- Offizieller Beitrag
HONDA RACING INFORMATION
ZitatAlles anzeigen2014 FIM SUPERBIKE / SUPERSPORT WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP ROUND 01, PHILLIP ISLAND, AUSTRALIA SUNDAY, 23 FEBRUARY 2014 PREVIEW
HASLAM AND REA SET FOR FIRST ROUND SUPERBIKE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP ACTION
The opening round of the FIM Superbike World Championship will shortly take place at Phillip Island in Australia, on Sunday 23 February, with two strong official Honda entries ready to race after the recent two day official championship tests on 17 and 18 February.
Leon Haslam (Pata Honda World Superbike Team) and Jonathan Rea will team up for their second year on the latest CBR1000RR, with Rea now heading for his sixth straight season with Honda in SBK racing.
Haslam will embark on his second season with Pata Honda a little bumped and bruised after a big crash on the second day of testing but he escaped complications to his 2013 leg injury. Leon was eighth in the combined times after official testing, one place ahead of his team-mate Rea.
Each rider is keen to get back to the circuit on Friday to make final set-up changes and tyre evaluations, with the Phillip Island track surface notoriously hard on tyres, especially in the hot afternoon conditions experienced at these tests.
The 4.448KM Phillip Island circuit in Australia will host the Superbike World Championship for the 24th time in the 27-year history of the championship, but it will be a new-look championship in some key regards this coming season.
A host of technical regulation changes have arrived in time for the 2014 season, including capping the costs of suspension and brake components, limitations on gearbox internals and limits on the total number of engines used over a season to eight per rider.
There is also a whole new SBK Evo class for 2014, which will run alongside the full SBK machines.
Evo machines will feature full SBK chassis specifications, but will run Superstock engines and electronics packages. There is an engine limit of six per rider per season in the SBK Evo category.After the completion of the opening weekend there will be a long wait for the second round of the series to get underway, on Sunday 13th April, at Motorland Aragon in Spain.
VAN DER MARK AND ZANETTI LEAD THE HONDA SUPERSPORT CHARGE ONCE AGAIN
As the 2014 FIM Supersport World Championship gets underway shortly Michael van der Mark (Pata Honda World Supersport Team) and Lorenzo Zanetti (Pata Honda World Supersport Team) once more team up to challenge for the second year in succession. The opening round takes place alongside the FIM Superbike World Championship class at Phillip Island in Australia, on Sunday 23rd February.
The Pata Honda team’s intense off-season preparations were completed with a two-day test at Phillip Island on 17 and 18 February and van der Mark and Zanetti are now fully ready to race, leading the hopes of several top Honda entries in the 2014 championship fight.
Van der Mark was fastest of the Honda riders at the official Australian tests, in third place overall. New Honda rider, and former Moto2 pilot Ratthapark Wilairot (Core PTR Honda) was impressive in fifth place in the pre-season testing order as he now goes about carving a career path in the WSS class. Raffaele De Rosa (Core PTR Honda) has remained with Honda for 2014, but has changed teams.
Jack Kennedy (CIA Insurance Honda) has also moved teams in 2014, but has again remained with Honda.
The Irish rider was fast in the early tests at Phillip Island but fell and broke his right heel later on day one. He has already undergone surgery to try and get himself back into contention for the race weekend. Young Spanish rider Nacho Calero (CIA Insurance Honda) is back in the overall PTR Honda team set-up again as he starts his second season of WSS competition.The Lorini Honda team has had a radical change in readiness for the 2014 season, with Riccardo Russo (Team Lorini Honda) and former Superstock
1000 rider Marco Bussolotti (Team Lorini Honda) joining the Italian squad. Fraser Rogers (Com Plus SMS Racing) makes his WSS full season debut in 2014, after taking a one of ride with his new team in 2013.Bryan Staring (Rivamoto Honda) was a late call up to the Rivamoto squad that ran Jack Kennedy last year, with Staring – a recent MotoGP rider - heading for his first season in the WSS class. He is an old hand at Superstock 1000 FIM Cup racing, so the Superbike paddock is a familiar one to him. He also won the Australian Supersport championship in the past. He was 13th in the official pre-race test rankings at his home circuit.
