Chantra and Vickers work through Friday's free practice sessions at Misano
Misano World Circuit “Marco Simoncelli”Somkiat Chantra and substitute rider Ryan Vickers concentrated on bike setup and race preparation during Friday’s practice sessions at Misano.
Honda HRC has completed the first day of action making up this seventh Superbike World Championship round at the Misano World Circuit “Marco Simoncelli”, with riders Somkiat Chantra and Ryan Vickers placing nineteenth and twenty-first in the day’s combined standings.
The first free practice session ran mid-morning in dry, sunny conditions. Chantra set out to use the work completed during the recent Misano test and the Aragón round as a platform on which to build, recording a best time of 1’34.356 to place nineteenth in this initial phase. Vickers, who stands in for Jake Dixon this weekend, used the opening session to reacquaint himself with the bike and team he last worked with during a one-day test in Jerez last October. Taking a methodical approach, the British rider completed seventeen laps to place twenty-first with a time of 1’35.362.
Despite higher temperatures for the afternoon’s second practice, both Chantra and Vickers soon improved on their FP1 performance, completing a few laps together on track during their opening run and continuing to work closely with their crews in preparation for Saturday’s first race. A fastest time of 1’34.002 saw the Thai rider retain nineteenth position in the combined standings. On the other side of the garage, Vickers continued to make adjustments to his setup in order to find a more comfortable feeling with the bike. Taking seven tenths off his earlier time, he rounded out day one in twenty-first position with a best lap of 1’34.693.
The Honda HRC team will now focus on preparing for Saturday’s Superpole qualifying session and Race 1.
“Today was my first day of practice here at Misano. We started FP1 with a setup that was a compromise between some aspects of the setup we worked with in Aragón and the one we used during the latest Misano test, but we quickly realised it wasn’t delivering the results we were looking for. The bike was nervous and we experienced more rear tyre sliding than we had during the Misano test. We worked on the setup throughout the morning session, but we still felt there was room for improvement, so for FP2 we decided to switch back to a setup much closer to the one we had used during the recent test here. That helped and our lap times improved, but the track conditions were hotter this afternoon and it felt like we didn’t have the same level of grip. I’m not sure whether it was down to the setup or something else, but the bike was still moving around more than it had been during the test. The team will now analyse everything and hopefully tomorrow we can put everything together and take another step forward.”
“Today was my first day of practice here at Misano. We started FP1 with a setup that was a compromise between some aspects of the setup we worked with in Aragón and the one we used during the latest Misano test, but we quickly realised it wasn’t delivering the results we were looking for. The bike was nervous and we experienced more rear tyre sliding than we had during the Misano test. We worked on the setup throughout the morning session, but we still felt there was room for improvement, so for FP2 we decided to switch back to a setup much closer to the one we had used during the recent test here. That helped and our lap times improved, but the track conditions were hotter this afternoon and it felt like we didn’t have the same level of grip. I’m not sure whether it was down to the setup or something else, but the bike was still moving around more than it had been during the test. The team will now analyse everything and hopefully tomorrow we can put everything together and take another step forward.”
“Day 1 at Misano is done. It’s fantastic to be part of the Honda HRC team and work with such professional people. It’s a great environment to be in and it’s impressive to see how hard everybody is working. Getting back on a WorldSBK bike after racing in BSB is quite a big change and the feeling is very different from what I’m used to. I also had to adapt to Misano without having had the opportunity to test here beforehand. The feeling was good, and the first session was mainly about getting laps under my belt and reacquainting myself with the bike and the track. We were able to improve again in FP2 after making some changes to the setup, and I felt more comfortable on the bike. We now have a good plan for tomorrow and a clear idea of the areas where we need to improve, particularly on the electronics side. The team is working really hard and I think that if we can take another step in those areas, we should be able to improve further tomorrow. I’m looking forward to it. Thanks to the team for all their hard work and support.”
“Day 1 at Misano is done. It’s fantastic to be part of the Honda HRC team and work with such professional people. It’s a great environment to be in and it’s impressive to see how hard everybody is working. Getting back on a WorldSBK bike after racing in BSB is quite a big change and the feeling is very different from what I’m used to. I also had to adapt to Misano without having had the opportunity to test here beforehand. The feeling was good, and the first session was mainly about getting laps under my belt and reacquainting myself with the bike and the track. We were able to improve again in FP2 after making some changes to the setup, and I felt more comfortable on the bike. We now have a good plan for tomorrow and a clear idea of the areas where we need to improve, particularly on the electronics side. The team is working really hard and I think that if we can take another step in those areas, we should be able to improve further tomorrow. I’m looking forward to it. Thanks to the team for all their hard work and support.”
