Assen (The Netherlands), Saturday 18 April 2015 – a hard-fought Superpole at the TT Circuit of Assen today saw the Aruba.it Racing – Ducati Superbike Team qualify for tomorrow’s Superbike races in fourth (Chaz Davies) and seventh (Javier Forés) position.
Davies, after a successful Friday which saw him place at the top of the timesheets after the first two timed practice sessions, continued working with his technicians this morning to optimise the set-up of his Panigale R. Dealing with cold, dry track conditions (8°C), none of the Superbike riders were able to improve on Chaz’s best time set yesterday (1’35.748), meaning that the Welshman qualified in overall first position for the afternoon’s Superpole 2. Forés, after a more difficult day yesterday, was able to improve on both his time and position this morning. The aggregated practice results positioned the Spanish rider ninth, meaning that he too gained entry to Superpole 2 thanks to a best time of 1’36.558.
Superpole 2: having recorded a 1’35.855 on the race tyre, Chaz was straight back on track with the qualifying solution. A problem while changing down from third to second gear through the third sector caused the Welshman to lose precious tenths, but his best time of 1’35.425 secured him a place on the second row, in fourth position, for tomorrow’s two races. Javier, taking part in the Superpole for only the second time this season, completed a solid lap in 1’35.786, to take final seventh place. He will therefore line up on the third row of the grid tomorrow.
Quotes after the day’s sessions:
Chaz Davies (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati Superbike Team #7) – 4th (1’35.425)
“In Superpole I had a problem with the blipper system during my fast lap and the gear didn’t engage properly. I lost three or four tenths there as a result which cost me a place on the front row I think. For the rest, we made a step forward this morning but I feel that we’re still struggling when it comes to keeping the bike flat when changing direction. As can sometimes happen when we improve one thing, as we did this morning, we find that we take away from another area so we are still looking for the right compromise. We’ll see what we can do tomorrow in warm-up but it won’t be easy considering the cold conditions early in the morning.”
Javier Forés (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati Superbike Team #112) – 7th (1’35.786)
“I’m pleased today, and more comfortable with the bike. This morning we worked a lot with the used tyre to find a good setting for tomorrow’s races and we were able to improve our pace, I think that we’re more in line with the faster riders. In Superpole I was able to make better use of the qualifier although I would have liked to do a little more. Anyway, seventh isn’t a bad starting position, considering how we were doing yesterday. So I hope I can make a strong start, on the outside heading into turn 1, and complete two good races.”
Weekend schedule (CET):
Sunday
8.40 – 8.55 – SBK Warm-up
10.30 – SBK Race 1
13.10 – SBK Race 2
