WSBK-Imola

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Rea And Sykes Go For More Success In Italy

Between them Jonathan Rea and Tom Sykes have won all of the most recent six FIM Superbike World Championship races at the classic Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari in Imola. With such a proven record at the undulating Italian circuit each official KRT rider is ready to add to their 2016 season win tallies on the all-new Ninja ZX-10R as the WorldSBK series heads to the fifth round of the championship in a few days? time.

After four rounds and eight races of the 2016 WorldSBK championship KRT riders Rea and Sykes have taken six of the possible eight race wins so far.

Leading the championship with a score of 181 points from a possible 200 Rea has finished every race on the podium and counts five race wins to his credit since the start of the year. He has won five times at Imola in all and now has 34 career race wins to his credit.

The reigning champion for Kawasaki has clearly made a strong start to his latest campaign but he feels there is more to come when he unlocks all the secrets of his new Ninja ZX-10R. Rea has won the four most recent Imola races in WorldSBK, including two victories last season on the previous model of Kawasaki superbike.

Being 2013 WorldSBK champion for KRT, Sykes is no stranger to winning races on the Ninja ZX-10R. He took both Imola race victories in his championship-winning season for Kawasaki, part of his current career total of 27 race wins. With five podiums, including a race victory in Thailand, to his credit in 2016 already he is third in the overall rankings, with 122 points.

The circuit itself is situated in parkland on the edge of the culturally important city of Imola and has hosted 25 individual WorldSBK races since 2001. It should be 26 races in all but a deluge of rain through raceday in 2005 meant that only one WorldSBK race took place.

In 2016, under the new weekend schedule for the WorldSBK entries, races are held on Saturdays and Sundays, with Superpole qualifying to determine the final grid positions taking place just before race one on Saturday. Getting a good start during the first two practice sessions on Friday has proved to be important so far, and should be again as the undulating hills and valleys around Imola?s 4.936km overall length provide a real test of machine set-up and rider skill.

Jonathan Rea stated: ?I have always been really lucky to have a great reception from the Italian fans. I enjoy riding there. The culture, the food, the parkland track itself; everything seems nice and the layout is kind of like the tracks I grew up on in the British Superbike Championship. In the past I have had some good results at Imola and some race wins. After the amazing weekend we had in Assen extending our championship lead was great. But it is back to business this week and trying to keep that target in mind during every weekend now - trying to improve our championship position. As I said recently, it is not just Imola but these next three races are all-important because the races are week-on/week-off. It is important to remain healthy throughout these races and score points. The key to the weekend is set-up on Friday. We have seen how critical it has been in Aragon and also Assen with the weather change.?

Tom Sykes stated: ?At the previous round in Assen we did not get what we deserved but we had good speed in both the wet and the dry. This motivates me so I am excited and looking forward to Imola now. It is a track where we have been strong in the past. The circuit itself is definitely an old school layout. It is exciting, technical and you have to be pin-point accurate round there to have a good race. Our season has been a little bit up and down but generally it has been up. Looking at the bigger picture, we have had great potential and just had a couple races, like Australia or Assen, where we didn?t get what we deserved. We are heading in a good way and always improving.?

Roman Ramos (Go Eleven Team Kawasaki) will once more carry the status of top ranked Kawasaki rider in the privateer ranks when he heads to Imola. Currently 14th overall, he is only eight points from a top ten ranking. The recently injured Sylvain Barrier (Pedercini Racing Team Kawasaki) is hoping to be back to full fitness in time for the Imola weekend, after being replaced by stand-in rider Lucas Mahias in the most recent Assen round.
Dominic Schmitter (Grillini Racing Team Kawasaki) and Josh Hook (Grillini Racing Team Kawasaki) are aiming for their first points of the year in Imola, as is another WSBK rookie, Saeed Al Sulaiti (Pedercini Racing Team Kawasaki).

 

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Guintoli and Lowes Pushing to Improve at Imola

Sylvain Guintoli and Alex Lowes are looking forward to some fifth round action later this week as the MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship arrives at the iconic Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari Imola. Both Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK riders are eager to advance progress made with their YZF-R1's after impressive performances in pace and development over the past few weeks.

Guintoli continued his Superpole prowess at the Assen TT Circuit a fortnight ago, claiming his second consecutive front row start to leave him sitting second in the qualifying standings. The Frenchman's focus is now set to converting his Yamaha's confident qualifying pace into race day performance and is looking forward to getting down to work at 10:15 local time on Friday morning for the opening free practice session at the Italian circuit.

Lowes is equally as impatient to get on track and continue fine-tuning his YZF-R1 as the Imola weekend begins, having again put on a determined performance at the Dutch WorldSBK event last-time-out. The 25-year-old Brit is convinced his Pata Yamaha machine, and team, has the tools to allow him to run with the front group and that the progress made at each race takes them a step closer to the overall goal.

Imola's infamous Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari has been home to spectacular racing in front of adoring crowds for more than 60 years, with the first motorcycle race taking place in 1953. The 4,936m circuit sits to the south of the city, encompassing the 11 hectares Parco delle Acque Minerali at its heart. With 22 corners - 13 left and 9 rights - the anticlockwise layout forms a breath-taking lap as it undulates through city and nature, its high-speed character allowing the WorldSBK machines to reach close to 290kmp/h.

Sylvain Guintoli
Championship: 8th / 58 points

"For Imola our clear target is to improve upon the race-day performance and maximise the excellent potential which the Yamaha has. It's a very challenging track, for riders but also for bike set-up, and we really need to work hard to allow the YZF-R1 to perform well over the full length of the race as we know we have the pace as already shown in qualifying. I'm looking forward to Imola, we have a lot of events before the race weekend begins which look like a lot of fun, but then for the race itself it's one of the great tracks and one I always enjoy."
Alex Lowes
Championship: 10th / 44 points

"Imola is a track I really enjoy, even though it's a very difficult track to get right - maybe the most technical in the season. I'm really hoping to make a step forward there - we were hoping to do that at Assen, but we had a difficult weekend with the weather. I want to be able to run with the front group so I'm looking forward to getting to Italy and working hard with my crew to achieve our goal of making that step towards being consistently close to the top-five group."

