Jerez de la Frontera (Spain), Saturday 19 September 2015 – the Aruba.it Racing – Ducati Superbike Team, on track at Jerez with riders Chaz Davies and Michele Pirro, is satisfied with today’s Superpole result; Davies qualifies sixth for Sunday’s races followed by Pirro, seventh.
In the third and final timed practice session, which took place on a cooler track with respect to Friday’s sessions, Davies immediately lowered his times, completing a solid race simulation consisting of 16 laps and recording a best of 1’41.704 which positioned him sixth at the end of the session. Thanks to this time, the Welshman qualified directly for the afternoon’s Superpole 2. Pirro was also able to improve, by eight tenths of a second, on his previous times. Thanks to a best lap of 1’41.665, he closed the timed practices in overall fifth place, thus easily qualifying for the second Superpole together with Davies.
Superpole 2: With the track temperature having risen to approximately 45°C, both Davies and Pirro completed two laps on the race tyre before returning to the track with the qualifying solution. Each of the Aruba Ducati riders recorded two fast laps, the first of which proved to be the quickest in both their cases. Thanks to a best of 1’41.155 for Chaz and a 1’41.185 for Michele, the pair qualify in sixth and seventh position respectively (translating to the second and third row) for tomorrow’s two 20-lap races. The Aruba.it Racing – Ducati Superbike Team is confident ahead of the races, considering the strong pace that its riders have shown throughout the practice sessions.
Quotes after the day’s sessions:
Chaz Davies (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati Superbike Team #7) – 6th (1’41.155)
“I feel like to achieve a good race pace we need to sacrifice pace on the flying lap, something that was quite clear today. I did a run of about 16 laps earlier today and the bike performed fairly well, though I think there’s still room for improvement. On the Q tyre on the other hand, I don’t think I made any real mistakes but unfortunately I wasn’t able to do any more in terms of lap time. It would have been nice to have been a little further forward but, having said that, we were sixth on the grid in Malaysia and managed to put it all together, so I’m feeling optimistic and am looking forward to the races.”
Michele Pirro (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati Superbike Team #55) – 7th (1’41.185)
“The Superpole didn’t go particularly well because we didn’t make the most of the qualifying tyre. Having said that, I tried to do my best and lapped with a time very similar to Chaz. I had a small problem entering Turns 8 and 9 and had to use a higher gear so I think I lost a couple of tenths there. Anyway tomorrow I hope that the races are a little more balanced and that I’m able to run closer to the front. I believe we have good race pace and think we can 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
