Cookie Consent by Free Privacy Policy website In Australia the Kawasaki riders take the WorldSBK races on the second day while Locatelli wins WorldSSP; very similar tyre choices for all the riders
march 01, 2020 - Pirelli

In Australia the Kawasaki riders take the WorldSBK races on the second day while Locatelli wins WorldSSP; very similar tyre choices for all the riders

Current World Champion Jonathan Rea wins the sprint race in the morning, but in Race 2 his teammate Alex Lowes snatches the victory; outstanding début for Scott Redding as well, totalling three bottom steps of the podium throughout the weekend

Phillip Island (Australia), 1 March 2020 – The opening round of the MOTUL FIM World Superbike Championship, which just ended at the Phillip Island circuit in Australia, was undoubtedly one of the most exciting and competitive of recent years. This is demonstrated, not only by the fact that the three different riders took a turn on the top step of the podium in the premier class, but also by the fact that riders from three different manufacturers were battling for victory in all the races: Kawasaki, Yamaha and Ducati.
 
After the success achieved in Race 1 by Toprak Razgatlioglu on Yamaha, today the riders from the Iwata-based manufacturer, along with the Kawasakis and Ducati rider Scott Redding, remained the undisputed protagonists of the day. Gaining the upper hand in the Tissot Superpole® Race was five-time World Champion Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK / Kawasaki ZX-10RR) who, however, in Race 2 was forced to yield to Alex Lowes, consistently competitive throughout the weekend.
Also putting in a stellar performance was Ducati new entry, Scott Redding, who leaves Australia with a bounty of three third place finishes and a provisional second place in the Championship standings behind Lowes. Also noteworthy is the performance of Chilean rider Maximilian Scheib and Frenchman Loriz Baz, the best of the satellite team riders and at time battling for the top spots in the race.
In WorldSSP, on the other hand, former Moto 2 rider Andrea Locatelli performed admirably, winning his début race in the 600 Championship astride his Yamaha operated by BARDAHL Evan Bros. WorldSSP Team.
 
Pirelli can also consider itself satisfied with the performance of its tyres in the premier category. In fact, the Italian manufacturer allowed the riders to maintain a very high pace from start to finish in the races, contributing to the great show on the track.
As for the WorldSSP class, where slicks are being used for the first time ever this year, Pirelli collected useful data that will allow them to further improve the product in the future.
 
WorldSBK Tissot Superpole Race
 
The Tissot Superpole® Race launched the Sunday events. At the start, Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK / Kawasaki ZX-10RR), starting from the third spot on the grid and hungry for redemption after his crash in Race 1, left the rest of the pack behind, taking the lead straight away. Close behind were Toprak Razgatlioglu (PATA YAMAHA WorldSBK Official Team / Yamaha YZF R1) and pole man Tom Sykes (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team / BMWS1000 RR). Settling into fourth place was the Yamaha ridden by Michael Van Der Mark who, however, was overtaken on the second lap by Scott Redding (ARUBA.IT Racing - Ducati / Ducati Panigale V4 R). In the meantime, Álvaro Bautista (Team HRC / Honda CBR1000RR) crashed out on turn 6, going on to finish the race in last place, while Sykes, as had already happened in Race 1, slowly lost positions in favour of Redding. The latter moved into third and then second place, getting threateningly close to Rea. During the fourth lap, Redding and Rea made contact, but managed to stay on their respective lines. Rea, Redding, Razgatlioglu and Lowes were once again protagonists, as they had been in Race 1, all grouped within a half a second. Not far behind the leading group was the trio made up of Van Der Mark, Sykes and Baz.
At the beginning of the seventh lap, Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK / Kawasaki ZX-10RR) made a move on Razgatlioglu in an attempt to snatch third place, but the Turkish rider managed to fend off the attack by the Kawasaki new entry.
On the penultimate lap, Razgatlioglu managed to get past Rea, but the World Champion was having none of it, taking back the lost position. In the finale, Rea, Razgatlioglu and Redding were within one tenth of a second of one another. On the final lap, the Turkish rider attacked Rea again, this time managing to take the lead, but once again, Jonathan Rea took back the lost position on the penultimate turn, finishing first ahead of Toprak Razgatlioglu, second, and Scott Redding, third. Fourth place went to Lowes and firth to Michael Van Der Mark.
 
