The MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship has rolled around to the Misano World Circuit “Marco Simoncelli” and the Thursday debriefs were an interesting affair. From discussions about the future to fitness updates and more, catch up on the best quotes from the Pirelli Emilia-Romagna Round below.
“THE HARDEST THING FOR THIS INJURY WAS THE TIMING OF IT”
Providing a fitness update and previewing the weekend, Miguel Oliveira (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) said: “I’m quite excited to get back to racing. After one month, we decided that it was time for me to be back on the bike, to finish the last stage of the rehabilitation. I think it’s been a very successful journey of recovery. I know my physical condition is not 100%, especially because I missed a lot of time on the bike. It’s not been a new road for me. In the last few years, I’ve had times where I’ve had to stay away a couple of races to recover. The hardest thing for this injury was the timing of it, because I was really looking forward to the races we had in the past month. The team did a good job with Mickey in the races and in testing, so extra credit for him for doing the extra kilometres in the past month to get us into this position. The goal is to have a clean weekend. No crashes is the target but also have a solid weekend in terms of how fast I can go and the consistency.”
“ONE TIME I HAVE TO FINISH SECOND BECAUSE IT’S IMPOSSIBLE TO WIN EVERY RACE!”
Continuing to rewrite history, and speaking about his future, Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Racing - Ducati) previewed Misano by saying: “I’m really happy to be here at Misano, especially after a lot of consecutive wins. We’re very motivated to be fast here. It would be very nice to win here, for me, my team and Ducati. I think my season has been 10 out of 10 so far, because we’ve won every race which is a fantastic achievement. The season is still very long. I think Iker did a fantastic job, and that’s good for WorldSBK, for every rider here. It’s good to see that a good rider in WorldSBK is a good rider in MotoGP. Congratulations to him. We have some news, but like every time you ask, I cannot tell you! I think results are always very important, but we’ve already had some good results. If we can continue winning, it will be fantastic, but one time I have to finish second because it’s impossible to win every race!”
“WE WILL TRY TO CHANNEL THE PRESSURE TO BE STRONG”
Home hero Yari Montella (Barni Spark Racing Team) is aiming high at Misano: “It’s a special round. Riding at home after a season like this one with all my friends and family in attendance makes me really happy. It’s a bit of pressure, but we need to control it and channel it into being stronger. We will try to adapt what we learned from the Misano test; it will be different conditions, but we will try to be at our best. Aragon tried something new to be closer to the top two, but it didn’t work all weekend. It was a step forward on Sunday, but it was already late in the round. I felt good in the Superpole Race, and in Race 2, I went a bit wide in Turns 8-9 and lost the front. It was a shame after such a good round at Most, but we have the speed. This is a different track with a different grip, so we will see. I’m very happy with how this season has gone so far; this much success wasn’t in our plans. I will continue in this Championship for sure, but for now, it’s still very early to know.”
“I ARRIVE HERE EVEN HAPPIER THAN USUAL”
Fresh from a MotoGP outing, Iker Lecuona (Aruba.it Racing - Ducati) said: “Last weekend competing in MotoGP was really cool. I was really surprised to get the call. The rhythm was great, no mistakes despite a new team, a new bike, and learning a lot. Over the last three years, since I was there, the bike has changed a lot. I’m very happy with the performance, and it has me arriving here even happier and more relaxed than usual. I don’t have any expectations, I just want to work and try to improve, and I just want to enjoy. I had a similar mindset last weekend at MotoGP, and I went very fast, so I want to do the same thing. It was amazing to ride in front of my family at Aragon, and now riding here at Misano there will be many fans and Ducati family members, so winning here would be fantastic. The only thing I can say about my future is that we’re still talking, I think we’re progressing in a good way to stay here next season, but nothing for sure yet.”
