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HONDA RACING INFORMATION
ZitatAlles anzeigenFIM SUPERBIKE / SUPERSPORT WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP ROUND 12 SUNDAY OCTOBER 2 MAGNY COURS, FRANCE PREVIEW
REA ON THE FRONT FOOT AS PENULTIMATE ROUND COMES ALONG
Jonathan Rea (Castrol Honda) will enter the second-to-last round of the 2011Superbike World Championship with the confidence that winning a race brings, having taken his second victory of the season last weekend at Imola. Rea was on such sparkling form in both qualifying and race trim that he was on course for a second Imola win until a small technical issue put him out.
Rea has had many challenges to overcome in 2011 because of injury, but having re-signed with Honda for 2012 his confidence is already back to full strength. Jonathan won at Imola using a ride-by-wire throttle for the very first time on his CBR1000RR machine. With a new model of Fireblade set for use in WSBK racing next year, unveiled by Rea in roadbike form at Imola on race day eve, he and his team have already shown that the existing model is still fully competitive at the top level of production-derived racing.
Rea's team-mate Ruben Xaus (Castrol Honda) is looking to Magny Cours as a place to get his 2011 season back on track, having also had to deal with injury in recent times. His comeback weekend at Imola was difficult in some regards, but an improved performance in race two saw him score points, which he wants many more of this coming weekend.
Magny Cours is a regular venue for this class, with the 4.411km circuit providing every possible kind of corner, from extreme hard braking zones into the dead-stop hairpin at Adelaide corner, to the fast left of the Grande Courbe and the similarly high-pace Estoril right hander.
FORET BACK IN THE HUNT AND POISED FOR FINAL ROUNDS
The 2011FIM Supersport World Championship fight was re-ignited on two fronts at the previous Imola round last weekend, when Fabien Foret (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda) won his first race of the season in cavalier style and championship leader Chaz Davies (Yamaha) no-scored, when he was only a few laps from being crowned champion.
With Fabien's home race of Magny Cours next up this weekend, and the gap from leader Davies to Foret in second down to 35 points, the fact that there are 50 points remaining for any rider who wins the last two races means that the championship battle is very much back on.
A fifth podium, in ten rounds completed so far, came along for Sam Lowes (Parkalgar Honda) at the recent Imola weekend, promoting him to fifth place overall and within 11 points of going to fourth if things work out his way in France. Lowes is yet to win his first race in this category, and has two more good chances to join the winners'
club. He is now more focused on having a strong finish to the season than chasing a win at all costs in what is his full season rookie year in WSS.Behind the top two CBR600RR riders in the championship, the previous Imola round brought a variety of fortunes to the other Honda riders.
A solid sixth in Italy for James Ellison (Bogdanka PTR Honda) kept him seventh in the overall rankings, but with both Florian Marino (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda) and Gino Rea (Step Racing Honda) just a few points behind him.Marino, who will race in his home round this weekend like his team-mate Foret, had his best result of fourth last time out, whereas Rea crashed out of a potential podium spot before restarting and finishing in 11th place.
Robbin Harms (Harms Benjan Racing Honda) will be hoping for a simple, but dramatic change of luck at Magny Cours. Top true privateer and top Honda rider for much of the early season, he has been unable to score at all in the past four races, due to elements outside his control. Despite this he is still more than capable of improving on his current 12th place in the championship, being only 13 points from Ellison, who is seventh.
One spot behind Harms, popular Portuguese rider Miguel Praia (Parkalgar Honda) had a strong ride to eighth in Italy and he is still 13th in the rankings. He knows he needs to improve his qualifying performances to improve on this finish, but his recent race pace has been strong.
Balazs Nemeth (Team Hungary Toth Honda) is the final Honda rider in the current top 15, with more than half of that number of competitors choosing CBR600RR machines. Nemeth has a season best of seventh so far, scored at the Silverstone race.
Alexander Lundh (Cresto Guide Honda) was showing very well at the previous Imola round until he fell, and in 17th position overall he is tailed in the points table by Imre Toth (Team Hungary Toth Honda) and Vladimir Ivanov (Step Racing Team Honda). Pawel Szkopek (Bogdanka PTR Honda) put in a solid 12th place finish in the previous round to move up one place to 21st overall.
HONDA RIDER COMMENTS:
Jonathan Rea (Castrol Honda)
"Imola was so positive for the most part, for myself and the team, and we won the first race. I was a bit tired on Sunday night, but not in pain from my old injuries. It was just disappointing not to win both races, but a lot of things moved in our favour last weekend. I know what is possible in France, but we have the same target as Imola
- to develop and take the bike to the next level. There is still work to do. Magny Cours has a different character and surface from Imola.
I am not thinking about any championship positions I just want to concentrate on the bike."Ruben Xaus (Castrol Honda)
"We are doing a lot with electronics at the moment and we made a big step between race one to race two in Imola. I was riding much closer to the leaders, even without perfect set-up conditions. I always try my best, I will be professional and finish my season as well as I can. I will also try to help develop the electronics as much as possible."Fabien Foret (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda)
"We go to Magny Cours now and that is my home circuit, the only one in France for us. If the championship is still on, then that is great. Now, after winning at Imola, I would like to try and do the same in France, of course. Riding at your home round is always special, and I am looking forward to it."Sam Lowes (Parkalgar Honda)
"I was really happy to get second at Imola and can't wait to get to Magny Cours this weekend. We learned so much in the race last weekend, particularly following Fabien at the end. I think having races on consecutive weekends helps me as you go straight back into it. I know Magny Cours and I will try to take all I have learned this year into that round. It would be great to get four podiums in a row to end the season and that is a possibility for us after Germany and Italy. Now I want to so stop worrying about a race win, because I have not had one yet, and just see where we are at the end. I raced at Magny-Cours before and I really enjoyed it. Eugene won there last year so we should have good data for the bike."James Ellison (Bogdanka PTR Honda)
"I'm looking forward to Magny Cours as it's a track I like and know very well. I'm hoping it will be a bit cooler than Imola as the tyre I like to use works better in cooler conditions and maybe we can get back the kind of feel I had in Germany. I was not completely comfortable on the set-up all weekend in Italy. Our finishing position was ok, but we were a long way back. We have already proved we can do better than sixth. We just need to get things right with the feel and of the front. I don't mind if the rear is sliding or spinning, but I need the front to be accurate so when I am looking for an apex, I can hit it every time."Florian Marino (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda) "A home race next at Magny Cours so I am ready and I hope to be as fast as I was at Imola. I really want to finish in the top there, so let's see what happens. It is special to be racing at a home race and the timing may be good because we got some speed back at Imola."
Gino Rea (Step Racing Team Honda)
"It was disappointing to fall off on the final lap in Italy, so we will carry on trying to get the best results we can in France. We had another tough weekend last time out but we came back well from where we were on Friday. I am taking that recovery as a positive going to the race in France."Robbin Harms (Harms Benjan Racing Honda) "It was another hard weekend last time and I hope we have a better result in Magny Cours this weekend. In Italy I had a crash on Saturday and we had to use the spare engine after that, which developed a clutch problem on race day. It should be ok for Magny Cours and that should work out for us for the rest of the year. We just have to race with what we have now and go for the best results possible."