WorldSBK Superpole Tissot Race standings:
 
1) J. Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK / Kawasaki ZX-10RR)
2) T. Razgatlioglu (PATA YAMAHA WorldSBK Official Team / Yamaha YZF R1)
3) S. Redding (ARUBA.IT Racing - Ducati / Ducati Panigale V4 R)
4) A. Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK / Kawasaki ZX-10RR)
5) M. van der Mark (PATA YAMAHA WorldSBK Official Team / Yamaha YZF R1)
6) T. Sykes (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team / BMWS1000 RR)
7) L. Baz (Ten Kate Racing Yamaha / Yamaha YZF R1)
8) L. Haslam (Team HRC / Honda CBR1000RR
9) M. Rinaldi (Team GOELEVEN / Ducati Panigale V4 R)
10) M. Scheib (ORELAC Racing VERDNATURA / Kawasaki ZX-10RR)
11) S. Cortese (OUTDO Kawasaki TPR / Kawasaki ZX-10RR)
12) X. Fores (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing / Kawasaki ZX-10RR)
13) C. Davies (ARUBA.IT Racing - Ducati / Ducati Panigale V4 R)
14) F. Caricasulo (GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Junior Team / Yamaha YZF R1)
15) T. Takahashi (MIE Racing / Honda CBR1000RR)
16) Á. Bautista (Team HRC / Honda CBR1000RR)
 
WorldSBK Race 2:
 
In Race 2, Michael van Der Mark (PATA YAMAHA WorldSBK Official Team / Yamaha YZF R1)got off to an outstanding start from the fifth spot on the grid, immediately moving into the race lead. Behind him were Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK / Kawasaki ZX-10RR), starting from pole position, and teammate Toprak Razgatlioglu. They were followed by the other factory Kawasaki rider, Alex Lowes, and Scott Redding (ARUBA.IT Racing - Ducati / Ducati Panigale V4 R). During the second lap, Rea took back the lead, overtaking the Yamaha riding Dutchman. In the meantime, Haslam and Rinaldi ended up in the gravel on turn 10.
During the fourth lap, Scott Redding overtook Alex Lowes. This placed the Ducati rider fourth behind the Turkish Yamaha rider, who he managed to overtake during the sixth lap.
On the following lap, Loris Baz (Ten Kate Racing Yamaha / Yamaha YZF R1) overtook both Lowes and Razgatlioglu in a single move for fourth place before overtaking Redding as well on the next lap. The French Yamaha rider was extremely fast on the tenth lap, managing to get past Van Der Mark and then race leader Jonathan Rea as well, moving into first place, only to return the position a few turns later. In the meantime, Chaz Davies (ARUBA.IT Racing - Ducati / Ducati Panigale V4 R) moved into fifth place behind his teammate after a brilliant comeback from fifteenth position, while Federico Caricasulo crashed on turn 2, ending the race early for him.
From mid-race, it was a four-way battle for the lead between Baz, Rea, Lowes and Van Der Mark. In any case, the leading group, made up of ten riders, was very compact and grouped within 2 seconds. On the sixteenth lap, Alex Lowes overtook his teammate on the final straight, but the World Champion responded, taking back the lead. Four laps from the end, the battle between Rea, Lowes and Van Der Mark was as heated as ever, with the three alternating in the lead.
Two laps from the end, Razgatlioglu and Baz went wide on turn 4, but the Frenchman got the worst of it, ending up in the gravel but able to re-enter in eighth place. Shortly thereafter, on turn 8, Razgatlioglu had a technical problem and also ended up off the track.
In the meantime, Alex Lowes moved into the race lead, overtaking his teammate, while Scott Redding overtook Michael Van Der Mark for third. The race ended with the Lowes-Rea Kawasaki one-two and third place going to Scott Redding, the third in a row for the new team ARUBA.IT Racing – Ducati rider.
 
