The third WorldSBK championship round began today at the TT Circuit Assen in The Netherlands.
In cool, sunny conditions, riders Tito Rabat and Bahattin Sofuoglu headed out on track this morning for the first free practice. This session allowed the riders to start adapting their YZF-R1 machines to the historic Dutch track. Rabat set a time of 1’35”993 to classify nineteenth, just ahea of his young teammate, who put in a fastest time of 1’36”461.
In the second practice that ran in the afternoon, both Yamaha Motoxracing WorldSBK riders were able to lower their lap times. While Rabat (1’34”898) placed eighteenth in the day’s combined standings, Sofuoglu (1’35”558) finished twentieth.
The duo will be back out tomorrow for Superpole and the first of the races making up this third Dutch round.
"We made a positive start in practice that sees us very close to the virtual points zone. It was a pity about the technical problem that stopped Bahattin just as he was attempting to set his quickest time of the day.”
“A positive day, starting with FP1, a session in which we had on issue and were able to understand how to set up the bike for Superpole and the races. We also worked on tyre wear and if we can complete a good Superpole, I’m sure we can do well in the race too. I want to thank the team for their great work so far.”
“This morning in FP1 we struggled a little with setup and the bike offered little grip, but we took a big step forward in the afternoon and I have the team to thank for that. Unfortunately, a technical problem then saw us lose the last part of FP2, which prevented us from setting a better time. But I’m still confident ahead of Superpole and race 1 because I know we have room to improve.”
