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HONDA RACING INFORMATION
ZitatAlles anzeigenFIM SUPERBIKE / SUPERSPORT WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP ROUND 13 SUNDAY OCTOBER 16 PORTIMAO, PORTUGAL PREVIEW
FINAL ROUND SEES REA GO BACK TO THE FUTURE
The exquisitely designed Autodromo Internacional Algarve near the Portuguese coastal town of Portimao was where WSBK racing began for Jonathan Rea (Castrol Honda), at the end of the 2008 season. Having just missed out on the FIM Supersport World Championship that year the Hannspree Ten Kate Honda management decided to give Jonathan a taster of the full WSBK-spec Honda CBR1000RR he would be riding in 2009. Rea duly qualified third on the grid and took a fourth place in his first ever meeting at that level.
There have been ups and downs in Jonathan’s 2011 WSBK season for Honda, but the ups have included two race wins, pride-of-place in superpole at the most recent round in France and he still has the opportunity to finish inside the overall top ten, despite suffering injuries and missing eight potential points scoring races. Rea’s winning mentality will have its usual free rein in Portugal as he attempts to add to his WSBK career total of eight race victories, but he will also work on the team’s relatively new ride-by-wire electronics system, with one eye on preparations for the 2012 season.
Ruben Xaus (Castrol Honda) will not make the Portimao race due to the lingering effects of a recent injury and riding in his place will be
2004 Supersport World Champion for Ten Kate Honda, Karl Muggeridge. Between 2005 and 2006 Karl also rode for the Ten Kate team in WSBK, and will be returning to his roots in many ways this weekend. Muggeridge has plied his trade in the German IDM Championship on a Honda CBR1000RR for the past two seasons, adding the championship title to his trophy haul in 2010.Portimao is acknowledged to be one of the best circuits to appear on the scene for a number of years and features frequent elevation changes, blind corner entries and fast sweeping curves along its 4.592Km length. Modern architectural design is evident in its paddock buildings and the venue’s expansive facilities help to make it a popular choice for both racing and testing purposes.
HONDA RIDERS RELISH THE CHALLENGE ON LAST WEEKEND OF THE SEASON
Honda’s array of FIM Supersport World
Championship riders, led by second placed man Fabien Foret (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda), may have no championship challenge to mount anymore, but the competition for podiums and final grid placings will be as keen as ever at Portimao this weekend.Chaz Davies (Yamaha) was crowned champion last time out in France, but the fight for overall second is still very much on between Foret and the two Kawasaki riders who are each eight points behind the 2002 champion at present, Broc Parkes and David Salom.
Sam Lowes (Parkalgar Honda) has both of those Kawasaki riders in his sights at his team’s home round and he also has an arithmetical chance of finishing second overall, if results go his way and the three riders immediately ahead of him all have an off-day in Portugal. Lowes has done everything, but win a race in this his first full season, having taken six podiums, pole position at the San Marino round and secured two fastest laps. He sits eight points ahead of sixth place rider Luca Scassa (Yamaha).
James Ellison (Bogdanka PTR Honda) and Florian Marino (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda) look set to fight it out for seventh in the championship, with both riders having experienced a few highs and lows along the way this year. Ellison was nearly the winner at the German round of the championship in early September while 18-year-old Marino has still to climb onto the podium, but has scored points in a consistent manner. Ellison is five points ahead of Marino at present.
Of the top Honda riders on show in 2011 only Foret and Gino Rea (Step Racing Honda) have scored a race win so far, with the 22-year-old English rider leading them all home at Brno.
Falls and retirements have cost him championship places and he is now tenth overall, although only
16 points behind seventh-placed Ellison.A straight run of five no-scores, including a non-start at the previous round, have relegated privateer rider Robbin Harms (Harms Benjan Racing
Honda) from an early season top five spot to 12th. The experienced Danish rider is now looking to the final battle for another chance to run inside the top five in a race, as refreshed race spec engines have been prepared especially for the final round.Portuguese rider Miguel Praia (Parkalgar Honda) has an obvious emotional tie to his home race, in which he hopes to record a season-best finish in front of his home fans. Miguel’s career best is sixth and his highest race finish in 2011 is eighth, which he has scored on three separate occasions already.
Balazs Nemeth (Team Hungary Toth Honda) is still 15th in the rankings, one place and ten points ahead of Alexander Lundh (Cresto Guide Honda).
