At Misano it's a Kawasaki double win in the eni FIM Superbike World Championship on soft rear Pirelli tyres
Race 1 goes to Tom Sykes, Race 2 to Jonathan Rea, Jules Cluzel wins in Supersport, Lorenzo Savadori is first in Superstock 1000 and young talent Toprak Razgatlioglu is crowned Superstock 600 European Champion two races before the end of the season The development SC0 T0611 rear tyre solution boldly takes on the new tarmac on the Misano track, allowing the race fast lap to be improved by almost one second and shortening race time by sixteen seconds
The eni FIM Superbike World Championship weekend held at the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli ended with another Kawasaki double win. The two standard bearers for the Akashi-based manufacturer, Tom Sykes and Jonathan Rea were protagonists, respectively winning Race 1 and Race 2, as well as the rear development solution in SC0 compound, the T0611, which Pirelli developed specifically for hot tracks and which performed respectably on the new tarmac at Misano, being chosen by all the riders on the grid in both races. The Superbike weekend also crowned the first world champion of the season, Turkish rider Toprak Razgatlioglu who, along with the Kawasaki Puccetti Racing team, won the FIM Superstock 600 European Championship in his rookie year in the category at just eighteen years of age.
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| Race two podium |
In Superbike Race 1 all the riders took to the track mounting the new development tyre on the rear, the SC0 T0611 solution. The only odd one out was Jonathan Rea who, from the fourth spot on the starting grid, at the last moment decided to go with a harder rear tyre in SC1 compound, the T1392. Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team) managed to take exploit the advantage gained by starting from the first spot on the grid achieved thanks to the pole position he earned on Saturday, and he pulled the pin at the front straight away, maintaining the lead wire to wire and finishing more than 3.5 seconds ahead of the closest rival. The battle for the other podium positions was more exciting with the Ducatis ridden by Chaz Davies and Davide Giugliano alternating with Jonathan Rea's Kawasaki. Davide Giugliano (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati SBK Team) got off the line well from the third spot on the grid and immediately moved into second place behind Sykes, but during the third lap he was forced to give up a spot to Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team) who finished the race on the second step of the podium, bringing a one-two home for the Kawasaki team after starting from the fourth spot on the grid. However, the Italian with the official Ducati team had to give up the bottom step of the podium to his team mate Chaz Davies (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati SBK Team) who overtook him during the penultimate lap, relegating him to fourth place. Also worth a mention is Max Biaggi (Aprilia Racing Team) and his performance who, starting from the fifth spot on the grid then lost precious seconds and a few places due to contact with Sylvain Guintoli on the first lap, finishing the race in sixth place behind fellow Aprilia rider Leon Haslam in fifth. At 11:30 the FIM Supersport World Championship race started. Winning the race was Jules Cluzel on his MV Agusta Reparto Corse team MV Agusta F3 675. The French rider's weekend was perfect from the start with the pole he won during qualifiers and a race ridden in the lead from wire to wire. Behind him it was a battle between his team mate Lorenzo Zanetti and American Patrick Jacobsen (CORE'' Motorsport Thailand) who in the end managed to get the better of the Italian, taking the second step on the podium and leaving the bottom step for Zanetti. After Supersport it was time for Race 2. Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team) once again got off the line well and took the lead from the first lap. Behind him were Davide Giugliano, Jonathan Rea, Chaz Davies, Leon Haslam, Jordi Torres and Max Biaggi in that order. At the beginning of the second lap Davide Giugliano and Jonathan Rea managed to close the gap behind Tom Sykes to form a leading trio. During the seventh lap Davide Giugliano (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati SBK Team) overtook Tom Sykes who was forced to yield the race lead to the Italian and second place to his team mate Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team), slipping down to third place. Behind the two Kawasakis was the other official Ducati ridden by Chaz Davies and the three Aprilias ridden by Haslam, Torres and Biaggi. During the fourteenth lap Chaz Davies, after overtaking Sykes, was in turn overtaken by Leon Haslam which placed him provisionally on the bottom step of the podium.
