Crucial components: how to perfect Portimao from Marcus Eschenbacher
Eugene Laverty’s crew chief gives us the perfect insight to the Portimao venue, and tells us what the most important things are at ‘the rollercoaster’
The Autodromo Internacional do Algarve has always brought thrilling action to the MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship ever since coming to the calendar in 2008. It is one of the most technical on the calendar and requires a finite set-up; despite their being a wide range of racing lines, precision is key. Eugene Laverty (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) is now a local resident and has won around the circuit on two occasions; his crew chief Marcus Eschenbacher gave us the low down to perfection in Portugal.
1.) “Unique… a big challenge”
“The track is very nice, and it is very unique. It has a lot of elevation and blind corners and it’s a very natural circuit. It is one of the best tracks in the world for motorcycle riders and, actually, it offers a big challenge for the riders.”
2.) Elevation evolves the settings…
“The elevation changes impact the settings of the bike quite a lot. The track, as a base, doesn’t offer too much grip, so you are always fighting with the stability here. Then, you have hard braking and a lot of movement from the bike.”
3.) Gripping action
“Combine this with the layout of the track, you still have to find all of the other ingredients. This requires making a compromise at the end. The most important thing you need to succeed here is grip. The key at the end is to have good grip, and with that, you should succeed.”
4.) How important is testing at Portimao in advance?
“It is good to have tested here before because, like I said, it is unique, but the conditions are quite different. Also, Eugene has to learn the bike, so we explore more about what he needs and what the bike needs. Already, we are quite different now to what we had already done back at the start of the year. It’s always good to come back to a track time and time again, as you further understand what you need.”
5.) “I hope that Eugene makes a step forward…”
“I hope that Eugene makes a step forward compared to where he has been before. Last year, he had quite a difficult year; he had some crashes and then some technically inspired crashes. From that, it was quite difficult to understand a new bike. Now, we just hope we make a step and have a better result, and then we will go from there.”
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