 

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Honda WorldSBK Team looking to keep momentum going at Imola

Imola?s ?Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari? is hosting round five of the 2016 FIM Superbike World Championship this weekend, with Honda WorldSBK Team?s Michael van der Mark and Nicky Hayden ready for action around the 4.936km iconic Italian venue after a pair of top 3 finishes at Assen.

In front of his home crowd, two Saturdays ago van der Mark put up a spectacular show of riding skills and determination in race one, which unfortunately ended with a crash on the penultimate lap while he was running second. Race two saw the young Dutchman riding solidly in third for what turned out to be his fourth podium finish of the season in just four rounds.

Van der Mark has mixed memories of Imola: after a dominant win in 2014 on his way to the World Supersport title, last year ?Magic Mike? was unable to shine in front of the Italian crowd, with a ninth place in race one followed by a crash in the second encounter. Now with a full-year?s worth of experience in the series and a perfect synergy with his Honda CBR1000RR Fireblade SP machine, van der Mark is confident of good results in Italy.

Nicky Hayden will ride for the first time at Imola on Friday morning, meaning that the experienced American from Owensboro, Kentucky, has several challenges to face at the same time on day one: learning the track while working with the team to find a good setup for the bike and being quick enough to qualify for Superpole 2. Last time out at Assen, Hayden claimed his first podium finish in race one at Assen and was able to show great speed on wet conditions in the second race.

Michael van der Mark 60

I?m really looking forward to Imola, a track that I really enjoy riding. With the big improvements made to the Fireblade over the winter and in the first four rounds, I?m pretty sure we will be much more competitive than last year. Given the many podiums we have collected so far, my goal for the Italian round is to be at least in the top 5. The team and I have some ideas to improve the bike setup and we will try some new things, which we didn?t have time to evaluate in Assen. I cannot wait to get back on track.

Nicky Hayden 69

Racing in Italy is something I have always enjoyed in the past and I don?t think in Superbike it will be any different. For what I?ve seen on videos, the track looks epic but I will need to work hard with the team from Thursday, having a look at the data and understanding the gearing and the layout. It looks a very technical track with a lot of elevation changes and I know from experience that if you notice them on TV it means that when you see them live they are twice as steep and on a bike even more! It?s a track with a lot of history and I grew up watching my heroes racing there, so I?m looking forward to getting started.



Pieter Breddels


Imola is a track where we?ve had good results over recent years and it is surely one that suits our bike well. We are planning a little bit further ahead for some more developments on chassis, suspension and electronics but for now we know we can be quick with the current package. It is a very technical and demanding track, with different layers of asphalt ? with different grip ? throughout the lap, many elevation changes, downhill braking areas and a good mix of fast corners and slow turns, which overall make it difficult to find the perfect setup. The 2016 version of the Honda CBR1000RR Fireblade SP has proved to be competitive on basically every circuit we?ve raced on so far and we are expecting more of the same this time out as well.

 

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The Althea BMW Racing Team gears up for its first home round at Imola

The Althea BMW Racing Team, keen to race ?at home? this weekend, at the Imola circuit, first chose to make a trip to Milan to meet with the fans. Riders Jordi Torres, Markus Reiterberger and Raffaele De Rosa visited the ?City Sales Outlet? of the BMW Milan dealership located in via De Amicis in the city centre.

During the evening, and in the presence of guests and fans, the riders and Management of BMW Motorrad Italia spoke about the partnership between BMW Motorrad Italia and the Althea team, as well as the positive results achieved during the first four Superbike world championship rounds. The public had the chance to receive photos and posters signed by Torres, Reiterberger and De Rosa, while the riders, in turn, invited guests to attend the Imola round.

At the end of the evening, BMW Italia presented the Althea BMW Racing team riders with three vehicles from the M GmbH sports division: a BMW M2, a BMW M4 and a BMW X6M, all icons in their respective segments in terms of their sportiness and dynamic spirit, for them to use during the fifth championship round.

All three riders are excited to return to the track after the latest Assen round of ten days ago. The Italian track holds good (and bad) memories for Torres as last year, despite a fall in Race 1, the Spaniard reached the podium in Race 2, crossing the line in third place and scoring his first ever SBK podium.
Reiterberger has also had some very good experiences at Imola, his best result a fourth place finish in Stock1000 in 2012, on his last visit to the track. A disappointing result for Raffaele De Rosa in last year?s Stock1000 race on the other hand. Having qualified in second position, he was unfortunately unable to score a race result, crashing out in the early stages.

Stefano Ronzoni, Director of BMW Motorrad Italia
?For 2016 we have changed our set-up in the Superbike World Championship. We wanted to continue along our path in the championship and came to an agreement with Genesio's Team Althea. Together with our German colleagues at BMW Motorrad Motorsport and BMW Germany, we therefore decided to sponsor the Althea BMW Racing Team. A truly international Team, if we consider that the WorldSBK riders hail from Germany and Spain and the STK1000 rider from Italy, and one that is already achieving significant results. We believe in this project and in our BMW S 1000 RR. It is an exceptional bike that, right from the time of its launch in the supersport segment, experts have considered to be a real point of reference with regard to its extraordinary performance, first-class chassis but also its great versatility in all situations.?

Jordi Torres, Althea BMW Racing Team #81
?We've made a great start to our Imola weekend with the event at the City Sales Outlet. I?ve had fun meeting with the public, they always welcome us with so much enthusiasm here in Italy. I thank BMW Motorrad Italia for having organised it all. Now I can?t wait to get on track on Friday morning and start our ?home? race weekend!?

Markus Reiterberger, Althea BMW Racing Team #21
?It's nice to have the chance to come to Milan and meet with some of the fans before we go to Imola, there was a great atmosphere here this evening. I?m also proud to be able to arrive at Imola with a BMW M4, a great car. My family and fan club are coming over from Germany this weekend too so all the support at the track will definitely be an extra motivation for me!"

