Italian rider Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Team GOELEVEN) set the pace in Free Practice 2 ahead of the Pirelli Spanish Round as MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship returned to competitive action; with his time good enough for third place in the combined standings. Rinaldi has outlined his goals for the weekend but also expressed a note of caution despite his impressive showing in practice.

The rider from Rimini crashed in Free Practice 1 which limited his running and finishing 21^st in the classification before bouncing back in impressive fashion; topping the timesheets in Free Practice 2 and completing 18 more laps to add to his tally. He finished the second session three tenths clear of Scott Redding (ARUBA.IT Racing – Ducati), and just a tenth behind Loris Baz’s (Ten Kate Racing Yamaha) overall fastest time.

Rinaldi said: “I’m really happy because this morning I had a problem with the bike. I crashed after two laps, so I missed all of FP1, but I was relaxed because the tests were good and my feeling with the bike was okay, so I entered the track feeling relaxed. I do what I can do, and we are on top, but we need to work a lot because the temperatures are high and the race will be difficult. Our goal is to battle for the podium. It is a great goal for us, but we need to work a lot because these conditions are very, very difficult and to stay on the bike for 20 laps is not easy. We will try our best.”

Ducati machines have shown pace so far this weekend with three of the top six riders in the combined classification riding the Ducati Panigale V4 R, Rinaldi may feel he has a good chance of a great result for himself and the team. With potentially hotter conditions on the way over the course of the weekend, it will be a challenge for everyone on the WorldSBK grid.

You can follow the Pirelli Spanish Round from Jerez using the WorldSBK VideoPass!