WorldSBK Race 2 standings:
 
1) A. Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK / Kawasaki ZX-10RR)
2) J. Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK / Kawasaki ZX-10RR)
3) S. Redding (ARUBA.IT Racing - Ducati / Ducati Panigale V4 R)
4) M. van der Mark (PATA YAMAHA WorldSBK Official Team / Yamaha YZF R1)
5) C. Davies (ARUBA.IT Racing - Ducati / Ducati Panigale V4 R)
6) Á. Bautista (Team HRC / Honda CBR1000RR)
7) M. Scheib (ORELAC Racing VERDNATURA / Kawasaki ZX-10RR)
8) L. Baz (Ten Kate Racing Yamaha / Yamaha YZF R1)
9) S. Cortese (OUTDO Kawasaki TPR / Kawasaki ZX-10RR)
10) T. Sykes (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team / BMWS1000 RR)
11) X. Fores (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing / Kawasaki ZX-10RR)
12) L. Haslam (Team HRC / Honda CBR1000RR)
RT) M. Rinaldi (Team GOELEVEN / Ducati Panigale V4 R)
RT) T. Razgatlioglu (PATA YAMAHA WorldSBK Official Team / Yamaha YZF R1)
RT) F. Caricasulo (GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Junior Team / Yamaha YZF R1)
RT) T. Takahashi (MIE Racing / Honda CBR1000RR)
 
WorldSSP race:
 
Before Race 2, the WorldSSP race was held. The race lost one of its protagonists straight away, with Randy Krummenacher (MV Agusta Reparto Corse / MV Agusta F3 675) going off track on turn 1 and being forced to retire.
Andrea Locatelli (BARDAHL Evan Bros. WorldSSP Team / Yamaha YZF R6), on the other hand, managed to hold onto first place, ahead of Lucas Mahias (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing / Kawasaki ZX-6R) until the Frenchman was overtaken by Raffaele De Rosa (MV Agusta Reparto Corse / MV Agusta F3 675) and Jules Cluzel (GMT94 Yamaha / Yamaha YZF R6), but he was able to take back the position lost to the latter.
During the seventh lap, Philipp Oettl (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing / Kawasaki ZX-6R) crashed on turn 2, but was able to rejoin the race.
On the eighth lap, the first riders pitted to change the rear tyres, as required by the flag to flag regulation. Race leader, Locatelli, stopped on the tenth lap, managing to re-enter the track maintaining the lead. Behind him were De Rosa and Cluzel, whereas, Mahais slid back to fourth place. The positions would remain unchanged all the way to the chequered flag, with former Moto 2 rider Andrea Locatelli winning his first WorldSSP race ahead of another Italian, Raffaele De Rosa, and Frenchman Jules Cluzel, third.
 
WorldSSP standings:
 
1) A. Locatelli (BARDAHL Evan Bros. WorldSSP Team / Yamaha YZF R6)
2) R. De Rosa (MV Agusta Reparto Corse / MV Agusta F3 675)
3) J. Cluzel (GMT94 Yamaha / Yamaha YZF R6)
4) C. Perolari (GMT94 Yamaha / Yamaha YZF R6)
5) L. Mahias (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing / Kawasaki ZX-6R)
6) H. Soomer (Kallio Racing / Yamaha YZF R6)
7) S. Odendaal (EAB Ten Kate Racing / Yamaha YZF R6)
8) M. Gonzalez (Kawasaki ParkinGO Team / Kawasaki ZX-6R)
9) F. Fuligni (MV Agusta Reparto Corse / MV Agusta F3 675)
10) I. Viñales (Kallio Racing / Yamaha YZF R6)
11) C. Öncü (Turkish Racing Team / Kawasaki ZX-6R)
12) D. Webb (WRP Wepol Racing / Yamaha YZF R6)
13) P. Hobelsberger (Dynavolt Honda / Honda CBR600RR)
14) P. Sebestyen (OXXO Yamaha Team Toth / Yamaha YZF R6)
15) A. Verdoïa (bLU cRU WorldSSP by MS Racing / Yamaha YZF R6)
16) J. van Sikkelerus (MPM Routz Racing Team / Yamaha YZF R6)
17) L. Cresson (OXXO Yamaha Team Toth / Yamaha YZF R6)
18) G. Hendra Pratama (bLU cRU WorldSSP by MS Racing / Yamaha YZF R6)
RT) C. Bergman (Wójcik Racing Team / Yamaha YZF R6)
RT) P. Oettl (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing / Kawasaki ZX-6R)
RT) H. Okubo (Dynavolt Honda / Honda CBR600RR)
RT) R. Krummenacher (MV Agusta Reparto Corse / MV Agusta F3 675)
 
