The third round of the Superbike World Championship is now underway at the Estoril circuit in Portugal. After scoring encouraging results at the previous Assen round, Manuel Puccetti’s team and rider Lucas Mahias are taking on this weekend with the intention of confirming the constant progress made by both the rider and the Ninja ZX-10RR.
In hot but cloudy conditions, Mahias completed the day’s two free practice sessions. The Frenchman rounded out the morning session in twelfth position with a best of 1’38”044. In the afternoon’s FP2, Lucas made significant improvement, lowering his time by more than four tenths to set a 1’37”467, which saw him place tenth overall in the day’s combined standings.
Tomorrow Mahias will take part in the third free practice, followed by Superpole and the first race making up this third WorldSBK round.
Estoril Circuit – Lisbon – Portugal – Superbike World Championship
Combined free practice results: 1) Razgatlioglu (Yamaha) – 2) Bautista (Ducati) – 3) Gerloff (Yamaha) – 4) Rea (Kawasaki) – 5) Rinaldi (Ducati) ……. 10) Mahias (Kawasaki).
Lucas Mahias
“This first day at Estoril has gone quite well. My feeling with the bike has been good and I’m pleased with both my position and the pace I was able to maintain throughout both sessions. We also carried out a race simulation, in which the bike proved competitive with a good set-up. There are a few sectors where we can improve, but overall I’m pleased and think we are ready for Superpole and tomorrow’s race. A big thank you to my team for all their hard work.”