Raffaele De Rosa, Althea BMW Racing Team #35
?It?s always great to race at home of course and we've also had the chance to meet some of our fans in Milan tonight - I just hope there's a big crowd down at the track too! Thanks to BMW Motorrad Italia for having invited us, a great event, and thanks for providing us with the cars, so that we can arrive in Imola in style!"

 

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Race Day Preparation Friday's Focus for Pata Yamaha

Sylvain Guintoli and Alex Lowes got straight down to business at Imola's Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari today as the Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team focused it's concentration on preparing for the first of the MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship's fifth round races. Having already proved over recent events that their WorldSBK-spec YZF-R1's have the pace to qualify well, the two Yamaha riders concentrated on long runs and tyre wear management for the majority of Friday's free practice concluding the two hour-long sessions in eighth and eleventh places respectively.

Confident with his machine's one-lap pace, after his consecutive front row qualifying performances at Aragon and Assen, Guintoli turned his attention to strategy and management for the opening sessions at the iconic Italian track. Notorious as one of the most technical on the WorldSBK calendar, the 4,936m undulating layout provided the perfect challenge to fine-tune his YZF-R1's set-up. Leaving his fast runs until the closing stages of this afternoon's free practice, the Frenchman unfortunately fell at the final chicane, failing to complete his best lap of the day and convert his projected P4 position. His earlier 1'48.342 time, however, remained enough to secure his top-ten classification and promotion into Saturday's Superpole 2 ahead of the 19-lap race at 13:00 local time.

Lowes concluded his first two free practice sessions at Imola narrowly missing out on automatic Superpole qualification by just 0.081 seconds. The British rider also spent Friday working through a detailed development programme, his consecutive set of fastest times coming early in the afternoon session. Missing out on a 1'48.0 best due to narrowly cutting the final chicane, Lowes' 1'48.600 lap, recorded on his third revolution, puts the 25-year-old in 11th place in the combined times and joining the early qualifying battle at 10:30 local time tomorrow morning.

Sylvain Guintoli
8th / 1'48.342 / 32 laps

"A small crash in my fastest lap at the end of the session was disappointing but we are still firmly in the top ten for Superpole tomorrow so this is a positive. We have been continuing to work on the race development for the majority of today as this is the main area we still need to improve. We will keep working tomorrow but, for me, I just need to get my head down, push hard and let the technicians do their job! The solutions we are looking for are very difficult to pinpoint but I have confidence that we will get there."


Alex Lowes
11th / 1'48.600 / 34 laps

"A difficult day for us to be honest, I love this track but everything has to be working in harmony to allow us to chip away and find the best rhythm and that was quite difficult today. I had a small crash at the end of the morning session which didn't help but my main focus was to improve the performance on worn tyres. I felt quite good this afternoon until we reached about eight or nine laps and then we started to struggle a bit. We could do with another Friday to improve further before the first race really but I'm positive that the team, and myself, can make a decent step tomorrow morning and we will keep pushing for where we know we should be."


Paul Denning - Team Principal

"After the inconsistent weather at Assen and knowing the very technical character of the Imola Circuit we expected day one to be challenging here for the WorldSBK-specification YZF-R1 and so it has proved. We didn't see the potential best lap of either rider with Alex's best of a high '47 being cancelled due to a very small infringement at the last chicane and Sylvain crashing at the same corner when he was on schedule for third or fourth position. So, as we have seen at recent events, the ultimate lap time for both riders is there, but on both sides of the garage we are still searching for consistency on used tyres and to avoid a big lap-time drop once the grip reduces. There is very little time to prepare tomorrow before the first race but everybody is committed to making big improvements overnight."

 

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Smooth sailing for the Althea BMW Racing Team on day one at Imola

A positive first day for the Althea BMW Racing team on track at Imola for its first ?home? race of the season. SBK riders Markus Reiterberger and Jordi Torres qualified in fifth and sixth place for tomorrow's Superpole 2, while Stock1000 rider Raffaele De Rosa dominated the free practices to finish first overall.

Torres and Reiterberger took to the track this morning for the first timed practice, using the first half of the hour-long session to get to grips with the track and build confidence, particularly Markus who has not raced here since 2012. During the second half of the session, the young German was able to make a good step to close with a best of 1?48.874 in ninth place. Spanish rider Jordi completed the session right behind his team-mate, tenth, thanks to a time of 1?48.880.

During the afternoon, both Althea BMW riders were able to make significant progress, identifying an effective set-up for their BMW S1000 RR bikes. Times dropped dramatically, with the pair lapping almost a second quicker than during the morning, to set respective best times of 1?47.949 (Reiterberger) and 1?48.077 (Torres), closing in fifth and sixth place and easily qualifying for tomorrow?s SP2.

In the Stock 1000 free practice sessions, current championship leader De Rosa immediately made his presence felt, lapping with consistently fast times in both of the day's sessions. His best lap of the morning ? a 1?52.801, achieved in damp conditions ? put him up into second, while during the afternoon he was able to really show his potential, setting the fastest overall time, 1?49.388, to finish first.

Markus Reiterberger
?I?m pleased. I?m really enjoying riding the bike here and fifth place is a good result for day one. The lap times are not so bad either; we?ve completed a decent long run and I was pretty happy with the pace. Then with new tyres and small change to the set-up, I was also able to set a good fast lap. It took me a little time this morning to find a good feeling with the track, and the bike, as I haven?t been here since 2012 but I?m feeling good, also because I think we still have room for improvement tomorrow.?

Jordi Torres
?At this point of the championship, we?re trying to find the bike?s limit, having accumulated a lot of information over previous weekends. Let?s say that we?re making lots of very small changes to improve the bike. This afternoon, I felt more confident and could push harder, which allowed me to set a fast time. There are still points of the track where we can improve, through the Variante Alta and Variante Bassa for example, because I struggle, with my particular riding style, with the changes of direction through the tight turns.?

Raffaele De Rosa
?This morning the track was still damp in certain places and so I was lacking a little confidence because of that but results were still positive. In the afternoon, we made a good start, going out on used tyres that were not bad at all. Then with the new tyres I could do a lot more of course, I thought there might be a drop after a few laps but performance remained constant. Perhaps I could be a little bit more precise through sector one but we can work on this tomorrow. We don?t need to make any big changes as I?m comfortable with the bike and everything is going well. I just hope we can complete a dry qualifying session tomorrow.?

