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MORE THAN 200 LAPS DONE IN MISANO, SOLID TEST AHEAD OF THE SECOND PART OF THE SEASON!
It’s been a busy May for WorldSBK; the superbike riders, between Most Round and Aragon Round next week, completed a two-days test at the Misano circuit! They were the first real tests of the season, after a winter affected by bad weather.
Baldassarri and Team Go Eleven started with the bike that came out of Most, before exploring little-known areas of this new double-sided Ducati Panigale V4-R. During race weekends, it’s always difficult to find the time to test something different, which is why these two days proved to be particularly important. On the first day, the technicians worked primarily on the bike’s geometry, testing it in various settings, both making it “longer” for greater stability and “shorter” to improve areas of agility. On day 1, #34 focused on race pace, adding kilometers on the harder tyres, which will then be used during the Round weekend. Best time in 1.33.142, facing some difficulties in the first sector.
Free Practice 1:
P 1 N. Bulega 1.32.128
P 2 I. Lecuona + 0.258
P 3 Y. Montella + 0.584
…
P 6 L. Baldassarri + 1.014
Free Practice 2:
P 1 N. Bulega 1.32.063
P 2 I. Lecuona + 0.249
P 3 Y. Montella + 0.381
…
P 8 L. Baldassarri + 1.113
The second day, Balda did many laps in the morning, around 60, primarily testing front-end solutions, including a new fork calibration aimed at achieving greater feeling and aggressiveness when entering corners. Around mid-morning, the program included using the Q tyre, in conditions similar to Superpole. It was a significant step forward on the first run, improving mainly the first sector, but still leaving some room for improvement. In the afternoon, work moved to used tyres again; two times in the 33.0s, despite very hot temperatures, around 50 degrees Celsius on the asphalt. A final attempt with the qualifying tyres; a 32.7 was the best time, but without finding a great feeling with the rear.
Free Practice 3:
P 1 N. Bulega 1.31.871
P 2 S. Lowes + 0.493
P 3 A. Surra + 0.528
…
P 7 L. Baldassarri + 0.644
Free Practice 4:
P 1 N. Bulega 1.31.769
P 2 I. Lecuona + 0.413
P 3 Y. Montella + 0.513
…
P 7 L. Baldassarri + 0.949
An overall positive test, which confirms the current level of the Go Eleven package, consistently close to the top 5 these two days, too, but there’s still a step forward to make to fight for the podium. A wealth of data was collected during the test, which will be analyzed ahead of the weekend of June 12-14!
Now we move on to Aragon, Round 5 of WorldSBK!
Lorenzo Baldassarri (Rider):
“We’ve done a lot of work, making up for all the time lost over the winter. We’ve done a lot of laps, over two hundred, testing various bike configurations. On the one hand, I’m happy because I’ve had the time to understand this bike thoroughly, trying to suit it better to me and exploit its strengths. On the other hand, however, we weren’t able to be very fast; I expected to be closer to the guys ahead. If we were to race tomorrow at Misano, we should at least initially catch up, but there’s still a long way to go until the round, and especially before that, there’s Motorland Aragon, where I want to achieve good results. We lacked a bit of speed on the fastest lap, but on used tyres, I have a good pace. Misano will be my home race, so I’ll bring extra motivation with me on the bike. See you in a few days at Aragon!”
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