“THE ATMOSPHERE IS DIFFERENT… YOU FEEL SOMETHING ELSE, BUT IT’S EASIER TO FEEL EXTRA PRESSURE”
Axel Bassani (bimota by Kawasaki Racing Team) discussed the ‘extra pressure’ that comes with a home round: “I’m really happy to be back here at Misano for my home round, it’s always special. The atmosphere is different from other circuits, you feel something else, but it’s easier to feel extra pressure as it’s the home round for me, Bimota and we have the whole family here. I’m happy about the last races, we’re working well; also in the test. We started the season in a really good way; maybe too good! Especially at Assen and Balaton, we struggled a little bit, especially in Superpole. From Most, we started again to get to our level. I think it’s a special round because we’re at home, but at the same time, it’s a normal race. Every race during the year is important. I think the team can be quite smart to understand all the races during the year, not just one race.”
“ITALY IS LIKE A SECOND HOME FOR ME”
Back on the rostrum last time out and close to victory, Sam Lowes (ELF Marc VDS Racing Team) stated: “We’re halfway through the season, apart from a couple of bad rounds at Balaton Park and Most, I’m pretty happy with how it’s going. I love racing here in Italy. It’s like a second home for me and my wife, who is Italian and our daughter speaks both English and Italian. It’s always a great place to race. I have great memories here from Moto2, and I’m looking forward to getting started. I knew Aragon was going to be good for us. I made a few mistakes over the course of the weekend, but the important points were good. It was important for us to have had the good weekend that we did, and now arriving here with good confidence after the test where I felt strong. I could have done better in a few races, but sitting third in the Championship, behind the two guys who I think have a bit of a step on everyone, I just need to find a step as we’re on the same bike as them. I need to knuckle down and try to decrease the margin to try to fight for a better position by the end of the season at Jerez. The test was hot here, I think at FP1 we’ll just use one set of tyres to keep working on the race pace, I think the last 7-8 laps will be the most important this weekend.”
“I WOULD LIKE TO END THIS SEASON WITH A PODIUM”
Getting stronger and stronger with each passing round, rookie Stefano Manzi (GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) said: “I feel good, I’m super happy to be back on this track to race, we had a test here last month. I like this track and I’ve had good moments here in the past, so I can’t wait to start the action on Friday. I have work to do, but it’s nice to start the morning by waking up at my house. I come here to the circuit from there, so with my friends coming here to watch, it’s always special. Of course, the results don’t reflect where I want to be, but it is what it is. I had a very bad injury to my ankle before the first round at Phillip Island, and I spent the first three months recovering from that, so it made the first three rounds difficult, but we’re working to achieve more. It’s hard to say it when you’ve been 12th or 14th, but I would like to end this season with a podium.”
“WE LEARNED INTERESTING THINGS AT ARAGON”
A regular podium contender throughout the year, Lorenzo Baldassarri (Team GoEleven) is going in search of a first podium on home soil: “At Aragon, the results were so-so. It was good because we made a step on Sunday morning, as we had a good pace in the Superpole Race and the feeling was good in Race 2 until we made contact and crashed in the first corner. After the test here I was a bit worried; I had a good feeling but not good speed. After Aragon, we came to understand some things about the bike, so I’m interested to see how we start the weekend. Physically, I feel good. I’m getting better every day. We tried lots of things at the test and at Aragon, not many of them worked, but something we tried on Sunday morning at Aragon in the Warm Up was interesting so we will see how it goes. Motivation is very high, we want to enjoy this weekend, and I don’t feel much pressure because we have shown that we can be fast. The target is to improve from our best weekend which was in Hungary. I want to enjoy being here with the home fans. I live only about 30 minutes from here.”
“IT’S MY FIRST TIME AT MY HOME CIRCUIT… I’VE LEARNT A LOT AND IMPROVED EVERY WEEKEND”
A first WorldSBK weekend in Italy for rookie Mattia Rato (Motoxracing WorldSBK Team), who previewed his home round: “It’s my first time at my home circuit so I’m excited to start my weekend. Usually, I don’t have a good feeling here, but we will see tomorrow if we will have a good weekend. The first six rounds were hard and long; three races each weekend is tough! I’ve learnt a lot and I’ve improved every weekend. My goal is to stay in WorldSBK next year. We started to speak, but not a lot, because I don’t know with who. I want to stay here.”
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