 

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Honda WorldSBK duo looking for more at Imola

It was a challenging opening day of action for the Honda WorldSBK Team at Imola?s ?Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari? today, where the fifth round of the 2016 FIM Superbike World Championship is currently underway. At the end of Friday?s two one-hour long free practice sessions, Michael van der Mark ended up 14th while Nicky Hayden, who did his first laps of the Italian track on his Honda CBR1000RR Fireblade SP, was 16th at the chequered flag of FP2. Therefore, unlike every other race so far this year, both riders will have to take part into Superpole 1 tomorrow.

Van der Mark and his crew worked hard to find a base set-up for the Dutchman?s Fireblade machine on the Italian track, which was partially resurfaced over the winter in two areas: from the uphill section leading to to ?Acque Minerali? (turns 10 and 11) to the ?Variante Alta? (turn 14) and between the two ?Rivazza? corners (turns 18 and 19) to the pit lane entrance. With today?s data to analyse, the team will plan further changes to the settings of the bike, which will be evaluated during tomorrow morning?s 15-minute FP3 ? scheduled at 8:45.

Nicky Hayden had his first taste of the iconic Italian track, which lived up to its fame of being a difficult one to learn. The American was able to set his fastest time of the day with a couple of minutes left in today?s action and he is now looking forward to trying some new settings ahead of Superpole.

Michael van der Mark 60-14th / 1.49.166

I would lie if I say I?m happy with how things have gone today. It looks like we have yet to find the key to be quick on this track and this has certainly put us on the back foot somewhat, because so far this year we have always been competitive right from the off. I have a feeling we have been skirting around the problems today, but I?m confident that the guys will find a way to make the bike work as well as it did before.

Nicky Hayden 69-16th / 1'49.364

Overall it hasn?t been a positive day. Learning such a difficult track with this many elevation changes is never easy, plus there have been many little things that haven?t gone our way. Because of all this we couldn?t build any rhythm and make progress, and so now we have to try and make our way through Superpole 1. It?s really hard to tell how much is me being new here, or the bike set-up, because even Michael had his own struggles today. Right now, all we need to do is to get it together and refocus for tomorrow; hopefully we?ll be able to turn things around.

Pieter Breddels-Technical Manager

We?re obviously not happy with today?s results as we were expecting to be much higher up the timing sheets. We are now analysing the data gathered today but it seems that for some reason we struggled to find a setup that could give us a good grip around this track, and that applies to both riders. Of course, for Nicky it was also his first day of action here, which didn?t help. We now have a bit of time to go through everything in order to get a fresh start tomorrow morning.

 

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Top Three Qualifying Positions For KRT Runners After Imola Day One

At the fifth round of the 2016 FIM Superbike World Championship at Imola in Italy Tom Sykes and Jonathan Rea were second and third fastest respectively on their all-new Ninja ZX-10R machines after the first day of qualifying had been completed.

Although he lost some track time due to technical issues with his rear brake in the second one-hour long practice session today, Sykes improved his previous morning session best time with a 1?47.347. This put him second, and 0.097 seconds ahead of his team-mate Jonathan Rea, with one more 15 minute practice session and then Superpole qualifying to come later for both KRT riders.

Sykes could not get a planned long run/race simulation completed this afternoon but is confident that his machine set-up is already good, with just some final adjustments to be done in Saturday?s short third practice session.

With more track time available to him on Friday Rea completed a long run and will now make some small adjustments before Superpole on Saturday, which will be followed shortly afterwards by the first race of the weekend.

Rea and Sykes will hope to get their winning totals moving on again in Italy, starting on Saturday in race one and then finishing with the second race, which will be held on Sunday 1st May.

Dry weather conditions blessed the 4.936km long circuit all through day one?s practice sessions, despite some darker clouds appearing overhead at times.

Tom Sykes stated: ?It was good to get second place in the time sheets, even though we had two problems with the rear brake. This also disturbed our pace but we have potential and for this I am happy. When I had the issue in the second run I was a little bit nervous but we still improved our lap time. I am happy with that. Overall I wanted to put a long run together but I think the bike is quote close to where we wanted to be. This is something positive. To improve the lap time in the afternoon session means that, all things considered, we have to be happy that we are second fastest. Chaz Davies has been unbelievably fast so we need to pay attention to that and see if tomorrow we can improve the bike a little bit over distance. I feel we are close enough to start race one now.?

Jonathan Rea stated: ?We did a long run and we are working step-by-step this weekend, not making too many massive changes. We have been concentrating on electronics with Paolo. Both Paolo and Danilo, the other electronics engineer, have worked really strongly to give us a good engine brake strategy that we are developing. Today felt like a lot of testing had been done, so to put a race simulation on top of that gives a lot of information to help fine tune things. It looks like we can improve even further with that information and I am quite happy. I feel I have a got good rhythm and tomorrow is the big job. I felt like we ticked the boxes and we tried two options of race tyres. For me I feel quite clear that one of them will work better. It has been a good day and we really needed the track to be dry. I am making good progress and there are quite a few areas where we feel we can improve. Today we learned a lot.?

Roman Ramos (Go Eleven Team Kawasaki) qualified 13th on the opening day at Imola, with stand-in rider Lucas Mahias (Pedercini Racing Team Kawasaki) once more substituting for the injured Sylvain Barrier, and going 18th fastest. Ramos was later declared unfit because of a fall and fracture to his first left metacarpus. Dominic Schmitter (Grillini Racing Team Kawasaki) placed 19th. Saeed Al Sulaiti (Pedercini Racing Team Kawasaki) was 21st and Josh Hook (Grillini Racing Team Kawasaki) 24th.

