More than a month since the opening round in Australia, the Kawasaki WorldSBK and Kawasaki WorldSSP Teams return to the track for the second round of the world championships, taking place on 27-29 March at the Autodromo Internacional do Algarve in Portimao, Portugal.
The first Phillip Island round left the Supersport team and riders Dominique Aegerter and Jeremy Alcoba wanting more, the former having suffered some technical issues with the bike and the latter slowed by setup difficulties. During the break between the two rounds, Manuel Puccetti’s technicians worked on the Ninja ZX-6R 636 before checking the validity of that work during a two-day test at Cremona Circuit.
In Australia Garrett Gerloff and his team started to develop the new Ninja ZX-10RR and were able to see the bike’s significant potential.
Alcoba and Aegerter will be aiming to position themselves towards the top of the classification, while Gerloff will continue along his own path, working to confirm regular top ten finishes.
The Autodromo Internacional do Algarve is located in southern Portugal, close to the town of Portimao. It was homologated and inaugurated in 2008, staging WorldSBK as its very first event. Located in the hills surrounding the nearby town, the facility spans roughly 300 hectares in all, and comprises a karting track, a technology park, a five-star hotel, a sports complex and various apartments. The track is famous for its undulating layout and wide, sweeping turns. It measures 4.592 kilometres and is made up of 15 corners, 9 right handers and 6 left.
The full schedule for the Portuguese round is available at this link:
Manuel Puccetti – Team Principal
“We’re ready for this second round. It’s been a long break, but it came at the right time, giving us chance to solve the electrical and electronics problems that conditioned our Supersport results in Australia. Now we can look to the next races with confidence. Gerloff has prepared hard back in the US and, like the rest of the team, is motivated and keen to do his best and achieve the best possible results, at a track where he’s usually very competitive.”
Garrett Gerloff
“I’m happy to be back in Portimao, where I’ve scored good results in the past, just missing the podium. We’ll need to work well already on Friday, to find a good setup that allows us to be competitive throughout the weekend. In Australia we saw that we have good potential, so we’ll be giving it our all with the aim of confirming top ten, even though I’d like to finish a race inside the top five.”
Jeremy Alcoba
“Portimao is one of my favourite tracks, where I’ve always done well. We’re coming off a very important test at Cremona, which only boosted our confidence as to our chances. The Phillip Island results have left me and the team very keen to demonstrate our true potential, and we want to do it this weekend in Portugal.”
Dominique Aegerter
“After the bad luck of the first two races, we’re heading to the Portimao rollercoaster very hungry for a do-over. The team has worked hard to solve the problems that emerged in Australia and also arranged the Cremona test, where we saw that the issues are resolved and where I was able to improve my feeling with the bike. The Portuguese track is very challenging and technical, but I like it and can’t wait to work with my team to find a good setup and the feeling I need to do well in the races on Saturday and Sunday.”
