Sylvain Guintoli was sixth fastest on overall times after today’s practices for round two of the 2015 World Superbike championship at the Buriram United International Circuit in Thailand.
The reigning world champion made a change to his Pata Honda CBR1000RR Fireblade SP after this morning’s extended FP1 at the 4.554km Buriram circuit which is hosting a WSBK event for the first time. The 32-year-old French rider went almost one second faster in temperatures of 36°C this afternoon, closing the gap on the morning's fastest rider Jonathan Rea.
With British rider Alex Lowes setting the pace this afternoon, Guintoli’s Pata Honda team-mate Michael van der Mark was unable to improve his lap time in the hotter conditions and, despite feeling good on the bike, remained in 12th place on combined times.
However, the 22-year-old Dutch World Superbike rookie is confident that he and his team can identify specific areas for improvement in tomorrow’s two practice sessions ahead of the afternoon Superpole which will finalise grid places for Sunday’s two 20-lap races at Buriram.
Sylvain Guintoli - P6, 1m35.570s
We made some good improvements after the morning session so that was a positive this afternoon and the bike felt much better. We need to carry on working there but I’m enjoying the track and we’ve closed the gap. I’m trying hard now and feeling a lot better physically than I did in Australia. That’s the main thing from today, so that’s nice because I suffered a lot in Phillip Island. I can still feel the injury but it’s a lot better and I’m a lot more focused and more hungry here. We can’t do damage limitation every race so we need to try to step it up a bit now. It was funny this afternoon because I was supposed to come in to try some different tyres but, as I was coming into pit lane I was thinking about the lines through sector three and missed my garage entry! I went st raight out again and saw that the session was nearly finished, so there wasn’t much point coming in for new tyres. So, although I didn’t plan it, I ended up doing the whole session on one set of tyres. We’ll try the soft option tomorrow!
Michael van der Mark - P12, 1m36.218s
There was no real problem today and it’s strange because I felt good with the bike on this new track, but the lap time is not there, which is a bit frustrating. I’m sure the guys will find something on the data tonight so I’m not too worried. I’m losing a lot of time in the second sector so we’ll check everything later to find out what it was. I rode the laps, feeling good on the bike in the heat, but each time I crossed the line I was like ‘Where’s the lap time?’ I think a good night’s sleep will help me relax for tomorrow. It’s an interesting track because the first part is long and fast and the second is a combination of smaller corners, but we’ll work hard tonight to try and go a little faster around it tomorrow.
Pieter Breddels - technical co-ordinator
Sylvain is in much better physical condition than he was in Phillip Island and this is helping. But we struggled a little in sector two with both riders and kept changing the bike, continuing in to the afternoon session. Sylvain was able to improve and was running second at one point which was a good step. At the end of the day it’s looking a lot better than Australia - there’s room for improvement sure, but it’s not so bad. Michael struggled a little in sector two this morning and that continued this afternoon. We’ll look into everything in details a bit later but I’m quite sure there’s better things to come tomorrow.
Weather
Sunny Intervals
Air
36°C
Track
57°C
Humidity
40%
Free Practice Results
1 Alex Lowes 1m34.685s GBR SUZUKI Voltcom Crescent Suzuki
2 Jonathan Rea 1m34.751s GBR KAWASAKI Kawasaki Racing Team
3 Chaz Davies 1m35.288s GBR DUCATI Aruba.it Racing-Ducati Superbike Team
4 Leon Haslam 1m35.288s GBR APRILIA Aprilia Racing Team - Red Devils
5 Tom Sykes 1m35.457s GBR KAWASAKI Kawasaki Racing Team
6 Sylvain Guintoli 1m35.570s FRA HONDA Pata Honda World Superbike Team
7 Troy Bayliss 1m35.690s AUS DUCATI Aruba.it Racing-Ducati Superbike Team
8 Matteo Baiocco 1m35.913s ITA DUCATI Althea Racing
9 Jordi Torres 1m35.943s ESP APRILIA Aprilia Racing Team - Red Devils
10 David Salom 1m36.055s ESP KAWASAKI Team Pedercini
12 Michael van der Mark 1m36.218s NED HONDA Pata Honda World Superbike Team
