WorldSBK riders reflect on opening race at Phillip Island – Quotes

WorldSBK 2024
Round One – Phillip Island
WorldSBK Race One

Nicolò Bulega – P1

“I am really very happy. This result is important because it confirms the great work we did in the winter with the team. I have to admit that as a first race it wasn’t one of the easiest, also because of the flag to flag. To take pole position and win the race with the fastest lap is something beyond my expectations. Obviously there is still a lot to do but a start like this gives us high confidence both for tomorrow’s races and for the next rounds”.

Andrea Locatelli – P2

“I think this is one of the best races I’ve done! We were fighting a lot with the guys, especially on the second tyre, so we need to be happy to get to the front of this group! I struggled a little bit in the beginning of the race so this was a little disappointing, it was tricky and I tried to recover after the start but it was not easy – but then in the second stint I pushed a lot on the bike and the feeling was much better. I overtook three strong riders in front of me and finished in second position, so it’s a good start for us for sure! We got P2 and a lot of points, I take good confidence from the result and we will try again tomorrow. We need just to start a bit more in front after the Superpole Race – and try again in Race 2. The potential we have, especially on the race rhythm, is high – I think we can fight for the podium, and maybe the victory, again.”

Andrea Iannone – P3

“Qualifying was fantastic, starting from the front was exciting. I’m happy, but I want to keep my feet on the ground. We also have to evaluate which aspects didn’t go as we hoped and try to improve them in view of tomorrow. I thank Ducati in the person of Gigi Dall’Igna, Claudio Domenicali, Paolo Ciabatti, Marco Zambenedetti and the whole Go Eleven team for the support. Special thanks also to the WorldSBK family. I see a lot of support from people and this is the most important.”

Alex Lowes – P4

“We got the most we could out of the bike, which was the target. I am really happy with how we managed the race but in the last sector of the circuit, the last two corners and onto the straight, I lost everything. Over 20-laps it was so hard to catch them back up. You can only go so fast into Turn One. But, in terms of how I was riding and how I was managing the bike, there was not a lot more we could do. To finish fifth over the line, and then fourth after a penalty was given to Toprak, means it was a good start to the year. The team did a good job, we had a clean pitstop and a clean race. I had some argy-bargy with Toprak – we know how aggressive he is – and I tried to pass him at the end. I did not know he had been given a penalty at that stage so I tried to cut back on him in the last corner. I was enjoying the battle with him to be honest. He hit me hard at Turn Four, and it took my hand off the handlebar. I knew it was Toprak. I enjoy racing with him, but every race you have two or three contacts. Today we had the pace we expected to have and maybe at the end of the first part of the race 1’28 lap times were a bit quicker than I expected. I have to be happy with the first race, I did the best I could, and we have two more tries on Sunday.”

Toprak Razgatlıoğlu – P5

“The start of the race was not bad. I stayed at the front and my feeling was good at the beginning of the race. In the last laps, I was pushing harder but kept trying to safe my rear tyre because this track is very difficult for the rear tyre. We did ten laps but on the last two laps I was feeling the vibration. We finished the race in fifth position, normally in P4 but I got a penalty. It was also strange because I saw ‘0’ on my dashboard and exited from the pit lane. Maybe there was some GPS problem, I don’t know. Also, Alex Lowes passed me at the pit lane exit and I did not take an advantage. But anyway, I started fifth and finished in the same position. Fourth would have been better and I hope that we will improve tomorrow. Now I have one race with BMW under my belt. I am not happy as my target was to get onto the podium in the first race but I know that this is not an easy race because the tyre is done after ten laps. Anyway, we have some data, we started to work on improvement and I hope we make another step tomorrow. My target is the first podium, especially here in Australia, because this track is not easy for me and I hope we will achieve that.”

Dominique Aegerter – P6

“Overall it was a decent race, but the start was not so good. I lost a lot of position and I had to recover from behind and things are never easy when you’re in the middle of the group. Anyway, I tried to make my way through the field, managing to gain places showing good race pace. The strategy with the flag-to-flag was also okay, we were able to win a couple of position. We can be somehow satisfied, considering I missed the January tests and I feel that my body is not in perfect shape. I’ll have one night to recover and come back stronger tomorrow, we know there’s still margin to improve.”