 

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Best result of the season for Torres and the Althea BMW Racing Team in Race 1 at Imola

Mixed results for the Althea BMW Racing Team in the first of the weekend?s home SBK races at the Imola circuit today. A fantastic result for Jordi Torres, who battled it out with riders close to the front of the action to finish this first race in fourth position. For Markus Reiterberger it was a more difficult outing, which he concluded in thirteenth place today.
In the Superstock 1000 FIM Cup, Raffaele De Rosa qualified in fourth position for tomorrow?s 14-lap race.

Superpole 2: Both Reiterberger and Torres qualified directly for today?s Superpole 2. On the race tyre, Markus set a 1?48.000, which put him in seventh while Torres was in tenth (1?48.459) when the session was stopped with a red flag, nine minutes from the end, after a bad accident for Guintoli. Once the session restarted after a short break, Markus returned to the track on the qualifier to record a fastest lap of 1?46.952, positioning eighth, while his teammate Jordi was able to go a tenth quicker, setting a 1?46.867 to qualify sixth.

SBK - Race 1: From sixth on the grid, Torres maintained this position through the opening laps. Hunting down Savadori, immediately ahead of him, he was able to pass the Italian on lap seven to move into fifth. In the space of just a few laps he also reached Giugliano, in fourth, and moved in front of him too on lap twelve. The Spanish rider was then able to hold fourth until the line, managing his race effectively and scoring his best result of the season so far, moving ever closer to the positions that count.
Reiterberger lost a couple of place through lap one, to find himself tenth in the initial stages. Despite his efforts, the young German struggled to maintain the kind of pace he needed to reach those ahead of him, also suffering from a small technical setback, which meant that he had to settle for final thirteenth position.

STK1000 - qualifying: De Rosa once again positioned among the frontrunners in today?s qualifying, making the most of the thirty-minute session and completing a series of fast laps with his BMW S1000 RR. A few minutes from the end, when the times of all the fastest riders started to come down, De Rosa was able to put in the fourth fastest time, stopping the clock at 1?50.013. The Althea BMW rider will therefore line up on row two of the grid for tomorrow?s 14-lap race.

Jordi Torres

?In the end we achieved our goal today, which was to get closer to the fastest guys. Perhaps we weren?t so close to Davies, but definitely closer to the Kawasakis, and this is important. We didn?t make any mistakes and I was able to maintain a good, consistent pace throughout the whole race. In this race I pushed to the limit and this brought results. The track is fun, even though my race today wasn?t perhaps that exciting in the sense that I was lapping almost always alone. Anyway, we?re pleased of course and will try to do more tomorrow.?

Markus Reiterberger
?My start was OK but then I lost some places through the first lap. Unfortunately, I didn?t have the same feeling with the bike as I?d had in qualifying and I don?t know why. Then I had a small technical problem that caused me to run into the gravel, twice, and I lost more positions. We didn?t really make any changes between Superpole and the race but the feeling was different, and the pace was not what I?d expected it to be. We?ll be looking to do better tomorrow.?
Raffaele De Rosa
?The qualifying started out well enough, on the used tyre but once I went back out on track with the new tyre there was a lot of traffic that prevented me from making a ?clean? lap. We didn?t make real changes during the session but we might try something tomorrow in warm-up. We?re more or less sorted with the bike and the pace I think, I?m just disappointed that I wasn?t able to qualify on the front row for tomorrow.?

 

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Rea Second And Sykes Third After Race One At Imola

After a shortened 18-lap WorldSBK race one at Imola Jonathan Rea and Tom Sykes placed second and third respectively, only separated by a few tenths of a second as they chased the podium places. Rea now takes a 40-point championship lead into the second race on Sunday, after a tough but rewarding battle around the undulating circuit in Italy. Sykes is a clear third overall approaching Sunday?s scheduled 19-lap race.

The Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari dished up two podium places for the all-new Ninja ZX-10R in the opening lunchtime WorldSBK race, despite the start being delayed after a collision between two riders on the warm-up lap.

At the start Rea and Sykes formed an early top three with eventual race winner Chaz Davies, with Rea continuing to keep pace just behind Davies as he pushed hard while the race developed.

?JR? was forced to drop back after experiencing an electronics issue under braking at times, running wide and off track at turn 7 at one point, but coming back onto the track surface just in front of his chasing team-mate Sykes.

With the two Kawasaki riders in close company for the final few laps, gaining something on each other in some sections and losing in some others, Sykes was just too far back on the final lap to attempt a decisive and safe pass.

Tom ended up just 0.323 seconds behind Jonathan after 18 laps at the intense and demanding 4.936km Imola parkland circuit.

Now the KRT duo have a day to prepare for the second Imola race, which may be held in less favourable weather conditions than the dry first race day. Both riders feel there are areas for improvement in machine set-up as they now aim to take top spot in race two.

Jonathan Rea stated: ?In the beginning I felt good with Chaz and I managed to close the gap down to him. We have had some issues on the engine brake side and this caused me to run on. It was happening into the fast turn five and it took my confidence a little bit. When I made the mistake the gap changed. I am happy with my race because second is good as Chaz was on a different planet this morning. I was just happy to be there in the race at the beginning. I was the best of the rest today and now I?m happy to look forward to tomorrow, as I am sure we can improve the bike setup. I hear some mixed weather forecasts, and that we could have some rain, so I hope we can be prepared for whatever we get.?

Tom Sykes stated: ?It is difficult to pass here at Imola because it is a track that does not leave much of a margin for error. The only possibility to pass came in two areas and it would have been difficult to make a clean one. Considering the amount of practice time we lost on Friday we were probably not at a bad level. Consistency-wise the Ninja ZX-10R was good in the race but we just missed a bit of pure lap time, even in Superpole, and that will be our priority for tomorrow. We lost one maybe two seconds in the first laps and you do not close that kind of gap down very easily at this level. If I am able to ride the bike how I like I am sure we can be strong. We will keep working for this and hopefully make some improvements.?

Josh Hook (Grillini Racing Team Kawasaki) was the only other Kawasaki race finisher in the opening contest at Imola, in 17th place. A crash and subsequent collision with another rider?s machine for Dominic Schmitter (Grillini Racing Team Kawasaki) put him out of action for race one as he underwent medical checks. Saeed Al Sulaiti (Pedercini Racing Team Kawasaki) retired in the race. Ramos (Go Eleven Team Kawasaki) was injured in practice yesterday, as was Lucas Mahias (Pedercini Racing Team Kawasaki), and they did not start.

