Kyle Smith set the eleventh fastest combined time in today’s two free practice sessions for round six of the 2015 World Supersport championship at Donington Park in the UK.
Despite having been born in Huddersfield in Yorkshire, Smith moved to Spain at the age of six and has never raced in the UK before and today was his first visit to the 4.023km Donington Park circuit.
The 22-year-old made steady progress in both sessions on his Pata Honda CBR600RR and, with an ideal time some 0.6s faster than his best lap today, he is confident of further progress in tomorrow morning’s third free practice session ahead of afternoon qualifying.
Kyle Smith - P11, 1m32.186s
To be honest I like Donington but I’m struggling a bit. Mostly because there’s four wildcards in front of me who all know the track really well! I’ve never been here before but I’ve improved a lot since this morning. I’m enjoying riding but I’m just not happy with my position. People have said I’ve learned new tracks well this year, but at Phillip Island I had two days testing before the race weekend. Thailand was also a new track but it was new for everybody. This is a new track for me but my ideal time was up there – I just didn’t put one quick lap together. I might be a little bit off today but we’ve got two more sessions before Sunday, plus warm-up, so it should be good!
Pieter Breddels - technical co-ordinator
It took Kyle a bit of time to get used to the track so we stuck with the base settings until he got up to speed. The CBR was a little bit heavy to change direction so for his last outing we lifted it a bit front and rear. In the end he was 11th but he’s still learning to be honest. His ideal time is more than half a second faster so I think he’s made good progress during the day.
Weather
Overcast
Air
19°C
Track
30°C
Humidity
64%
Free Practice Results
1 Kenan Sofuoglu 1m30.871 TUR KAWASAKI Kawasaki Puccetti Racing
2 Jules Cluzel 1m30.735 FRA MV MV Agusta Reparto Corse
3 Luke Stapleford 1m30.898 GBR TRIUMPH Profile Racing
4 Kyle Ryde 1m30.950 GBR YAMAHA Pacedayz Yamaha
5 Patrick Jacobson 1m31.532 USA KAWASAKI Kawasaki Intermoto Ponyexpres
6 Alex Reid 1m31.544 GBR HONDA CORE Motorsport Thailand
7 Lucas Mahias 1m31.641 FRA KAWASAKI Kawasaki Intermoto Ponyexpres
8 Gino Rea 1m31.776 GBR HONDA CIA Landlords Insurance Honda
9 Sam Hornsey 1m31.955 GBR TRIUMPH Profile Racing
10 Kevin Wahr 1m32.019 GER HONDA SMS Racing
11 Kyle Smith 1m32.186 GBR HONDA Pata Honda World Supersport Team
