After finishing the day second in the combined classifications after Friday practice for the Motul Portuguese Round, Loris Baz (Ten Kate Racing Yamaha) has outlined the improvements he feels need to be made to the bike ahead of Tissot Superpole and Race 1 at the Autodromo Internacional do Algarve for the MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship.

Baz finished the day fifth in Free Practice 1 before being classified in second place in Free Practice 2, the Frenchman showing consistent rapid pace throughout the day. The 27-year-old was running at the front of the field at the previous round at Jerez and has been using this to help improve his Yamaha YZF R1 as well as explaining his plan from Friday.

Baz said: “We are trying a few things here, on the electronics and the setup on the fork also, trying to find a few tenths and a bit easier bike to ride in the race. Straight away this morning I felt good, I did the whole session with the same tyre. I didn’t want to use the new tyre at the end, and it was good to finish in the top five.

“This afternoon, the grip of the track was really low, and I was struggling a lot but I think everyone was as I was surprised to see I was second. I had a really bad feeling on the bike. We improved, we tried a few things on the bike and then we went out with the SCX just to see and managed to make the best lap from this afternoon and second overall.”

Despite the impressive pace being shown in both practice sessions ahead of racing, which starts on Saturday, Baz believes improvements can be made to help make him and the Ten Kate Racing Yamaha team even stronger as the race weekend progresses; as he looks to stand on a WorldSBK podium for the first time since 2014.

Baz added: “We improved a lot the front of the bike and the electronics a little bit, mainly in entry with the engine braking. I’m not so happy with the grip in the rear especially with the traction control, the way it works with the shock is not perfect at the moment and we need to improve, mainly because here it’s so up and down. As soon as you lose a little bit of grip, you carry on moving all the way through the next corner. It’s really important to have an easy bike here and not to make any mistakes, because it costs a lot of time as soon as you make a small mistake.”

You can follow more action from the Motul Portuguese Round with the WorldSBK VideoPass!