Michael van der Mark – P7

“In Superpole, I messed it up. I crashed on my first run and then, you know, you need to set a time. My time was okay but I didn’t improve as I wanted to. So P16 on the grid is far from ideal. We didn’t really know what to expect from the race with the pit stop. So on one hand it was quite nice because I could push really hard for the first ten laps. I had an okay start, not fantastic. You’re just busy when you are starting from P16. Step by step I managed to move forward. I had a good pace, I was able to pass a lot of people. I think I was one of the last to do a pit stop. After the stop, I pushed as hard as I can but I couldn’t close the gap to the group in front of me and I did not have the same feeling as I had before the stop. Anyway, to finish seventh after coming from P16 is a good start to the season, I think.”

Danilo Petrucci – P8

“I made some mistakes in qualifying, and I knew I had to make a good start to climb up quickly. I took some risks, but I managed to get into the leading group. I knew I could stay with the best, and it was the case until the pit stop. The team did a great job, giving me a bike that allowed me to ride the way I like. Unfortunately, during the flag-to-flag, we had an issue that affected us. I tried to recover, but by then, the train had left. We gained some points, which is always good, but I wanted to finish in the top five. We’ll try again tomorrow.”

Xavi Vierge – P10

“The first race of the year is done and dusted. Overall, it’s been a decent day, despite the fact that a solid 1’29.00 in today’s ultra-competitive Superpole only put us on row five of the grid. The Phillip Island round is always a “special” race for various reasons, especially when it comes to tyre wear, hence the need for a flag-to-flag race. I must say a big thankyou to the team though, as they did an awesome job changing the tyres flawlessly and at just the right moment as we had planned. Unfortunately, I wasn’t convinced by the rear grip in the first part of the race, and I couldn’t quite push as hard as I wanted. But after the tyre change, my pace really picked up. We’ll check the data carefully now to see if we can bring that same competitiveness to both stints tomorrow and really be in the mix for a better result. For now, let’s take this top ten finish and hopefully use it as a boost for tomorrow.”

Axel Bassani – P12

“I have not a lot to stay about Superpole but it was not so good. In the race I think I made a really good start but it was not easy to try to overtake some other riders. I made a mistake and put down Remy Gardner. It was not my intention, but it happened. After some laps my pace was good but then I had to do a long lap penalty and lost me a lot of time and four track positions. The first half of the race was really good but when I changed the tyre and went back out again it was more difficult to ride the bike. I had a lot of movement. We have to understand that because if we can ride the second half of the race like the first half of the race we can do a good job.”

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Alvaro Bautista – P15

“It’s a shame. Despite a not excellent superpole, I got a very good start. Maybe it was the best start of my career. The feeling was good and I was convinced I could stay with the leading group. Unfortunately, I crashed but I made the most of the rest of the race, to prepare myself for tomorrow”.

Jonathan Rea – P17

“It was really difficult today, right from when the lights went out in Race 1 – I had quite a bad start, but I made some good headway in Turns 1 and 2. Then I was in a consistent rhythm, fighting with Domi at one point then van der Mark. I decided to pit at the earliest possible moment and unfortunately, we just had a small issue that prohibited me from getting back on track so I lost quite a bit of time outside the pit box. I exited with Bautista – and I could ride with him at his rhythm for a few laps, until the last four or five laps when I started making some mistakes, but once I cleared him and found my line I started to find my rhythm again. Frustrating, because it feels like we can’t catch a break – we’ve had a lot of curve balls thrown our way, but fortunately we’re still here to keep showing up. Tomorrow we will try some set up changes because I’m not happy with how the bike is handling and we know that with WorldSBK so competitive now, you need to be confident on the bike to push to the maximum. I know when I feel good with the bike, like I have done Jerez and at times in Portimao, that I can fly – so it’s a case of exercising patience and knowing that we have really good potential ahead of us.”

Tarran Mackenzie – P19

“I struggled this morning, and in yesterday’s Superpole to be honest, and I really wanted to make a more dramatic change to the bike in order to be able to make a comparison, good or bad. So we did that for today’s race and I immediately improved on my lap times when the race got underway. I felt good on new tyres, and the first part of the race went well, but then I had more trouble in the second half. I made a small mistake during the pitstop which caused me to lose a little time, so I’ll try to improve on that tomorrow. Hopefully we can use tomorrow’s warm-up to understand a little more and then we’ll do our best to improve in the two races, of course.”

Adam Norrodin – P20

“The first race was tough, but I want to thank my whole team as the tyre change went smoothly and everyone’s worked really hard. In the first part of the race I was setting quite good lap times, a little faster than my previous references, but in the second half I started to struggle physically and couldn’t really keep up the pace. At least we completed the race and collected more data, so now we’ll try to use that to our advantage to prepare and improve in Sunday’s races.”

