Grip issues slow progress

Problems with rear grip slowed Team Bimota Alstare riders Ayrton Badovini and Christian Iddon’s progress on the opening day of the eighth round of this year’s World Superbike Championship at the Autodromo do Algarve. Neither rider was particularly happy with today’s results, but both are confident of improvement tomorrow. After today’s two sessions, Ayrton finished 15^th fastest, with team mate Christian just behind in 16^th.

Ayrton Badovini – 15^th, 1:45.919

“I am not happy with how today went because I did not find a good feeling with the bike. We tried many different settings, but didn’t find any improvement. In the afternoon, the wind was a bit of a problem and it was difficult to find the correct line sometimes. It was also hard for me to find rear grip today and so we will look at the data tonight and make some changes tomorrow. I really like this track and I am hoping that we can find a good set-up tomorrow and I get the  chance to push hard and have some fun.”

Christian Iddon – 16^th, 1:45.927

“I don’t think that today was a bad day…… it was a fairly normal first day for me. We tried a few different tyre combinations and I think we more or less sorted out which we’d like to use. My main issue today was rear grip … or lack of it….especially on the exit of the turns. We tried a different rear spring, but there was no improvement, so we’re going to have to come up with something in tomorrow’s sessions. I had a little difficulty keeping the front wheel on the ground over the crests of the hills because I couldn’t get the electronics to do what we wanted. This afternoon the wind came up strongly and I was braking forty metres or so different to the morning at the end of the start finish straight. It’s been a while since I’ve experienced wind like that, but I soon got used to it. I really enjoy this track, but when you don’t have a lot of rear grip, it’s not easy to push hard.”