In 2016, Barni Racing Team count on the experienced hands of Valencian rider Xavi Forés to guide their Panigale R throughout the season, and after a difficult start the combination have gained a total of four top 4 finishes until now. Forés is tenth in the overall standings, and Team Principal Marco Barnabó recently caught up with WorldSBK.com to discuss the season so far.

“Xavi’s season is going well,” says Barnabó. “We’ve had some ups and down – like the injury at the start of the season in Australia – and that affected the following races too. It slowed down bike development program as well. In Aragón, a track he knows well, it went well – but then we had a few more difficulties at tracks on which neither the rider nor the team have many points of reference, like Sepang and Thailand.”

However, the work on the Panigale R is now getting even more in-depth, explains Barnabó: “The two most important parts of the bike are the chassis and the electronics. These bikes have such sophisticated electronics, engine braking and traction control and if it’s not perfect it makes life difficult given the depth of the WorldSBK grid. Everything has to go right and everything has to be refined to the maximum. On tracks we didn’t know we were at a disadvantage, and on the other hand the others we knew gave us a small advantage. That’s important for us to be able to fight with the factory teams – they have so much more data and experience.”

“Ducati have helped us a lot with development,” continues the Team Principal. “The important thing is to have comparable pace, to use the same material with a view to getting data immediately, and get a good set up as soon as possible. Without the help of Ducati I don’t think we could have been so competitive.”

Barni are also racing in the CIV – the national Italian Championship – and this can prove useful.

“To work in both Championships is difficult because we never stop – but at the same time it helps us because at other race meetings we can get data that we can then use in WorldSBK. For us, the two complement each other.”

WorldSBK and Forés are now on summer break, with the action set to resume at Lausitzring in Germany on the 16^th-18^th September for the Pirelli German Round – a track that saw Forés gain much past success in German Championship the IDM.