Magny-Cours (France), Saturday 29 September 2018

Racing at home this weekend, at the Nevers Magny Cours circuit in France, Gulf Althea BMW rider Loris Baz crossed the line tenth in the first Superbike race of this eleventh world championship round. Alessandro Delbianco has qualified eighth for the final Superstock 1000 race of the season, taking place tomorrow morning.

Superpole 2: Having qualified directly for today’s second phase of the Superpole, Baz completed a total of six laps during the 15-minute session. His best time, set on the qualifying tyre, was a 1’37.055, thanks to which he concluded the session in eighth place, translating into a third row start for race one.

SBK – Race 1: Baz unfortunately lost a few places off the line, lying twelfth through the first corners. Determined to make up the lost ground, the Frenchman was back up to eighth by lap three. Maintaining a constant pace, and finding himself ninth towards mid-race, Loris caught and passed Razgatlioglu on lap eleventh, moving back up into eighth. The second part of the race became more challenging, the Frenchman suffering from a lack of grip at the front and vibration at the rear of his bike; as a result, and despite his best efforts, the Frenchman crossed the line in final tenth place today.

STK1000 Qualifying: feeling confident after having concluded practice in fourth place overall (1’40.235) Delbianco worked hard with his technicians during the afternoon’s qualifying session. The Italian completed a total of 12 laps, the best of which a 1’40.243. Thanks to this result, he concluded the session in eighth place, and so will line up on the third row of the grid for tomorrow’s race.

“I’m not particularly happy with today’s race. My pace through the first laps was quite good, and I was able to stick with those immediately ahead of me. But then, after about ten laps or so, I lost grip at the front and also lost weight balance at the rear, which caused vibration. I got to the finish line but unfortunately couldn’t hold onto ninth, crossing the line in tenth place in the end. I couldn’t hold my speed through the sections where I am generally able to, so we’ll try to understand why that was and work to resolve this for tomorrow’s race.”

“I’m pleased because we’re going well at this track, which I consider one of my favourites. We have great pace and I’m confident for the race. Unfortunately, I’m still not doing well with the qualifying lap, we’re only eighth on the grid but I’ll do my best, as ever, also because I’d like to close the season with a solid result.”