Victory for Melandri astride Ducati in Race 2 of WorldSBK, for Sofuoglu on Kawasaki fourth consecutive win; Pirelli to analyse the tyres that had problems
The rider from Ravenna wins his first race of the season ahead of Reaand Sykes' Kawasakis, in WorldSSP 300 Mika Pérez takes the top step of thepodium on his Honda while in STK1000 the win goes to Marco Faccani astride his BMW
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| Marco Melandri, Tom Sykes & Jonathan Rea |
Italian Marco Melandri astride the team Aruba.it Racing – Ducati machine won Race 2 in the WorldSBK Championship today that was held at “Marco Simoncelli” Misano World Circuit. This is the Italian's first win after finishing on the podium six times this season. In the WorldSSP class, Turkish rider Kenan Sofuoglu (Kawasaki Racing Team) took his fourth win of the season and is now just a shout from the lead in the overall standings. Victory for Mika Pérez (WILSport Racedays) as well in WorldSSP 300 and for Marco Faccani (Althea BMW Racing Team)in the FIM Superstock1000 European Championship. Following the problem found by Jordi Torres with the rear tyre on his BMW in Race 2, Pirelli Moto Sports Activities Director Giorgio Barbier, stated: “Our goal is to complete the in depth analysis as quickly as possible in order to clarify the circumstances and causes of this occurrence. Our laboratories in Milan are already at work. Given the complexity of this analysis, a few days will be required to obtain results. In the meantime, until we have clarified and resolved the nature of the problem, we assure you that for the next FIM World Superbike Championship round scheduled to be held in Laguna Seca, we will use solutions that have already been used in the past with complete success.” In Race 2 Xavi Forés (BARNI Racing Team) started well from the second spot on the grid, followed by Jordi Torres (Althea BMW Racing Team) and Eugene Laverty (Milwaukee Aprilia) who, because of the new inverted grid, started from the front row. Shortly thereafter, Laverty was overtaken by Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team), winner of Race 1 and starting from the ninth spot on the grid for Race 2. In the meantime, the other Kawasaki rider, Jonathan Rea, moved into fourth place behind his teammate. On the sixth lap, Xavi Forés made a mistake and went long on a corner, thereby leaving an opening for Torres, Sykes and Marco Melandri (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati), the latter having moved up from tenth into third place. During the next lap, the rider from Ravenna managed to overtake first Sykes, moving in behind Torres, and then, in the tenth lap, he snatched the lead from Torres who, however, responded quickly to take it back. In the meantime, the lead group, in addition to the BMW and Ducati, was also made up of the Kawasaki machines ridden by Sykes and Rea. In the twelfth lap a crash put Alex Lowes (Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team) out of the race. The turning point came in the thirteenth lap when Melandri overtook Torres to move into the race lead. Two laps later, on the hunt for a podium finish, Rea overtook his teammate for a provisional third place. Unfortunately, Torres' excellent race came to an end two laps early when he was force to retire due to a technical problem on his rear tyre. This left Marco Melandri to finish first ahead of Jonathan Rea and Tom Sykes' Kawasakis.
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| Marco Melandri on the podium |
WorldSBK Race 2 standings: 1) M. Melandri (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) 2) J. Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team) 3) T. Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team) 4) M. Van Der Mark (Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team) 5) E. Laverty (Milwaukee Aprilia) 6) L. Savadori (Milwaukee Aprilia) 7) R. De Rosa (Althea BMW Racing Team) 8 ) R. Krummenacher (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) 9) L. Mercado (IODARacing) 10) S. Bradl (Red Bull Honda World Superbike Team) 11) A. Badovini (Grillini Racing Team) 12) O. Jezek (Grillini Racing Team) RT) J. Torres (Althea BMW Racing Team) RT) L. Camier (MV Agusta Reparto Corse) RT) A. Lowes (Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team) RT) A. De Angelis (Pedercini Racing SC-Project) RT) X. Forés (BARNI Racing Team) RT) F. Menghi (VFT Racing) RT) R. Ramos (Team Kawasaki GoEleven)
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| Kenan Sofuoglu |
At 11:30 AM Italian time, the FIM Supersport World Championship took place with nineteen laps to race and Kenan Sofuoglu (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) in pole position. Behind him on the grid were Frenchman Jules Cluzel (CIA Landford Insurance Honda) and Italian Federico Caricasulo (GRT Yamaha Official WorldSSP team). The starting positions also reflected the finishing order. The Turkish rider from the Akashi based manufacturer got off the line well, managing to hold onto the lead until the eleventh lap when the Honda riding Frenchman overtook him. A few laps later, Sofuoglu took back the position he had lost and held onto it until the finish, whereas Cluzel would have to settle for second place. On the bottom step of the podium, on the other hand, was the Italian Yamaha rider. This gives Kenan Sofuoglu his fourth win in a row, taking him to 100 Championship points and closing the gap to 5 points behind the leader in the overall standings, Lucas Mahias (GRT Yamaha Official WorldSSP team).
