Team HRC has again hit the ground running in Portimã.Continuing the recent positive trend with Leon Haslam placing third in FP2 and fourth overall on day 1.And Alvaro Bautista ninth, more minor than four-tenths from his teammate.
Team HRC is in action at the Autódromo Internacional do Algarve in Portugal, competing in round eleven of the Superbike World Championship.
Which follows immediately on the back of last weekend’s tenth round Jerez de la Frontera in Spain and represents the final European event of the 2021 WorldSBK season.
Bautista and Haslam were out on a sunny track for the morning’s first free practice. Bautista made gradual progress throughout the 45-minute session as he and his technicians made adjustments.
To the race set-up of his CBR1000RR-R FIREBLADE, adapting it to suit the complex rear tyre specification. That Alvaro will use in the races, his favourite softer solution not available at this round.
Time
Finishing with the fastest time of 1’42.246, he lay a positive seventh at the session’s end. Haslam worked well with his team early on, but a crash mid-session then caused him to lose valuable time. The Brit was forced to remain in the garage for the rest of the practice.
As a result, he finished fourteenth thanks to a time of 1’42.991 that he set at the start of the session.
Keen to make up for the time he lost during the morning. Leon quickly improved on his earlier time in the afternoon’s second free practice.
Despite the hotter conditions, he continued to up the pace as the session went on before recording the fastest time of 1’41.716.In the final stages on a used rear tyre with which he rode for the entire session.
This impressive lap time assured Haslam of fourth place in the combined standings at the end of day one.
Alvaro could also lower his lap time by a fraction of a second to set a best of 1’42.115 during the second of the day’s sessions.
Overall, this meant he closed in the ninth position, just over six tenths off the provisional pole position time.
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Alvaro Bautista 19
P9
“Today was a bit of a challenging day for us because, as always, we struggle with the rear complex tyre specification. So we’re trying to optimise the set-up to get the best we can from our package in these circumstances.
This morning we tried to improve tyre shoulder grip. Working a lot with the electronics and the power delivery, and we made some progress.
In the afternoon, when the asphalt was a little more slippery due to the higher temperatures, it was more difficult, but we were still among those who improved on their time.
Even if it was by just a fraction. We used the new front tyre that Pirelli introduced at Jerez, and I felt good, especially braking.
We fitted a new rear towards the end, but I couldn’t complete a single fast lap because it was just spinning too much. We are not far off in terms of lap times, so we hope to find a little more tomorrow.”
Leon Haslam 91
P4
“We went into this weekend with quite a different approach in terms of the chassis. So losing time this morning wasn’t ideal, but it was my fault. I was going that little bit too fast and hit the white line.
The boys did a fantastic job to build a new bike for FP2. We stuck with the hard tyre throughout that session, so I was surprised we finished P3. The times feel quite comfortable. And although we have work to do in certain areas, I admit I was surprised to end up in that position today.
As for tyres, I think I can make the harder solutions work better, and I don’t seem to get the advantage that some riders find with the “X” solution. It’s a lot about the riding here, too, though.
Considering its kind of track, so a combination of things comes into play. Hopefully, with our new approach, we can be a little bit more consistent both in practice and the races too.”
