28
May
2017
|
16:26
Europe/Amsterdam

Rea-Sykes one-two in Race 2 and a Kawasaki victory in three of the four categories on the last day of WorldSBK at Donington Park, positive and consistent performance by Pirelli standard tyres

Domination by the manufacturer from Akashi in the premier category and with Turkish riders Sofuoglu and Razgatlioglu respectively in WorldSSP and STK1000, Coppola on the top step of the WorldSSP330 podium with his Yamaha

 

Jonathan Rea & Tom Sykes action
Jonathan Rea & Tom Sykes action

The sixth round of the MOTUL FIM World Superbike Championship season has just ended on the British circuit of Donington Park with the umpteenth show of force by Kawasaki. The manufacturer from Akashi dominated throughout the weekend, winning in three out of the four categories in the Championship with success for Tom Sykes in Race 1 and a Rea-Sykes one-two in Race 2 of WorldSBK, victory for Kenan Sofuoglu in the FIM Supersport World Championship and the top step of the podium for Toprak Razgatlioglu in the European Superstock 1000 Championship. Besides Kawasaki, Yamaha was the only other bike manufacturer to take a win in one of the classes, namely in the WorldSSP300 category with Italian Alfonso Coppola. As for the performance of the tyres used today, Pirelli drew satisfaction from the standard solutions, the most used in all the classes. In fact, in the WorldSBK category, the standard rear SC0 was used by all the riders in Race 2 and, most importantly, it demonstrated astonishingly consistent performance, considering the fact that Tom Sykes consistently set new fastest lap times all the way to the 18th lap. For the front, the standard SC1 proved to be the most popular solution, along with the V0952 SC1 development tyre. Similarly, in the WorldSSP race, the rear SC0 standard DIABLO™ Supercorsa was chosen by nearly all the riders, whereas on the front, most of them opted for the standard SC1.

Jonathan Rea actionWorldSBK Race 2 Podium
Jonathan Rea actionWorldSBK Race 2 Podium
  

In Race 2 of WorldSBK, already on the first lap Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team) had moved into second place behind Leandro Mercado (IODARacing) who the Northern Irishman then overtook on the following lap. On the third lap, contact with Chaz Davies (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) knocked Leon Haslam (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) down and, after his excellent second place finish yesterday, he was forced to retire today. In the meantime, Michael Van Der Mark (Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team) moved into second place behind Rea, but in the final stages he would be overtaken by both Tom Sykes and Chaz Davies to finish the race fourth. On the ninth lap, Marco Melandri (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) was forced to abandon the race due to a problem with his bike's chain and shortly thereafter, Leandro Mercado (Ioda Racing) followed him into pit lane after crashing out. Toward the end of the race it was a battle for third between the Yamaha riding Dutchman and the Welsh Ducati rider with the latter gaining the upper hand to finish on the bottom step of the podium behind the Rea-Sykes Kawasaki duo.

Kenan Sofuoglu celebrating the victory STK1000 Podium
Kenan Sofuoglu celebrating the victory STK1000 Podium
  

WorldSBK Race 2 standings: 1) J. Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team) 2) T. Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team) 3) C. Davies (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) 4) M. Van Der Mark (Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team) 5) A. Lowes (Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team) 6) L. Camier (MV Agusta Reparto Corse) 7) X. Forés (BARNI Racing Team) 8 ) R. Ramos (Team Kawasaki GoEleven) 9) J. Dixon (Royal Air Force Reg. & Res. Kawasaki) 10) R. De Rosa (Althea BMW Racing Team) 11) S. Bradl (Red Bull Honda World Superbike Team) 12) R. Russo (Guandalini Racing) 13) O. Jezek (Grillini Racing Team) 14) A. Badovini (Grillini Racing Team) RT) L. Savadori (Milwaukee Aprilia) RT) L. Mercado (IODARacing) RT) M. Melandri (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) RT) J. Torres (Althea BMW Racing Team) RT) E. Laverty (Milwaukee Aprilia) RT) A. De Angelis (Pedercini Racing SC-Project) RT) L. Haslam (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) RT) R. Krummenacher (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing)

Tom SykesToprak Razgatlioglu on the finish
Tom SykesToprak Razgatlioglu on the finish
  

At 12:00 noon local time, the FIM Supersport World Championship took place with twenty laps to race and Kenan Sofuoglu (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) in pole position. During the fourth lap, the race was red-flagged to allow marshals to clean the oil off the track that had leaked from the MV Agusta ridden by Xavi Cardelus Garcia (Race Department ATK#25). At the restart there were thirteen laps to race. The finishing order was not too terribly different than the order on the starting grid, with the first five riders over the line exactly in the same order as their respective positions on the grid. The team Kawasaki Puccetti Racing Turkish rider started well and was able to hold onto the race lead without any problems for the entire race distance, riding under the chequered flag ahead of the Yamaha ridden by Lucas Mahias (GRT Yamaha Official WorldSSP team) who finished second and the Honda ridden by Jules Cluzel (CIA Landford Insurance Honda), making an excellent third place finish. Thanks to this second place finish, the French Yamaha rider continues to lead the Championship, but the Turkish Kawasaki rider, with his third consecutive win of the season, has significantly narrowed the gap behind the leader.