HONDA RIDER COMMENTS:
Leon Haslam (Pata Honda World Superbike Team) “The tests went well at Phillip Island until I had a big highside on the first lap of the afternoon session today. In not so grippy track conditions, and with a new tyre fitted, the traction control did not work as we hoped it would, so I had a big one at turn 11. I am happy I walked away from it although my backside is a bit sore after landing on it so hard. All in all we made good progress this morning working on race runs and race set-up. This afternoon was going to be a long distance run but we missed the session. I honestly think we can challenge for the top spots here even through we are still in a catch-up mode. We are trying to bring our electronics package to where it needs to be but up to this point we have been making small but correct steps. Now we are working on chassis set-up, which we have not been able to do for a while now, and every session we are making the right steps and the right progress. We have two more days of track time before raceday itself, and we are not a million miles away.”
Jonathan Rea (Pata Honda World Superbike Team) “We are in much better shape than we were in last year but we still have work to do to be competitive. We have been going well up until turn ten, and in the final two corners. That’s where I seem to lose all the progress we have made during the lap. At the slow turn ten I really struggle with engine braking and throttle connection, then in the final corner – where I think we are losing the bulk of the time - it is mostly losing feeling with the front. I do not feel confident through the last corner and then when I get on the gas down the straight I feel I am getting held back a bit by the electronics. We will see on Friday if we have more ideas for the race. The team know what I am speaking about and we can see it on the data. I did a race run today so I know how the tyre behaves towards the end.”
Michael van der Mark (Pata Honda World Supersport Team) "I am ready for the race because our tests went OK. I got a tyre that worked well over race distance and compared to last year, and the work we have done in the winter tests, I am really happy with the bike. It is really easy to ride. I am sure we can find some improvements for race weekend and if we can get the full race distance on the tyre we should have a good pace for the race. It is easier to approach this first race of the season in my second year in the championship, and in my second year with my team. I needed only three or four laps to remember all the parts of the track. I am happy to continue on the same bike and in the same team. Last year we scored three podiums and in the winter tests we made a big step. It will be difficult with Kenan Sofuoglu, but if we can close the gap to Kenan I think we can fight for the win.”
Lorenzo Zanetti (Pata Honda World Supersport Team) “The final morning of the tests was not so bad and I arrived with a good lap time, same as my best lap time from last year. I tried a new race simulation on a new tyre from Pirelli but as soon as I started there was a red flag and then I had a little problem and then a crash. I hope to have no problems in race weekend. The most important thing will be the durability of the tyres.”
Ratthapark Wilairot (Core PTR Honda)
"We have been working on a good way since we got the bike here and it has been quite difficult for me because I stopped half way through the previous Moto2 season. So the first day was difficult here to adapt to the Supersport bike and then also the track, because I had forgotten some parts of it. We had good information from these tests and we also did a long run. We are working well and I hope we can go to the top. My first target on the race weekend is to finish the race and understand how WSS is. I would like to stay with the front group and learn.”Riccardo Russo (Team Lorini Honda)
"It is a good feeling in my new team and the Honda is a very good bike which feels very fast.
I really think it will be possible to be in the top five on the weekend if it all goes well. On my first race weekend on the Honda I expect to be inside the top ten at least but I hope to be closer to the first ones. The feeling is good already even though I have never ridden at Phillip Island until now. There are some very fast corners but I love the track.”Bryan Staring (Rivamoto Honda)
"My feeling with the bike is great so I am a little bit disappointed that we dropped down the list a bit at the end. Our consistency is quite good and we still need to find a little bit more.
But we are consistently close and I think we are a lot stronger than our current situation of 13th shows. I am happy how the team works and how we have improved so if we can keep chipping away like this I am confident we can have a good race on Sunday.”Marco Bussolotti (Team Lorini Honda)
"This is my first time on a WSS bike after riding a Superstock 1000 for so long. It is also my first time here in Australia, so the test was not the best but I hope we can do better during the race. I just have to improve the feeling with the 600cc bike.”