The Pirelli solutions chosen by the riders for the WorldSBK and WorldSSP races:
 
In the Tissot Superpole Race, Tom Sykes (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team / BMWS1000 RR) and Takuo Takahashi (MIE Racing / Honda CBR1000RR) also opted for the W1049 SC1 development tyre (option A) on the rear, a solution used by all the riders in the race. As for the front, the most popular solution remained the standard SC2 (option B), although the factory Yamaha riders decided to switch from the standard SC2 to the standard SC1.
 
In Race 2, the riders substantially confirmed the solutions they had chosen for Race 1. The only rider to make a change on the rear were Tom Sykes and Takuo Takahashi who, as they had done in the Tissot Superpole Race, opted for the W1049 like all the other riders on the grid. For the front, on the other hand, Sandro Cortese and Maximilian Scheib made a change, putting on a standard SC2 instead of the SC1.
 
In the WorldSSP race, the riders unanimously chose the Y1006 SC1 development solution (option A) for the rear, whereas on the front, the tyre used by most was the standard SC1 (option A).
 
Pirelli statistics for WorldSBK Superpole Tissot race:
 
• Winner of the PIRELLI BEST LAP AWARD: Scott Redding (ARUBA.IT Racing - Ducati / Ducati Panigale V4 R),in 1'30.684in the 3rd lap
 
• Most used front solution: standard SC2 125/70 (9 out of 16 riders)
 
• Most used rear solution: development SC1 W1049 200/65 (16 out of 16 riders)
 
• Maximum race speed reached by Pirelli DIABLO™ Superbike tyres: 330.3 km/h, realizzata da Chaz Davies (ARUBA.IT Racing - Ducati / Ducati Panigale V4 R) in the 3rd and 5th lap
 
• Air temperature: 25° C
 
• Asphalt temperature: 33° C
 
Pirelli statistics for WorldSBK Race 2:
 
• Winner of the PIRELLI BEST LAP AWARD: Scott Redding (ARUBA.IT Racing - Ducati / Ducati Panigale V4 R),in 1'31.793in the 2nd lap
 
• Most used front solution: standard SC2 125/70 (12 out of 16 riders)
 
• Most used rear solution: development SC1 W1049 200/65 (16 out of 16 riders)
 
• Maximum race speed reached by Pirelli DIABLO™ Superbike tyres: 329.3 km/h, by Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK / Kawasaki ZX-10RR), Chaz Davies (ARUBA.IT Racing - Ducati / Ducati Panigale V4 R) and Alvaro Bautista (Team HRC / Honda CBR1000RR) respectively at 11th, 19th and 6th lap
 
• Air temperature: 31° C
 
• Asphalt temperature: 43° C
 
Pirelli statistics for WorldSSP race:
 
• Winner of the PIRELLI BEST LAP AWARD: Andrea Locatelli (BARDAHL Evan Bros. WorldSSP Team / Yamaha YZF R6), in 1'33.210in the 11th lap
 
• Most used front solution: standard SC1 (13 out of 22 riders)
 
• Most used rear solution: development SC1 Y1006 (22 out of 22 riders)
 
• Maximum race speed reached by Pirelli DIABLO™ Supercorsa tyres: 289.5 km/h, achieved by Manuel Gonzalez (Kawasaki ParkinGO Team / Kawasaki ZX-6R) in the 2nd lap
 
• Air temperature: 28° C
 
• Asphalt temperature: 40° C

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