Cookie Consent by Free Privacy Policy website WorldSBK Race 1: 60th win for Rea and excellent feedback for the new Pirelli X0175 rear tyre in the larger 200/65 size
june 09, 2018 - Pirelli

WorldSBK Race 1: 60th win for Rea and excellent feedback for the new Pirelli X0175 rear tyre in the larger 200/65 size

In Brno the championship leader finishes first ahead of Melandri and Sykes and breaks the record for wins in the championship previously held by Carl Fogarty; the riders unanimously approve the new standard soft compound rear tyre but in a 200/65 size larger than the standard 200/60

Brno (Czech Republic), 9 June 2018 – Today, Northern Irish rider Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) won Race 1 of the MOTUL FIM World Superbike Championship held this weekend on the Czech Brno track to become the rider who has won the most factory derivative championship races. In fact, with this victory, Rea has now won 60 races, breaking the historic record of 59 wins held by four-time World Champion “King” Carl Fogarty
 
This is the sixth win of the season for Jonathan Rea who, despite not being able to beat his teammate Tom Sykes for the Superpole® and therefore starting from the second spot on the grid, immediately moved into the race lead, finishing ahead of Italian Marco Melandri and teammate Sykes.
 
There was excellent feedback from the riders on the new soft rear solution brought by Pirelli, the X0175 that uses the compound of the standard SC0 but is 200/65 in size, larger than the standard 200/60. In spite of it being used for the first time ever on Friday, in Race 1 practically all the riders used this option in demonstration of the outstanding development work done by Pirelli and the immediate feeling the riders found with this tyre.
 
In Race 1, Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) started well from pole position, but it was his teammate Jonathan Rea who snatched the race lead from him. Behind them were Alex Lowes (Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team), who had started from the fourth spot, and Marco Melandri (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati), sliding back into fourth place.
On the second lap, Jordi Torres (MV Agusta Reparto Corse) ended up in the gravel and was forced to abandon the race, while the leading quartet was packed into seven tenths of a second. On the following lap, Melandri managed to get past Lowes, taking back the position he had lost at the start.
A crash by Michael Ruben Rinaldi at the end of the third lap forced the marshals to wave the red flag and stop the race. The Quick Restart Procedure was established and the riders were called on to turn another 17 laps. At the second start, the lights came on before all the riders were on the grid, so the Restart procedure was cancelled and the race reduced by yet another lap.
At the subsequent restart, Jonathan Rea once again managed to get by teammate Tom Sykes shortly after the start and Lowes also started better than Melandri, snatching third place from him again. It was also an excellent start for Chaz Davies who, from the ninth spot on the grid, moved up into fifth place behind his teammate.
In the meantime, Rea managed to build up a one second gap ahead of the following trio. It was a battle between Sykes, Lowes and Melandri for second, third and fourth place. During the second lap, Melandri succeeded in overtaking Lowes to move into third and shortly thereafter, Michael Van der Mark also managed to get past his teammate.
Not long after that, Melandri managed to overtake Sykes as well, moving into second place, whereas the English Kawasaki rider had to fend off the attacks of Yamaha riders Lowes and Van der Mark. In the meantime, the heated battle between Laverty and Davies for sixth stole the show, with the Northern Irish Aprilia rider gaining the upper hand in the end.
The race finished with victory, his 60th in the World Championship, of Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK), crossing the line with an advantage of more than five seconds over Marco Melandri (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) and more than seven second ahead of Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK).
 
WorldSBK Race 1 Standings:
 
1) J. Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK)
2) M. Melandri (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati)
3) T. Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK)
4) M. Van der Mark (Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team)
5) A. Lowes (Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team)
6) E. Laverty (Milwaukee Aprilia)
7) L. Savadori (Milwaukee Aprilia)
8) C. Davies (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati)
9) L. Camier (Red Bull Honda World Superbike Team)
10) T. Razgatlioglu (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing)
11) Y. Hernandez (Team Pedercini Racing)
12) L. Mercado (Orelac Racing VerdNatura)
13) R. Ramos (Team GoEleven Kawasaki)
14) X. Forés (Barni Racing Team)
15) M. Rinaldi (Aruba.it Racing - Junior Team)
16) P. Jacobsen (TripleM Honda World Superbike Team)
17) O. Jezek (Guandalini Racing)
18) L. Baz (GULF ALTHEA BMW Racing Team)
RT) J. Torres (MV Agusta Reparto Corse)
RT) J. Gagne (Red Bull Honda World Superbike Team)
 
 
The Pirelli solutions chosen by the WorldSBK riders for Race 1:
 
In Race 1, rider choices were rather unanimous. At the front, preferences fell to the V0952 SC1 development tyre (option B), chosen by 17 out of the 20 riders on the grid, whereas for the rear, the same number of riders opted for the X0175 SC0 development solution (option B), introduced by Pirelli for the first time in this round. For the front, the only riders who went against the grain were Lorenzo Savadori (Milwaukee Aprilia) and Jordi Torres (MV Agusta Reparto Corse), preferring the standard SC2, as well as Chaz Davies (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) who opted for the standard SC1, whereas at the rear, swimming against the current were Alex Lowes (Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team), who went with the W1050, as well as Xavi Forés (Barni Racing Team) and Patrick Jacobsen (TripleM Honda World Superbike Team) who opted for the standard SC0.
 
 
Pirelli statistics for WorldSBK Race 1:
 
• Winner of the PIRELLI BEST LAP Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK),in 1'59.535 at the 2nd lap
 
• Most used front solution: devolpment SC1 V0952 (17 out of 20 riders)
 
• Most used rear solution: devolpment SC0 X0175 (17 out of 20 riders)
 
• Maximum race speed reached by Pirelli DIABLO™ Superbike tyres: 291.9 km/h, achieved by Patrick Jacobsen (TripleM Honda World Superbike Team) in the 7TH lap
 
• Number of solutions (dry, intermediate and wet) for the Superbike class: 6 front and 8 rear
 
Number of tyres available for each Superbike rider: 87, including 41 front and 46 rear
 
• Air temperature: 24° C
 
• Asphalt temperature: 40° C

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