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| Marco Faccani at the finish |
WorldSSP standings: 1) K. Sofuoglu (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) 2) J. Cluzel (CIA Landford Insurance Honda) 3) F. Caricasulo (GRT Yamaha Official WorldSSP team) 4) P. Jacobsen (MV Agusta Reparto Corse) 5) K. Smith (GEMAR Team Lorini) 6) G. Rea (Team Kawasaki Go Eleven) 7) A. Bassani (3570 Puccetti Racing FMI) 8 ) S. Morais (Kallio Racing) 9) H. Soomer (WILSport Racedays) 10) A. West (EAB West Racing) 11) A. Zaccone (MV Agusta Reparto Corse) 12) K. Watanabe (Team Kawasaki Go Eleven) 13) R. Hartog (Team Hartog - Jenik - Against Cancer) 14) K. Ryde (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) 15) H. Okubo (CIA Landlord Insurance Honda) 16) N. Calero (Orelac Racing VerdNatura) 17) P. Sebestyén (SSP Hungary by Pedercini Racing) 18) R. Rolfo (Team Factory Vamag) 19) J. Cretaro (Phoenix Suzuki Racing) 20) J. Van Sikkelerus (MVR Racing) 21) H. Kunikawa (CIA Landlord Insurance Honda) 22) L. Cipiciani (Team VUEFFE Corse) 23) S. Hill (Profile Racing) 24) C. London (Phoenix Suzuki Racing) RT) L. Stapleford (Profile Racing) RT) G. Scarcella (GEMAR Team Lorini) RT) R. Mulhauser (CIA Landlord Insurance Honda) RT) L. Cresson (Race Department ATK#25) RT) Z. Khairuddin (Orelac Racing VerdNatura) RT) N. Tuuli (Kallio Racing) RT) L. Epis (Response RE Racing) RT) C. Gamarino (BARDAHL EVAN BROS. Honda Racing) RT) L. Mahias (GRT Yamaha Official WorldSSP team) RT) D. Stirpe (Team Factory Vamag) 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. To finish off the day, the riders took to the track for the FIM Superstock1000 European Championship race. On the tenth lap the race was red flagged due to a crash involving two riders. At the restart there were five laps to race. In the end it was Marco Faccani (Althea BMW Racing Team)who triumphed, managing to snatch the win two laps from the end from Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Aruba.it Racing - Junior Team), second across the line ahead of Chilean rider Maximilian Scheib (Nuova M2 Racing). In Race 2 of WorldSBK there were no substantial changes compared with the solutions chosen by each rider for Race 1. On the rear the standard SC0 (option B) was confirmed as the most used solution with the only riders preferring the V0602 SC0 development tyre (option A) being Fabio Menghi and Ayrton Badovini. For the front, the standard SC2 (option C)earned the preference of half the riders on the grid, closely followed by the V0952 SC1 development solution (option B). 
Tyres selected on the starting grid of WorldSBK Race 2
In WorldSSP, the standard tyre was once again the most used by the riders. As for the rear, all the riders, with the sole exception of Van Sikkelerus, used the standard SC0 (option A) whereas on the front the solution that gained most preference was the standard SC1 (option A) with seventeen riders choosing it, while the V1267 SC1 development tyre (option B) was the second most used solution with ten riders choosing it.
Tyres selected on the grid of the WorldSSP race
Pirelli statistics for WorldSBK Race 2: • Winner of the PIRELLI BEST LAP AWARD: Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team),in 1'35.586 at the 2nd lap • Most used front solution: standard SC2 (10 out of 20 riders) • Most used rear solution: standard SC0 (18 out of 20 riders) • Maximum race speed reached by Pirelli DIABLO™ Superbike tyres: 274.8 km/h, achieved by Jonathan Rea(Kawasaki Racing Team) in the 7th lap • Number of solutions (dry, intermediate and wet) for the WorldSBK class: 5 front and 6 rear • Number of tyres available for each WorldSBK rider: 68, including 35 front and 33 rear • Air temperature: 27° C • Asphalt temperature: 50° C Pirelli statistics for WorldSSP race: • Winner of the PIRELLI BEST LAP AWARD: Kenan Sofuoglu (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing), in 1'39.046 in the 3rd 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: 239.5 km/h, achieved by Jules Cluzel (CIA Landlord Insurance Honda) in the 2nd lap and by Loris Cresson (Race Department ATK#25) in the 3rd 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: 26° C • Asphalt temperature: 46° C
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| WorldSSP 300 podium | WorldSSP podium |
Kenan Sofuoglu podium Marco Faccani and Michael Rinaldi 
Marco Faccani Marco Melandri-finish 
Mika Perezand Armando Pantone Stk1000 Podium. 
Worldsbk race 2 podium Worldsbk race 2 start