 

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Van der Mark seventh in Imola?s opening race, top 10 finish for Hayden

Michael van der Mark claimed a seventh place finish at the end of the 18-lap opening race at Imola?s ?Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari?, the circuit hosting the fifth round of the 2016 FIM Superbike World Championship this weekend. His Honda WorldSBK team mate Nicky Hayden crossed the line in ninth position after running as high as seventh until the final two laps of the encounter.

Earlier today, Hayden and van der Mark successfully made it through Superpole 1 and, after the final qualifying session, they found themselves in ninth and eleventh place on the grid, respectively. The race started with a short delay due to a warm-up lap crash that involved two riders at the back of the field. Both Honda riders were able to maintain their qualifying positions in the early laps and, as the race entered its second half, they headed a six-way pack battling for seventh place.

On the penultimate lap, van der Mark made a successful move on his teammate, while Hayden had to give up one more place and was ninth at the chequered flag. After the traditional 15-minute warm-up scheduled for tomorrow morning at 9:25, the second and final race of the Italian round will get underway at 13:00 local time (GMT +2).

Michael van der Mark 60
7th

This morning we started with a completely different set-up compared to yesterday and the feeling with the bike was definitely better. In Superpole 1 I found a bike that was much easier to ride and on the last lap, I had no time on my dashboard. I only realised I was first when I came back to the pits and that was such a relief! In Superpole 2, I had to give up on my lap with race tyres as Sylvain (Guintoli) crashed in front of me; when we restarted we went immediately for a Q tyre but I struggled with front grip and couldn?t improve. As soon as the race started, I found myself struggling while trying to stop the bike, so I knew it was going to be a long one. In the end I managed to pass Nicky for seventh, though. I have to be happy with the points we scored today but we need to solve our issues with the front grip if we want to be further up tomorrow.

Nicky Hayden 69
9th

I must thank the team, because today the bike was much better than yesterday. They worked overnight and improved several things; we were able to drop a couple of seconds from my lap-time and advance into Superpole 2. In the early laps of the race I wasn?t going too badly but I had some little problems under braking as I couldn?t get the bike stopped as well as I wanted, so I had to slow down my pace and then I lost two places in the last two laps. We cannot be happy with the result but we were much closer today than yesterday so maybe if we can take one more step, tomorrow we can put up a good fight.

Pieter Breddels
Technical Manager

We made some changes to the chassis settings after this morning and things improved a little bit. In Superpole 2 Nicky made a couple of small mistakes during his flying lap, while with Michael we made the usual couple of adjustments to make the take the best out of the qualifying tyre, but this time they didn?t work. They both got a good start to the race but couldn?t keep the pace of the front-runners and, in the end, they battled for seventh place. Both pointed out that they couldn?t get the bike stopped the way they wanted and this means we still need to find the right combination between chassis settings and front tyre. We are currently analysing the data and we will come up with a plan for tomorrow morning and race two.

 

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Lowes Fights on at Imola as Guintoli Falls

The Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team endured a difficult day at Imola's Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari today. Alex Lowes rode his solitary YZF-R1 to 11th place in the weekend's first race after an accident in Superpole qualifying meant Sylvain Guintoli was unable to take part.

A challenging qualifying session meant Lowes would start this afternoon's race from the head of the fifth row in 13th position and, as he has shown in previous weekends, his determination was evident from lights out. Immediately gaining positions, the young Brit began the contest running 11th, improving further to enter the top-10 by the sixth lap. A 12-lap battle ensued for the remainder of the race as six bikes vied for seventh place and, while Lowes swapped positions on a number of occasions, he was eventually beaten at the line to finish just outside of the hard-fought top-10. Five points brings his championship tally to 49, sitting him 11th in the standings heading in to tomorrow's final 19-lap race at 13:00 local time.

Guintoli had a strong morning, concluding the final free practice in seventh position as he prepared for the Superpole qualifier. Unfortunately, an intense high-side at turn 12 brought the Frenchman down hard and he was quickly recovered to the circuit's medical centre. Alert, conscious and talking he was transferred to Imola hospital for further investigation. Fortunately the checks have revealed no serious injuries and although he is in a lot of discomfort and will remain under observation overnight, he is in good spirits and hopes to return to the track tomorrow.

Alex Lowes
11th / +29.622 / 18 laps

"The actual race, results-wise was very disappointing today, especially as this weekend's goal was to try to bridge the gap to the front group. However, with everything that has gone on this weekend, with many differing issues, I actually felt I rode well during the race and it felt more like a test session as we got a lot of useful information from the bike. If the conditions are similar for tomorrow's race I'm quite optimistic that we could make a good step. I enjoyed the race and was in a decent battle with a few riders which was quite fun, I tried to make a move on the last lap and ended up losing a position which is a shame at the end of a race but we managed to stay consistent throughout the distance which is something we didn't have at Assen, so that is a positive. We are still far from being able to piece all the bits together which is where we need to be, so I'm disappointed overall but with definite positives to work on for tomorrow.

"I also really hope that Sylvain is ok, your teammate is always the first person you want to beat but I have a lot of respect for him and I know how he feels at the moment so I really hope he is alright and can come back as soon as possible."


Paul Denning - Team Principal

"Our first thoughts today have to immediately turn to Sylvain and the incredible high-side he had in Superpole this morning. Luckily his injuries, while still to be determined in fine-detail, are not serious and after such a frightening accident we can all be thankful for that. As we currently speak he is still in Imola hospital receiving good care and undergoing checks, we hope that he will be released tomorrow and we can announce some detailed news regarding his recovery and when he will be able to re-join the team.

