Buriram (Thailand), Saturday 21 March 2015 – solid results for the Aruba.it Racing – Ducati Superbike Team and riders Chaz Davies and Troy Bayliss in today’s Superpole at the Chang International Circuit in Thailand. The factory riders qualify sixth (Davies) and seventh (Bayliss) for tomorrow’s Superbike races.
This morning’s final timed practice session took place in surprisingly wet conditions. Despite rain both prior to, and during the session, several riders took to the track briefly to test out rain settings, but qualification for Superpole was of course established by times set yesterday in dry conditions. Both Davies and Bayliss thus qualified directly for Superpole 2, in third and seventh place respectively.
Superpole 2: in dry conditions, the two factory riders completed a first lap on the race tyre. The times recorded saw Chaz lying third and Troy ninth in the initial stages. With the risk of rain looming over the pits, almost all riders were straight back out on track with the qualifying tyre, Chaz and Troy included. Davies completed a very fast first lap, in 1’34.087, followed by a second lap that was another three thousandths of a second quicker. A 1’34.084 thus assured the Welshman of final sixth position. Although Troy made just one flying lap with the qualifier (1’34.334), it was enough to place him in overall seventh position. The Aruba.it Racing – Ducati Superbike Team riders will therefore line up on the second and third rows of the grid for tomorrow’s two 20-lap races.
Quotes after the day’s sessions:
Chaz Davies (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati Superbike Team #7) – 6th (1’34.084)
“This weekend’s not turning out to be an easy one for us but we won’t stop trying. Yesterday I was missing feeling at the front and although we’ve made some changes today I know we’re still having some issues. It’s difficult to be consistent as the front is a bit nervous and that’s all it takes, a small mistake, to lose precious tenths. We’ll continue to work tomorrow and we have a few things to try in warm-up – I hope we can come up with something. I’ll do my best, also because, as we know, anything can happen come race day…”
Troy Bayliss (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati Superbike Team #21) – 7th (1’34.334)
“I’m reasonably happy, and think I’m more or less where I thought I’d be on the qualifying tyre, but I’d have liked to do a little more in the free practice earlier. In terms of race pace I don’t think we’re doing too badly but I know tomorrow’s races will be tough. We’re still missing a little acceleration but I know we’ve worked in the right direction this weekend. We’ll see if we can find a little more in warm-up tomorrow and then I hope to be able to score two reasonable results…”
Weekend schedule (CET +6):
Sunday
10.30 – 10.45 – SBK Warm-up
13.00 – SBK Race 1
16.30 – SBK Race 2
