Team HRC work on set-up to exploit the CBR1000RR-R FIREBLADE’s speed at Estoril
The 2021 Superbike World Championship continues this weekend at the Portuguese track of Estoril, where Team HRC and factory riders Alvaro Bautista and Leon Haslam have completed the day’s free practice sessions, concentrating on the setup of the bike.
Two small crashes in the morning session and one in the afternoon, all unexpected and without consequences, prevented Alvaro Bautista from doing better than 13th in FP2 and fifteenth in the combined standings with a best time of 1’38.469, despite the Spanish rider being among those who improved on their performance after the first session. Bautista had been working with his team on a set-up that appeared promising at the previous Aragón round but that needs to be adapted to the Portuguese track to allow him to take full advantage of the CBR1000RR-R FIREBLADE’s speed.
Leon Haslam worked in a similar direction with his technicians and was also able to improve on his best time of the morning by a fraction of a second during the afternoon’s session, despite higher track temperatures. The British rider rounded out FP2 in 12th position (1’38.427), which placed him thirteenth in the combined standings.
Alvaro Bautista 19
“I feel good physically and haven’t hurt myself but the day didn’t go as we expected or wanted. I started the first session fast and strong and felt I could push because my feeling with the bike was quite good. But then I crashed without any real reason; I just lost the front through turn 3 at full lean. The bike wasn’t too damaged, and the team did well to fix it quickly, but unfortunately I then had another crash. At Aragón we made some changes to the set-up that looked promising, and we wanted to try them again in the ideal conditions we had today. In the afternoon we reverted to a more standard set-up, but the session was kind of a repeat of the morning. Good feeling, good speed but I crashed in the first corner of the second lap without warning. At that point, I lost a little confidence and so although we were a bit faster than in session one, I rode a little more carefully. We will now try and understand what happened. We definitely have some ideas for tomorrow and can better understand the bike’s limit. A pity about today though as I felt so strong during the morning. Tomorrow is another day anyway, and we just have to put it all together and better exploit our potential”.
Leon Haslam 91
“It’s been a difficult day and unfortunately it looks like some of the Aragón setup issues have carried over to this round, at least today. On a positive side, we made a few steps towards the end of the second session but we still have work to do, I think. We will analyse the data carefully this evening and see what we can find during tomorrow’s final practice. Hopefully we can improve our feeling and take another step before the Superpole and Race 1”.
Free Practices Combined Results after FP2
| Pos. | Rider | Num | Nation | Team | Constructor | Time/Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Razgatlioglu Toprak | 54 | TUR | PATA YAMAHA with BRIXX WorldSBK | Yamaha | 1'36.920 |
| 2 | Redding Scott | 45 | GBR | ARUBA Racing - Ducati | Ducati | 1'37.334 / 0.414 |
| 3 | Rea Jonathan | 1 | GBR | Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK | Kawasaki | 1'37.501 / 0.581 |
| 4 | Lowes Alex | 22 | GBR | Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK | Kawasaki | 1'37.604 / 0.684 |
| 5 | Rinaldi Michael Ruben | 21 | ITA | ARUBA Racing - Ducati | Ducati | 1'37.815 / 0.895 |
| 6 | Gerloff Garrett | 31 | USA | GRT Yamaha WorldSBK | Yamaha | 1'37.826 / 0.906 |
| 7 | Laverty Eugene | 50 | IRE | RC Squadra Corse | BMW | 1'37.853 / 0.933 |
| 8 | Davies Chaz | 7 | GBR | Team GOELEVEN | Ducati | 1'37.896 / 0.976 |
| 9 | Folger Jonas | 94 | GER | Bonovo MGM Racing | BMW | 1'37.941 / 1.021 |
| 10 | Sykes Tom | 66 | GBR | BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team | BMW | 1'38.039 / 1.119 |
| 11 | Locatelli Andrea | 55 | ITA | PATA YAMAHA with BRIXX WorldSBK | Yamaha | 1'38.254 / 1.334 |
| 12 | van der Mark Michael | 60 | NDL | BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team | BMW | 1'38.293 / 1.373 |
| 13 | Haslam Leon | 91 | GBR | Team HRC | Honda | 1'38.427 / 1.507 |
| 14 | Rabat Tito | 53 | SPA | BARNI Racing Team | Ducati | 1'38.469 / 1.549 |
| 15 | Bautista Alvaro | 19 | SPA | Team HRC | Honda | 1'38.469 / 1.549 |
| 16 | Mahias Lucas | 44 | FRA | Kawasaki Puccetti Racing | Kawasaki | 1'38.483 / 1.563 |
| 17 | Bassani Alex | 47 | ITA | Motocorsa Racing | Ducati | 1'38.716 / 1.796 |
| 18 | Nozane Kohta | 3 | JPN | GRT Yamaha WorldSBK | Yamaha | 1'39.036 / 2.116 |
| 19 | Vinales Isaac | 32 | SPA | ORELAC Racing VERDNATURA | Kawasaki | 1'39.237 / 2.317 |
| 20 | Ponsson Christophe | 23 | FRA | Alstare Yamaha | Yamaha | 1'39.723 / 2.803 |
| 21 | Cavalieri Samuele | 76 | ITA | TPR Team Pedercini Racing | Kawasaki | 1'40.878 / 3.958 |
| 22 | Cresson Loris | 84 | BEL | TPR Team Pedercini Racing | Kawasaki | 1'41.205 / 4.285 |
Location Information
Circuito Estoril – Av. Alfredo César Torres 2646 – 901 Alcabideche – Portugal www.circuito-estoril.pt The Circuito Estoril, situated just 30km from the Portuguese capital city of Lisbon, will host the WorldSBK class, along with the FIM Supersport World Championship and the FIM Supersport 300 World Championship from the 16th –… read more.
| POLE POSITION | Left |
| LENGHT | 4.182 Km |
| CORNERS | 13 |
| RIGHT CORNERS | 9 |
| LEFT CORNERS | 4 |
Records
| Pole Record | 1'35.346 (157,901 Km/h) J. Rea (Kawasaki ZX-10RR - 2022) |
| Race Record | 1'36.178 (156,535 Km/h) N. Bulega - SPRC (Ducati Panigale V4R- 2024) |
| All Time Record | 1'35.346 (157,901 Km/h) J. Rea (Kawasaki ZX-10RR - 2022) |
| 2024 Race 1 Winner | T. Razgatlioglu (BMW M 1000 RR) |
| 2024 Superpole Race Winner | N. Bulega (Ducati Panigale V4R) |
| 2024 Race 2 Winner | T. Razgatlioglu (BMW M 1000 RR) |
