Kawasaki Puccetti Racing has completed the first day of practice at the Misano World Circuit as it takes on round four of the Superbike World Championship. Having fractured the fifth metacarpal of his right hand in an incident that occurred during the initial stages of the Superpole race at Estoril, Lucas Mahias is unable to compete in what is the home round for Manuel Puccetti’s team. In his place, Kawasaki Puccetti Racing are fielding Spaniard Tito Rabat, who already knows both the bike and the team, having already stood in for an injured Mahias last season, during the final three rounds of the championship. We remind you that at this Italian round all the Kawasaki Puccetti Racing bikes are flaunting the historic ELF livery, a symbol of the ongoing relationship between Manuel Puccetti’s team and Total Italia.
This morning, on a dry track but under cloudy skies and with a few drops of rain, Rabat completed the first practice session, using the time to regain confidence aboard the Ninja. The Spaniard finished in nineteenth place with a time of 1’37”198.
The second free practice ran in the afternoon in much better conditions. Tito continued with the work begun this morning with his team and improved on his time by more than a second, setting a 1’36”063 to round out day one in twenty-second position.
Tomorrow the Kawasaki Puccetti Racing rider will take part in the final practice session before tackling the Superpole and the first race making up this Italian WorldSBK round.
Misano World Circuit – Italy – Superbike World Championship
Combined free practice results: 1) Bautista (Ducati) – 2) Razgatlioglu (Yamaha) – 3) Rea (Kawasaki) – 4) Rinaldi (Ducati) – 5) Oettl (Ducati) ……. 22) Rabat (Kawasaki).
Tito Rabat
“This first day of practice has been positive. I lapped consistently with times in the low 1’36s and preferred to work on my race pace and test the tyres to use on Saturday and Sunday rather than focusing on the flying lap. So I’m a little behind in the standings, but we still have tomorrow’s session and then we’ll try to put it all together in the Superpole. We improved by more than a second between the first and second session, which shows that we’re on the right track. Thanks to the team for all their hard work today.”