"For Alex, the day was a combination of negatives but with some clear light at the end of the tunnel. Some technical problems in qualifying stopped him from advancing from SP1 so a 14th place start at Imola, one of the most difficult circuits to pass on, was never going to make life easy. The positives are that the YZF-R1 was more consistent over distance than yesterday, that Alex could maintain a reasonable pace towards the end of the race and was able to fight with the group, racing for seventh position. Alex was frustrated not to have got to the front of that group but encouraged by the improved handling and consistency in the bike, so whatever the weather we will try to take some further steps for tomorrow and achieve the best possible result for both Alex and the team."

 

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De Rosa and the Althea BMW Racing Team on the podium at home in Imola; seventh for Torres in Superbike

Round 5 of the Superbike World Championship came to an end for the Althea BMW Racing Team at the Italian circuit of Imola today, with the team?s riders Jordi Torres and Markus Reiterberger finishing Race 2 in seventh and twelfth place respectively.
In the Superstock 1000 race, Raffaele De Rosa once again reached the podium, crossing the line in third position.

Superbike - Race 2 ? Today?s race took place in cloudy but dry conditions. Torres, from sixth on the grid, lost some positions off the line and was lying tenth after lap one. He quickly got into his rhythm with a pace that allowed him to pass first VD Mark, then Hayden and also his team-mate. In eighth place at the mid-race point, the Spaniard was able to make up another position in the closing stages to cross the line seventh, earning more important points for the championship.
Reiti held seventh position though the first laps, positioned between the two Brits Lowes and Camier. Part of a group of riders who were lapping with similar times, the German retained his position for the first half of the race, after which he began to lose ground, closing the race in twelfth place.

After five rounds of the 2016 Superbike World Championship, Jordi Torres holds sixth place in the general standings with 87 points, Reiterberger positions thirteenth with 47points. BMW is fourth in the manufacturer's classification (92 points), while Althea BMW lies fourth in the team rankings (134 points).

Superstock ? Race ? Today?s Stock1000 was a hard-fought one, which brought a very welcome podium result for Althea BMW man Raffaele De Rosa. Fourth on the grid, the Italian pushed hard from lap one and by lap three he had already passed Calia and Faccani to position second, after which the real battle with Mercado began. The two riders exchanged places at the front until a few laps from the end when Raffaele lost some precious time due to tyre wear. The young Italian continued to push until the end to close today?s race in third position.
.
Jordi Torres
?I thought I?d made a good start but still lost some places. We changed a few things for race 2, also using new brake pads. Unfortunately though, the bike seemed too loaded at the front and I wasn?t used to these brake pads, which behaved differently to the ones I'd used in the past and caused some vibrations which bothered me especially in the second half of the race. I was also forced to use the front tyre less, which meant that the rear was totally destroyed. All in all, it didn?t go badly and I made up some places but the important thing is that we have collected more information which will be useful for Malaysia, I thank my team for its hard work this weekend.?
Markus Reiterberger
?The first few laps were good and I was in seventh place, over the first six or seven laps I had good pace but not as fast as those ahead of me. Unfortunately I then started to suffer with a lot of vibration in the whole bike. The rear tyre was destroyed and it was all I could do to get to the end of the race. It?s a problem we?ve had before but not as bad as today so we must look at the data to understand how to resolve this.?
Raffaele De Rosa
?A satisfactory result. My start was not perfect and I lost a few positions. Then, to make up the lost ground in the initial phases I probably pushed a bit too hard and, as a result, I suffered with the tyres from mid-race onwards. I tried to resist and fight back against Mercado but I didn?t have much more to give. I took some risks because I really would have like to win here in Italy but we?ll have to postpone that, and see if we can do it at Donington.?

 

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Both KRT Riders On The Imola WorldSBK Podium Again

Jonathan Rea and his KRT team-mate Tom Sykes stood on the podium for the second time in two days at Imola, with Rea once more second and Sykes again a close third on their all-new Ninja ZX-10Rs. Jonathan now has a championship lead of 35 points while Tom is third, 32 points from overall second place.

Rea and Sykes rode in tandem at times in the second race of the Imola weekend, which was finally held in dry conditions after heavy overnight rain. Neither KRT rider could get into contention with double race winner Chaz Davies today, despite each making changes for the second race that indicated a positive direction in overall set-up.

Like the first race of the weekend, held on Saturday 30 April, Sykes was just too far back at the end to make a challenge on Rea. Jonathan had to overcome an issue with his electronics cutting out and also almost falling as he ran wide when exiting the slow final chicane in his early pursuit of Davies.

For Rea his two runner-up places keep him in a clear championship lead, 35 points ahead of Davies. Jonathan also maintained his 100% podium record today, having scored ten from ten (including five wins) as he defends his reigning champion status. Rea has now scored 75 podiums in his WorldSBK career.

With two third place finishes at Imola Sykes has now scored seven podiums from ten starts in 2016 and 71 podiums over his career, which includes a world championship win with Kawasaki in 2013. Sykes extended his lead over fourth place in the championship to 48 points today ? equivalent to almost two full race wins.

The next round of the championship takes place at the Sepang International Circuit in Malaysia, with racedays on May 14 and 15.

Jonathan Rea stated: ?Chaz made a very good first lap and broke me a little bit but then I felt like I was managing the same pace and maybe even faster. Then I had a huge moment on the exit of the last chicane. I ran onto the Astroturf, which had held moisture from last night?s rain. A few laps later, when I was in fifth gear and on full gas, my bike just cut out on the straight. I lost two or three seconds in one lap. It fired into life again but it took me a few corners to relax again. It feels like when we can?t win we should finish second and we did that at Imola. It is clear now that there are three guys now at the top of the championship. Every dog has his day and today was not ours.?

Tom Sykes stated: ?We made some improvements from yesterday but we suffered after losing almost one hour on Friday in practice. Considering the race yesterday I felt a little bit more comfortable with the bike today but when there was a bike in front I was not able to do a good lap time. I was dropping back into the 1?48s and on a clear track I could bring it into the 1?47s. Even on the last lap there was a 1?47.7 and that was with making a mistake out of the final double lefts. So there are positives to be taken from this weekend. You are never happy with third but you also have to be realistic and sometimes be happy with that. Even when we are struggling we are on the podium.?