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| Tom Skyes |
In the meantime, Jonathan Rea closed the gap behind the Ducati standard bearer until finally overtaking him in the sixteenth lap. And so the Northern Irish rider gave Kawasaki their second win of the day after Tom Sykes' win in Race 1. Giugliano improved on his excellent Race 1 performance with a second place finish and the podium was completed by Leon Haslam (Aprilia Racing Team). Behind them were Chaz Davies, Tom Sykes and Aprilia riders Max Biaggi and Jordi Torres. Then it was time for the Supersport 1000 FIM Cup where Lorenzo Savadori (Nuova M2 Racing) won ahead of Raffaele de Rosa (Althea Racing), second, and Roberto Tamburini (Team MotoxRacing), third. The Aprilia leader now leads the Championship with 140 points and an advantage of 34 points over Roberto Tamburini and 55 points ahead of Raffaele de Rosa. Last but not least, Misano was the setting of the first championship season title which went to young Turkish talent Toprak Razgatlioglu who won five of the six FIM Superstock 600 European Championship held so far on the team Kawasaki Puccetti Racing Kawasaki ZX-6R in his rookie year in the Championship and with his third place finish in Saturday's race mathematically clinched the title of European Champion in the category with two races left to go in the season and at the age of eighteen. The Misano race was won by Federico Caricasulo (Pata-Honda Junior Team) ahead of Niki Tuuli (Kallio Racing) and the newly crowned European Champion Toprak Razgatlioglu. Comment from Giorgio Barbier, Pirelli Moto Racing Director: “This was a wonderful weekend for many reasons. First of all let me compliment the Kawasaki team and their respective riders, Jonathan and Tom, because over these past three days they worked very well, as did all the teams who did a great job finding a good setting to make the SC0 T0611 that all the riders used in both races work right. And of course I would be remiss if I did not congratulate Toprak Razgatlioglu for his Superstock 600 title. He is a young man who shows a lot of promise and who is growing. I believe that he'll be able to continue doing well if he is adequately supported and followed. The wild cards for this race are a whole other story. I don't think Biaggi can complain about himself. He started off very well on Friday from free practice and then took to excellent placings in both races. I think he can be more than satisfied. Michele Pirro is the only rider of the day to also have used, besides our tyres this weekend, Michelins and Bridgestones and I was surprised at how he adapted so quickly to our tyres which he did not know. On a more general note I’m pleased with the results achieved on this track. The new asphalt represented a significant unknown but in the end the tyres performed rather well.” The Pirelli solutions chosen by the riders: In Superbike the rear solution for the races was undoubtedly the development SC0 T0611 used by all the riders on the grid. The only exception in Race 1 was Jonathan Rea who decided to try the development SC1 T1392 but then rethought his strategy in Race 2, mounting the solution the rest of the riders had chosen. The situation on the front was much more balanced and no changes were made between Race 1 and Race 2, but all the solutions Pirelli brought were used. The most popular was the development SC2 T0020 chosen by eleven riders, followed by the second most popular SC1 development solution. Only Max Biaggi, Jonathan Rea and Reiterberger, on the other hand, used the standard SC2. In Supersport the majority of the riders chose the soft U442 solution for the rear and the S1485 SC1 development solution on the front.
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| Max Biaggi |
Pirelli Best Lap Award: The Pirelli Best Lap Awards are given to the riders who put in the fastest lap in the Superbike and Supersport races. They were presented at the Paddock Show during the press conference which follows the podium at the end of Superbike race 1 and race 2 and the Supersport race. The Superbike and Supersport rider who has earned the most “Pirelli Best Lap Awards” will be elected “Best Lap Winner: fastest rider of the year” and will be awarded during the ceremony at the end of the year. Jonathan Rea is leading the Superbike standings with 8 Best Laps won, Jules Cluzel the Supersport with 5 Best Laps. These are the riders who won the Pirelli Best Lap Awards at Portimão: WSB Race 1 – Davide Giugliano (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati SBK Team), 1'34.855 (3rd lap) WSB Race 2 – Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team), 1'34.720 (2nd lap) WSS – Jules Cluzel (MV Agusta Reparto Corse), 1'38.239 (6th lap) The overall standings after eight round are as follows: WSB: Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team): 8; Chaz Davies (Aruba.it Racing-Ducati SBK Team): 3; Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team): 3; Leon Haslam (Aprilia Racing Team - Red Devils): 1; Davide Giugliano (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati SBK Team): 1 WSS: Jules Cluzel (MV Agusta Reparto Corse): 5; Kenan Sofuoglu (Kawasaki Puccetti Team): 2; Patrick Jacobsen (Kawasaki Intermoto PonyExpres): 1 The 2015 Pirelli statistics for the Misano round: • Total number of tyres Pirelli brought: 5108 • Number of solutions (dry, intermediate and wet) for the Superbike class: 6 front and 7 rear • Number of tyres available for each Superbike rider: 39 front and 41 rear • Number of solutions for the Supersport class (dry, intermediate and wet): 5 front and 6 rear • Number of tyres available for each Supersport rider: 26 front and 32 rear • Temperature in Race 1: air 22° C, asphalt 32° C • Temperature in Race 2: air 23° C, asphalt 44° C • Maximum race speed reached by Pirelli DIABLO™ Superbike tyres: 273.4 kms/h, by Max Biaggi (Aprilia Racing Team) in Race 1 at last lap and in Race 2 at 1st lap. • Maximum race speed reached by Pirelli DIABLO™ Supercorsa tyres in Supersport: 239.5 kms/h, Patrick Jacobsen (CORE'' Motorsport Thailand) at 1st and 3rd lap.