The Autodrom Most in the Czech Republic today staged the Superpole and first race of the fifth WorldSBK round.
Yesterday, riders Bahattin Sofuoglu and Tito Rabat completed two practice sessions, with low temperatures and rain making for a slippery track.
This morning both returned to the Czech track for the Superpole, which ran on a dry track and decided the starting grid for Race 1.
During qualifying, Bahattin put in another solid performance, closing sixteenth with a time of 1’31”649, for a spot on row six of the grid. Twentieth, and row seven, for Tito (1’32”044).
The first of the weekend’s races ran in the early afternoon. Sofuoglu made a good start and was part of the chasing group. Despite receiving a penalty for having cut a corner, the Turkish rider was able to achieve fifteenth position, scoring a championship point in the process.
Having found a good setup for his R1 during qualifying, Rabat suffered a technical problem in the race that limited his performance, the Spaniard crossing the line seventeenth.
Sofuoglu and Rabat will return to the track for tomorrow’s Superpole race and the second and final full-length Superbike race.
"I’m pleased with Sofuoglu’s Superpole and race, though I’m sure that without the penalty he could have done better. Rabat’s bad luck continues, as he had a problem we’ve not seen before. I’m sorry but I know that Tito has great potential and that we will soon score significant results with him too.”
“I’m disappointed because in qualifying I thought we’d found a good setup for my bike, but in the race, I had an issue with the clutch that caused me problems. We’re checking the data to understand what happened. Everyone’s doing their best, me and the team, but until now we’ve not been able to score the kind of results that we know we can achieve. We just have to keep working and hope for a little more luck.”
“This morning I ran the best Superpole of my career so far and then made a good start to the race. I’m pleased with my bike’s setting, though I struggled due to the low grip at this track. I was fighting for thirteenth, but in the final stages, after the tyres dropped, I had to settle for fifteenth. It’s nevertheless a good result and I’m sure that if we continue along this path, we can do even better, perhaps already in tomorrow’s races.”