Despite crashing then being struck by another rider?s machine in warm-up on Saturday, Swiss rider Dominic Schmitter (Grillini Racing Team Kawasaki) took to the track in race two and scored his first point of the season for 15th place. Saeed Al Sulaiti (Pedercini Racing Team Kawasaki) finished one place behind and just missed his first point score since he joined the WorldSBK championship. Aussie rider Josh Hook (Grillini Racing Team Kawasaki) fell in the middle of the final chicane early in the second race, at almost exactly the same time as stand-in rider for the injured Roman Ramos (Go Eleven Team Kawasaki), Gianluca Vizziello.

 

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Hayden and van der Mark complete Italian round with two top-10 finishes
Round 5 ? Italy

The fifth round of the 2016 FIM Superbike World Championship has drawn to a close at Imola?s ?Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari?, with Honda WorldSBK Team?s Nicky Hayden and Michael van der Mark in 8th and 9th places, respectively, at the end of race two in Italy. The encounter, which took place in dry conditions over the full 19-lap distance, was won by Great Britain?s Chaz Davies.

Hayden got a great start from the third row of the grid and was running sixth before losing three positions at the end of lap one. The experienced American battled hard with Althea BMW?s Jordi Torres and Markus Reiterberger in the middle of the race and, as the laps went by, he consolidated eighth place up to the chequered flag. Michael van der Mark spent the majority of the encounter on the edge of the top 10 and was able to make up a couple of positions in the final laps, crossing the line 1.4secs behind his teammate.

With five rounds completed, Michael van der Mark sits fourth in the championship standings, while Nicky Hayden is seventh. The next round of the World Superbike championship will take place in Malaysia at the Sepang International Circuit on May 13?15.

Nicky Hayden 69-8th

We made some changes overnight that unfortunately we couldn?t try during the warm up as the track was still partially wet. We decided to keep the settings for the race anyway and the bike was a little bit better; I was able to make the same lap-times as in race one despite using the harder tyre, which we had to choose given the lower temperatures compared to yesterday. Maybe it took me a little longer to understand the changes at the beginning and that cost me a bit of time. Overall it has been a difficult weekend; regardless, the team was able to improve the bike over the weekend and I had to learn the track, which in the end wasn?t too difficult. I hope next year we?ll be faster around here and now I?m looking forward to Sepang.

Michael van der Mark 60-9th

It?s been a really difficult weekend. It looked like we found the right direction yesterday in Superpole but today we thought that, with a different tyre, we would have solved the issues encountered yesterday. Unfortunately during race two I found it really hard to change direction and this meant that I could neither be quick nor build any sort of rhythm. Now we have to look forward to Sepang, which is a completely different track. I?m pretty confident that the team and I will be able to bounce back and score some great results there.

Pieter Breddels -Technical Manager

We had some adjustments in mind for today and surely, if the conditions were drier this morning, we would have had a clearer indication about them. Michael was able to do a couple of laps with slicks and that gave us a little bit of information, while Nicky stayed out on wet tyres. With the new set-up and the different tyres used, both riders were able to get the bikes stopped better than yesterday, although this translated into a harder time in changing direction. After losing basically the whole first day while trying to find a set-up with the wrong tyres, we had to play catch-up yesterday and today. Now we need to analyse what happened in order to be ready for the next race.

 

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Strong Sixth for Lowes in Imola Race Two

Alex Lowes got his final race at the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari Imola off to a flying start this afternoon as he fired his Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK YZF-R1 off the lights. Reaping the benefits of his impressive start the British rider inherited seven places from his 13th position on the grid, holding sixth from the opening lap. Circulating strongly with the group around him, Lowes maintained his position and consistent pace to the mid-race distance before gaining the advantage on the rider in front. Continuing to build his rhythm as his pace improved he set his fastest lap of the race - a 1'47.848 - on lap 11, but with tyre wear starting to feature the Yamaha rider knew he needed a more conservative race to the finish to consolidate his position. Lowes concluded the race in sixth, boosting his championship position back in to the top-10 with 59 points.

Sylvain Guintoli returned to the WorldSBK paddock after being released from the local Imola hospital late last night. Diagnosed with a broken left ankle - which required only plaster and no surgery - and bruised ribs, the Frenchman joined his team to watch the second race from the Pata Yamaha garage. Travelling home this evening, he will re-evaluate his injuries in the coming days before any decisions on his return to competitive action are made.

Alex Lowes-6th / +20.078 / 19 laps

"A better day than yesterday obviously! We made some changes to the bike overnight which gave me a better feeling and this helped me to do my best lap of the weekend after 11 laps of the race. I was struggling a little with consistency at the end but we learnt a lot and did a good job. We made some good steps forward compared to our opposition and our next target has got to be to start the weekends a little more competitively from the outset. Obviously it's still a new bike and we are learning as we go along but I think a lot of what we have achieved here will be relevant as we head to other tracks and hopefully we can be a bit more competitive from the start of Friday."

Sylvain Guintoli

"Of course this is a disappointing situation. The positive is that it could have been a lot worse because the crash was actually a really big impact. In that respect the injuries are not that bad compared to the crash, but we have to understand why this happened so we can move forward and concentrate on the future. The ankle is broken and I am very bruised because I came down hard, but despite that I feel quite good. My ribs are very bruised which is the painful bit but we just have to see how I will recover now and see in a couple of days if we can go for Malaysia."

Paul Denning - Team Principal

"A far more positive day for the Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team than yesterday, firstly because Sylvain was able to leave hospital and join us here at the track, looking a lot healthier and in less pain. Let's see how the next couple of days go and what the full detailed diagnosis of the ankle injury is before we make any decisions for Malaysia.

"The wet conditions in warm up didn't help us make any assessment of the changes the team had made from yesterday's race for Alex but the race distance result clarifies that we've moved in the right direction. Alex had an incredible start from 13th on the grid and made some awesome passes in the first lap to get up to sixth but what was more important was his ability to keep moving forward, set his best time of the race on lap 11 and maintain a lot more consistency towards the end than we've seen in recent races. We knew Imola would be a tricky track so to make this progress after an extremely difficult Friday and Saturday morning is encouraging for the future."