The Yamaha Motoxracing WorldSBK Team has completed day two of the eighth WorldSBK round at the Balaton Park Circuit in Hungary.
On Friday riders Bahattin Sofuoglu and Michael Ruben Rinaldi completed two practices, in which they built confidence with a track they’ve never raced at until now and sought a competitive setup for their bikes.
Today, in the late morning, both were back out for Superpole, which established the starting grid for the first of the weekend’s races. An excellent session for Sofuoglu, who improved on his best lap to qualify fifteenth with a time of 1’39”671. Despite being slowed by a few setting issues, Rinaldi was also able to find more (1’40”751), closing twenty-second.
As a result, the Turkish rider started from row five of the grid and the Italian from row eight for the first of the weekend’s 21-lap races. Due to a crash involving many riders, the race was stopped with a red flag and restarted a short time later, reduced in distance by one lap. Both riders made a strong start and, demonstrating consistent pace, Sofuoglu moved into a large group of riders who were exchanging places lap after lap. Battling hard, Bahattin crossed the line fifteenth, scoring one championship point in the process.
Starting from further back, Rinaldi struggled to pass those ahead of him but was still able to finish just behind his teammate, right outside the points zone.
Sofuoglu and Rinaldi will be back on track tomorrow for the Superpole race and race 2, which will round out this Hungarian round.
“At a totally new track, we struggled this morning but already this afternoon the lap times improved, and this bodes well for tomorrow’s Superpole and first race.”
Michael Ruben Rinaldi - Rider #21
“Considering this was my first experience of the track, it’s been a positive day. This morning I worked carefully to learn the track and collect data that would allow us to find a good setup. In the afternoon, thanks to the team’s hard work, my lap times dropped and the situation improved. We need to continue like this and put together a good Superpole so that we can aim for points in the race.”
Bahattin Sofuoglu - Rider #99
“I like this track even if it’s very technical and difficult to interpret. We made a good start but have a lot of room to improve. We improved a lot in FP2 but I’m sure we can more in tomorrow’s Superpole. A big thanks to the team for their important support.”
