Jonathan Rea and Andrea Locatelli navigated tricky conditions as storms lashed the Portuguese Riviera during Friday Free Practice at Circuito Estoril today, for the penultimate round of the 2024 FIM Superbike World Championship.
After a two-year hiatus from the WorldSBK calendar, the aim was to get up to speed quickly in Estoril during the two 45-minue Free Practice sessions available on Friday – but severe rain overnight and this morning pre-empted a wet FP1 and dry-to-damp FP2 running this afternoon.
Both Pata Prometeon Yamaha riders started off the morning well, for some time holding first and second positions on the timing screens in full wet conditions. As the track dried in the afternoon, but then became damp again in the latter stages of FP2, it was difficult to complete a full race simulation in the time available to confirm the optimum dry set up on each Yamaha R1 WorldSBK.
More inclement weather is predicted for tomorrow, which could potentially provide opportunities for those who feel confident in the wet during Race 1 at 14.00. But first, Free Practice 3 takes place at 9:00 local time before Superpole qualifying at 11:00.
Jonathan Rea: P10 – 1'38.572
“It’s been a strange day weather-wise, because this morning was fully wet – we got a chance to try the bike and understand the track, but it’s always difficult to learn too much on Day 1 in the rain because it’s completely different to the dry rhythm. This afternoon, we had some dry time and I felt quite okay with the bike. We started with the harder rear tyre, just to get up to speed and we had a few “in and outs” to make some changes – then when we were ready to put the package together it started raining. We never got the chance to confirm my R1 set up with our preferred race tyre, but I think the general feeling and feedback from the bike was positive. Tomorrow’s about seeing how the weather is! Right at the very end, I got the chance to do a practice race start and it was my best start ever, so that’s also positive – let’s see how we go tomorrow.”
Andrea Locatelli: P12 – 1'38.702
“It was tricky conditions today – this morning it was wet, then in FP2 it was dry in the beginning but then it started to rain again. We didn’t complete a lot of laps during this afternoon, so we don’t fully understand the dry setting for this track yet but in the initial feeling was positive. This is a good thing and we will see what we can do with it tomorrow. In the wet, I had good confidence and we were fast – so we wait to see what happens with the weather and we will be ready with everything no matter what. The aim is to try to fight for a good result in the race again like always!”
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