The Superpole and first race making up round of the WorldSBK championship took place today at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya in Spain. Yesterday Tito Rabat completed the first two practice sessions, working with his technicians to identify the best set up for his Ninja ZX-10RR KRT Factory Replica.
This morning, the Kawasaki Puccetti Racing rider was back out for FP3. Setting a best of 1’42”169, the Spaniard improved on Friday’s references to close in nineteenth place.
The second Superpole of the season ran in the late morning. Tito improved on his lap time by a second (1’41”145) to place seventeenth, but a penalty saw him demoted to twentieth on the grid.
Getting away well from row seven, Rabat maintained a good rhythm, climbing up as far as fifteenth. Unfortunately, in the final stages, an unexpected drop in tyre grip caused him to lose positions, which meant he ultimately crossed the line in twenty-first place.
Tomorrow the Kawasaki Puccetti Racing rider will return to the track for the Superpole race and Race 2, which rounds out this second WorldSBK weekend.
Circuit de Catalunya – Barcelona – Spain
Superbike World Championship
Superpole: 1) Razgatlioglu (BMW) – 2) Bulega (Ducati) – 3) Iannone (Ducati) – 4) Van der Mark (BMW) – 5) Lowes (Ducati) – 6) Aegerter (Yamaha) ……… 20) Rabat (Kawasaki)
Race 1 – 1) Razgatlioglu (BMW) – 2) Bulega (Ducati) – 3) Bautista – 4) Iannone (Ducati) – 5) Locatelli (Yamaha) – 6) Lowes (Kawasaki) ……… 21) Rabat (Kawasaki)
Tito Rabat
“I’m pleased with my performance but not my results. In Superpole I wasn’t able to improve on my best lap and in the race I made a good start, but then my rear tyre unexpectedly gave in on me and I struggled to finish the race. It’s a shame because the race was going well until then. We’re working hard and making progress anyway, so hopefully if we continue in this way, our hard work will begin to pay off.”
