bit of a strange time here at Magny-Cours in the past but today we’ve made a good start and I hope that we can continue on like this tomorrow. We’ve continued with the work carried out at the Jerez test, also concentrating on tyre selection. We’ve still got work to do, I’d like to improve my bike’s turning a little more for example, but I’m happy with the progress made today.”
Luca Scassa – (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati Superbike Team #99) – 9th (1’39.039)
“It’s gone well today, although I’m still feeling a little rigid on the bike. We started using the base that we had at the Jerez test. Tomorrow we’ll continue to make some changes that should help us to take a step forward, especially in the very slow turns but, having said that, I’m happy with the bike. It’s more a case of me having to adapt to the Panigale and to the track. I don’t really mind if it rains tomorrow, it’ll be another challenge, but if I’m able to qualify directly for Superpole 2 thanks to today’s time I’ll be happy…”
Weekend schedule (CET):
Saturday
09.45 – 10.30 – SBK Timed Practice 3
12.30 – 13.00 – SBK Free Practice
15.00 – 15.15 – Superpole 1
15.25 – 15.40 – Superpole 2
Sunday
8.40 – 8.55 – SBK Warm-up
10.30 – SBK Race 1
13.10 – SBK Race 2