Imre Toth (Team Hungary Toth Honda) and Vladimir Ivanov (Step Racing Team Honda) are the final two Honda riders in the top 20 championship places at present, although Ukrainian competitor Konstantin Pisarev is scheduled to replace Ivanov this weekend. Pawel Szkopek (Bogdanka PTR Honda) is just a point from Ivanov, with one race left.Due to there being no Supersport race at the Miller Motorsports Park round in May, the last race weekend of the championship for the 600cc riders is the 12th of the year, not the 13th as in the Superbike division.
HONDA RIDER COMMENTS:
Jonathan Rea (Castrol Honda)
“I really like the Portimao circuit. I made my World Superbike debut there in 2008 and just missed out on a podium, but I’ve had a lot of other good experiences there. It’s been an interesting month since I came back from injury and, of course, the win at Imola was amazing. But we’re still working hard on the development of elements of the 2012 bike, so it’s a slightly strange situation – racing and testing at the same time. Magny-Cours gave us some different set-up issues to Imola, which just showed that it’s not an easy process, and Portimao is another circuit with its own characteristics. While the testing and development work will continue at Portimao, it would be nice to finish the season on a high, so we can go into the winter in a confident frame of mind.”Karl Muggeridge (Castrol Honda)
“Obviously I am sorry for Ruben because it is never good to miss out through injury, especially at the last round of the season. I hope I can bring something positive, however, to the team to help the guys finish the year on a good note. I have no preconceived ideas about where I should be over the weekend so we will just take each session as it comes and try to make some steps forward in each one. I have not ridden at Portimao since the first race there in 2008 and the CBR that I have been riding in the German championship is a quite different bike to the current Castrol Honda version. It is a big task but one that I’m determined to make the most of.”Fabien Foret (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda)
“I hope to have another chance to go for a win this weekend. It was not my target to finish second in the championship, but I want to make sure I will be second and try to go into the winter with a good result at the last round. At Portimao we had a good winter test before the start of the season and I understand the bike much more now. I think we can go for a good result.”Sam Lowes (Parkalgar Honda)
“I’m really looking forward to racing at my team’s home round at the incredible Portimao circuit. It is a real rider's track with elevation changes, blind crests and fast sweeping corners. It is a brilliant place to visit whether spectator or racer and I want to end my season on a real positive note. I'm looking forward to racing in front of the Portuguese crowd and hope I'll be able to give them something to smile about.”James Ellison (Bogdanka PTR Honda)
“I want to end things on a high. We need that win. We are capable of it and the bike is capable of it, and we have shown that recently. Last race weekend we lost four seconds when I got covered in oil at one stage and was run off the track, and then I finished only two seconds from the win. So we had the pace to win the race by two seconds had it not been for the run-on. It’s all a bit academic now, but at least it proved we had really good pace. A win is possible this weekend, even though there will be some fast people out there again, but we have to push for the top podium spot really.”Florian Marino (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda) “It feels like it has been a long time since the last round and we really did not have a good race at Magny Cours. Now it is simply a case of doing as well as I can at the last race of the year. If we can put everything together like in Imola, and get back a good feeling in the race then I feel I can stay at the front. I want to come back into the pit box with a smile on my face every time because it shows I am having fun on the bike.
When you are having fun it means you are going fast. I now just want to finish my first season well and enjoy it.”Gino Rea (Step Racing Team Honda)
“I’m looking forward to getting out on circuit at Portimao after we had some problems in the past couple of weekends. We have a new electronics engineer this weekend and he has been thrown in at the deep end a bit, so I hope we can get things dialled in as quickly as possible. I really want to make a strong finish to the season. We’ve been up against things like this sometimes through the year and have still produced strong finishes, so we aim to do it again on Sunday.”Robbin Harms (Harms Benjan Racing Honda) “We had some problems at Magny Cours so we decided to make two complete new engines for the final race to be fully prepared. It tells on our budget to prepare two more engines, but we are here for racing. We want to complete the season and do it properly. I would like a top five and I will be going to go that kind of result this weekend. That is a good goal to have.”
Miguel Praia (Parkalgar Honda)
"This is the most important weekend of the year for me and my Parkalgar Honda team, we are racing at our own track, we are coming home. I am really looking forward to the race - it is special to race at the place where I work every day. The Portuguese fans are very special and I can't wait to be racing in front of them. I hope they come and cheer for the team and me; it will be a great party. Being at Portimao I know the track well so my expectations are high; I want to make my best result of the year. That means a top five is needed to make me happy."