Challenging raceday ahead for Pata Honda

[totalmotorcycle]

Challenging #raceday ahead for Pata #Honda


Pata Honda riders Michel Fabrizio and Leon Haslam face a challenging final two 2013 World Superbike championship races at Jerez in Spain tomorrow. The CBR-mounted duo will start from 15th and 17th places respectively on the grid after final qualifying today.



Both riders complained of a lack of rear grip in today’s free practice and qualifying sessions – an issue that also faced Fabrizio yesterday, while Haslam found more consistency in his engine braking.



The Pata Honda pair were joined in the pitbox today by regular rider Jonathan Rea, who plans to test his CBR during a test at the 4.423km Jerez circuit on Tuesday, as he continues his recovery from the fractured femur he sustained in a raceday crash last month.



Michel Fabrizio



It’s been another difficult day and we haven’t really managed to solve the grip problems that I had yesterday. I think Leon had the same issue today. Although I was able to qualify for Superpole, we could not get the bike to work how I want so tomorrow will be very tough, both physically and mentally.



Leon Haslam



We made some changes to the electronics today, which seemed to stabilise the engine braking and, in the second free practice, we were able to make some more improvements. However, by that time I was out of Superpole so I know that tomorrow’s two races are going to be very difficult. However, we’ve got a test on Tuesday so we’ll also try to continue preparing for that.



Pieter Breddels – technical co-ordinator



There’s no disguising the fact that we’ve had some issues this weekend that we didn’t expect. We’ve had difficulty sorting them and providing the riders with solutions that will give them a bike with which to challenge nearer the front. However, we will keep working through tonight and tomorrow morning and try to get some better results in the race than we’ve been able to provide in qualifying.



2013 World Superbike championship, round 14 – Jerez, Spain

Final qualifying results and first two rows:

1. Eugene Laverty (IRL) Aprilia 1m40.620s

2. Tom Sykes (GBR) Kawasaki 1m40.668s

3. Davide Giugliano (ITA) Aprilia 1m40.839s

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4. Marco Melandri (ITA) BMW 1m40.930s

5. Sylvain Guintoli (FRA) Aprilia 1m40.958s

6. Toni Elias (ESP) Aprilia 1m41.347s

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15. Michel Fabrizio (ITA) Pata Honda 1m43.081s (Superpole1)

17. Leon Haslam (GBR) Pata Honda 1m42.973s (Qualifying 2)