The Jerez Circuit in Spain today staged the Superpole and first race making up the twelfth and final WorldSBK round, an event in which the Yamaha Motoxracing WorldSBK Team is competing with both Bradley Ray and wildcard Luca Bernardi.
Yesterday the riders were on track for the two free practice sessions while this morning they were back out for Superpole, which ran in cool, sunny conditions. With a time of 1’39”273, the Brit qualified nineteenth while the Italian put in a 1’41”230 to place twenty-seventh.
In Race 1, which ran in the afternoon over a distance of twenty laps, Bradley got away from row seven and Luca from row nine. Ray immediately moved up into the group fighting for the points and eventually crossed the line seventeenth, while Bernardi made a strong recovery to climb to twenty-first.
The Yamaha Motoxracing WorldSBK riders will return to the track on Sunday for the Superpole Race and Race 2, which will conclude the 2024 WorldSBK season.
Carusi Sandro - Team Principal
“The race results were an improvement on how we did in Superpole, and this confirms the progress that both riders are making. For tomorrow, Ray’s goal is again the points zone, while Bernardi needs to continue building confidence with our bike and lowering his lap times.”
Bradley Ray - Rider
“Not an easy race. After the Superpole, we made a change to the bike but unfortunately it didn’t bring the desired results and meant that I had less grip as well as less pace. The positive is that we now know how to prepare for tomorrow’s races and I’m confident we can take a step, finding more grip which would help us put in a better performance overall.”
Bernardi Luca - Rider“Today’s race went quite well. I got into a good rhythm thanks to a bike that performed well. I need to improve over the first part of the race, as I’m still struggling a little with the fresh tyre. For tomorrow I want to continue to improve to score a good result for me and the team, who are helping me so much.”