Toprak Razgatlioglu Alfonso Coppola
Toprak Razgatlioglu Alfonso Coppola
  

WorldSSP standings: 1) K. Sofuoglu (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) 2) L. Mahias (GRT Yamaha Official WorldSSP team) 3) J. Cluzel (CIA Landford Insurance Honda) 4) L. Stapleford (Profile Racing) 5) J. Kennedy (Profile Racing) 6) S. Morais (Kallio Racing) 7) A. West (EAB West Racing) 8 ) K. Smith (GEMAR Team Lorini) 9) H. Okubo (CIA Landlord Insurance Honda) 10) J. Francis (HALSALL Racing Team) 11) K. Ryde (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) 12) G. Rea (Team Kawasaki Go Eleven) 13) H. Soomer (WILSport Racedays) 14) R. Rolfo (Team Factory Vamag) 15) K. Watanabe (Team Kawasaki Go Eleven) 16) A. Baldolini (Race Department ATK#25) 17) M. Canducci (Puccetti Racing Junior Team FMI) 18) R. Mulhauser (CIA Landlord Insurance Honda) 19) R. Hartog (Team Hartog - Jenik - Against Cancer) 20) Z. Khairuddin (Orelac Racing VerdNatura) 21) J. Van Sikkelerus (MVR Racing) 22) N. Calero (Orelac Racing VerdNatura) 23) L. Epis (Response RE Racing) 24) N. Tuuli (Kallio Racing) 25) P. Sebestyén (SSP Hungary by Pedercini Racing) 26) H. Kunikawa (CIA Landlord Insurance Honda) 27) G. Scarcella (GEMAR Team Lorini) RT) C. Gamarino (BARDAHL EVAN BROS. Honda Racing) RT) A. Zaccone (MV Agusta Reparto Corse) RT) D. Allingham (EHA Racing Jewsons Yamaha) RT) F. Caricasulo (GRT Yamaha Official WorldSSP team) RT) P. Jacobsen (MV Agusta Reparto Corse) RT) X. Cardelus Garcia (Race Department ATK#25)

Chaz DaviesJonathan Rea celebrating
Chaz DaviesJonathan Rea celebrating
  

Opening up the events on Sunday was the FIM Supersport 300 World Championship which provided thrills all the way down to the last lap. Winning astride his Yamaha YZF-R3 was Italian Alfonso Coppola (SK Racing) who finished ahead of Spaniards Mika Perez on his team WILSport Racedays Honda second and Marc Garcia (Halcourier Racing) third. With this result, Coppola closes the gap behind current Championship leader Scott Deroue who is now only two points ahead of the Italian in the overall standings.

Kenan SofuogluSTK1000 start
Kenan SofuogluSTK1000 start
  

Between the WorldSSP and WorldSBK races the FIM Superstock1000 European Championship race was held.  Fifteen laps to race with Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Aruba.it Racing - Junior Team) in pole position. During the fourth lap, however, Rinaldi was forced to retire after a crash. Leading the race was Turkish rider Toprak Razgatlioglu (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) who would remain firmly in command all the way to the chequered flag. Behind him were Florian Marino (PATA Yamaha Official STK 1000 Team) and Chilean Max Scheib (Nuova M2 Racing). Thanks to this win, the Turkish Kawasaki rider now leads in the Championship standings with a nine-point advantage ahead of Rinaldi.

WorldSSP podiumWorldSSP300 podium
WorldSSP podiumWorldSSP300 podium
  

The Pirelli solutions chosen by the riders for WorldSBK Race 2 and WorldSSP: In Race 2 of WorldSBK, the riders made very similar choices. On the rear, partly in consideration of the fact that Pirelli pulled the V0602 SC0 development solution (option A) in agreement with FIM, Dorna and Race Direction following the accident that involved Jonathan Rea in Race 1, all the riders opted for the standard SC0 (option B) with the exception of Jake Dixon. In fact, with temperatures above 30°C, this solution was decidedly more suitable than the V1199 SC1 development tyre (option C). As for the front, on the other hand, the most used solutions were the ones that had already been seen in action in Race 1, namely the V0952 SC1 development tyre (option B) and the standard SC2 (option D) which were chosen in more or less equal numbers by the riders.

Tyres selected on the starting grid for WorldSBK Race 2
Tyres selected on the starting grid for WorldSBK Race 2
 

In WorldSSP, the most popular tyres for the race were the standard solutions. On the front, the standard SC1 (option A) was selected by no less than 20 riders, whereas on the rear, the standard SC0 (option A)was preferred by 30 out of the 34 riders on the grid.

Tyres selected on the starting grid of WorldSSP race
Tyres selected on the starting grid of WorldSSP race
 

Pirelli statistics for WorldSBK Race 2: • Winner of the PIRELLI BEST LAP AWARD: Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team),in 1'27.815 at the 18th lap • Most used front solution: development SC1 V0952 (11 out of 22 riders) • Most used rear solution: standard SC0 (21 out of 22 riders) • Maximum race speed reached by Pirelli DIABLO™ Superbike tyres: 272.7 km/h, achieved by Chaz Davies(Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) in the 6th lap • Number of solutions (dry, intermediate and wet) for the WorldSBK class: 7 front and 7 rear • Number of tyres available for each WorldSBK rider: 83, including 45 front and 38 rear • Air temperature: 20° C • Asphalt temperature: 35° C Pirelli statistics for WorldSSP race: • Winner of the PIRELLI BEST LAP AWARD: Jules Cluzel (CIA Landford Insurance Honda), in 1'30.533 in the 2nd lap • Most used front solution: standard SC1 (21 out of 34 riders) • Most used rear solution: standard SC0 (30 out of 34 riders) • Maximum race speed reached by Pirelli DIABLO™ Supercorsa tyres: 243.8 km/h, achieved by David Allingham (EHA Racing Jewsons Yamaha) in the 1st lap • Number of solutions (dry, intermediate and wet) for the WorldSSP class: 5 front and 4 rear Number of tyres available for each WorldSSP rider: 46, including 25 front and 21 rear • Air temperature: 18° C • Asphalt temperature: 30° C