Motorland Aragon in Spain was the stage for the first race of the tenth Superbike World Championship round today. Tito Rabat completed the free practice sessions yesterday with a time of 1’51”971, which saw him place eighteenth overall.
The Spanish rider’s ZX-10RR features the Gi.Vi. brand as main sponsor this weekend. The prestigious Italian motorcycle accessories company is a long-time sponsor of Kawasaki Puccetti Racing.
In cool and sunny conditions, the Kawasaki Puccetti Racing was on track this morning for the third and final free practice, useful in preparing his Ninja for the subsequent Superpole.
During the qualifying session, Rabat was able to set a 1’51”040, improving by almost a second and closing in nineteenth position. This meant that he began the afternoon’s race from row seven of the grid. Luck was not on the Spaniard’s side in the race however, as a technical problem forced him to slow down and eventually retire just a few laps into the race.
Rabat will be back on track tomorrow for the Superpole race and Superbike Race 2.
Motorland Aragon – Alcaniz – Spain
Superbike World Championship
Superpole: Superpole: 1) Rea (Kawasaki) – 2) Bautista (Ducati) – 3) Razgatlioglu (Yamaha) – 4) Locatelli (Yamaha) – 5) Rinaldi (Ducati) – 6) Lecuona (Honda) ………. 19) Rabat (Kawasaki)
Race 1: 1) Rinaldi (Ducati) – 2) Razgatlioglu (Yamaha) – 3) Rea (Kawasaki) – 4) Locatelli (Yamaha) – 5) Petrucci (Ducati) – 6) Oettl (Ducati) ……… DNF) Rabat (Kawasaki)
Tito Rabat
“When everything seems OK and it finally looks like we can score a strong result, it seems like we always come in for some bad luck. Today I had to stop due to a technical problem that prevented me from exploiting all the work I’d done with the team during practice and Superpole. Anyway, we’ll turn the page and look ahead, with the aim of trying to make up for this in tomorrow’s races.”