Remy Gardner – DNF

“Not the best day for sure, that wasn’t the ideal start of the year. The qualifying was decent, even though not great, but to start from seventh wasn’t too bad. In the start unfortunately I had to close the gas to avoid contact and dropped a couple of position. I felt I could have good speed and I was trying to put myself into a good position, but in turn 10 Bassani hit me and forced me to crash. Anyway, we have two more races to express our potential, let’s stay positive to enjoy a good Sunday.”

Team Managers

Paul Denning – Pata Prometeon Yamaha Team Principal

“It was always going to be a stressful race with the compulsory pit stops which puts a lot of pressure on all the teams – and indeed the riders – to make the right calls and execute everything correctly. We couldn’t have asked for more from Loka – he was disappointed to be only P6 on the grid, but by running for two extra laps in clean air compared to the guys in the front group, he was able to make up a lot of time and rode fantastic in and out-laps. It still meant he was P5 when he exited pit lane for the second stint, but he had fresher tyres than the riders around him, and with high motivation and an R1 WorldSBK that was working well beneath him – he did a brilliant job to claw his way through to P2. Congratulations to Andrea, to Tom – his new Crew Chief, who’s had a great “first day” at the office – and to all of Loka’s team. It’s clear that Jonathan’s start to the 2024 championship has been frustrating, going all the way back to the Tuesday test – and we have not yet been able to get him comfortable on the bike here at Phillip Island. That being said, in the race he bit the screen, got into the top 10 and recorded his best lap time of the weekend on race tyres – it was really a good sign to make progress through the field. Unfortunately, the pit stop was a disaster with a problem at the rear of the bike that we have never had before. An added disappointment after how the week has been going on that side of the box – but, we have 20 laps of data and three chances including Warm Up to get Jonathan more comfortable and take some steps forward. Today was a bad start for JR, but we are here to help him win again.”

Shaun Muir – ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team Principal

“I’m very happy for both riders, Michael had a great race coming from P16 on the grid, working his way through the field patiently to get himself into a very strong position come the pit stops. A good slick pit stop by his team got him back out where he settled into a really good rhythm in P6. He was probably two to three seconds off a podium position at that point in time, which was easily the time he had lost moving from P17, so for Mickey to come home with the bike in P7 overall is a fantastic result for him, great for his confidence and he couldn’t have done any better so we’re super happy with that. Toprak is really frustrated, clearly we couldn’t give him a package with tyre durability to last the full 10 laps, which became apparent very early on in the week with the abrasive track conditions. But in his fighting spirit, in his first race on the BMW M 1000 RR he didn’t let us down, he battled at the front for as long as he could. The biggest point for him was that he couldn’t ride to his full potential, he couldn’t use the full power, he’s having to run on a softer map to get the tyre to last the race distance, where as i’m pretty sure most of the riders on the grid had much more use of their power. but the signs are there that it’s going to be a very strong season for him and he can move forward from this position. He’s got two more races this weekend and I think if he comes away in a similar position to where he was today, in third, fourth, fifth, then I think it’s going to really be a solid start from him for when we fly back to Europe.”

WorldSBK Race One Results

1. Bulega
2. Locatelli +2.280
3. Iannone +2.630
4. Lowes A +4.728
5. Razgatlioglu +5.706
6. Aegerter +8.333
7. Van der Mark +8.647
8. Petrucci +9.965
9. Gerloff +11.699
10. Vierge +12.423
11. Redding +14.413
12. Bassani +16.668
13. Lowes S +18.388
14. Rinaldi +23.560
15. Bautista +32.471
16. Oettl +35.580
17. Rea +37.949
18. Rabat +39.427
19. Mackenzie +54.890
20. Norrodin +57.202
21. Ray +58.642

WorldSBK Superpole Results

1. Bulega 1m27.916
2. Iannone 1m28.154
3. Lowes A 1m28.239
4. Aegerter 1m28.403
5. Razgatlioglu 1m28.520
6. Locatelli 1m28.540
7. Gardner 1m28.604
8. Lowes S 1m28.676
9. Bautista 1m28.700
10. Rinaldi 1m28.784
11. Rea 1m1m28.890
12. Petrucci 1m28.903
13. Vierge 1m29.000
14. Gerloff 1m29.045
15. Bassani 1m29.118
16. Van der Mark 1m29.127
17. Ray 1m29.242
18. Oettl 1m29.263
19. Redding 1m29.726
20. Rabat 1m29.809
21. Mackenzie 1m31.133
22. Norrodin 1m31.888

Phillip Island ASBK/WSBK Schedule

2024 WorldSBK Dates