2016 Misano World Superbike Friday Practice Results
During his debut season of World Superbike so far aboard the Honda CBR1000RR SP, America’s Nicky Hayden had his ups and downs. The upsides were a win in Malaysia and a podium in the Netherlands, and the downsides were two DNFs – one in Thailand and the other in Motorland Aragon, Spain.
But at the start of Misano World Superbike – round eight of 14 – Hayden has been on the upside. The 2006 MotoGP Champion was the quickest rider when Friday’s double free practice sessions wrapped up at the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli in Italy.
Hayden finished second in the opening free practice behind Aruba.it Racing Ducati’s Davide Giugliano, but wouldn’t settle for second best in the second session. Hayden was in the top five for most of the 45-minute practice, but after fitting a new set of Pirelli tires, the 34-year-old Kentuckian posted a best lap of 1:35.263 – the fastest of the day.
Hayden, whose best time was around a second slower than the circuit record set in 2015 by Kawasaki Racing Team’s Tom Sykes, finished 0.122 of a second ahead of Althea BMW Racing Team’s Markus Reiterberger, and 0.125 ahead of Sykes, the Brit who secured pole at Misano for the past four years.
“It was nice to be fastest today! In the end, we put a new tire on and I was able to drop my time quite a bit. The track was definitely dirtier than in testing and there was not as much rubber down, so it took a little bit of time for the grip to improve,” Nicky Hayden says.
“I have to admit that I’m not particularly happy with my pace; this morning things went quite smoothly but this afternoon we had a few issues with the electronics: they were showing me the wrong lap-times and split-times. In the end we were able to recover and put together a good lap and that’s good, but we need to work on our rhythm a bit more tomorrow morning.”
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The Italian Giugliano was the quickest overall Ducati, his morning time of 1:35.460 locking up fourth ahead of Althea BMW S1000RR pilot Jordi Torres. The other Ducati 1199 Panigale R pilot, Chaz Davies, finished just ahead of Pata Yamaha’s Alex Lowes, who returns to the track for the first time since breaking his collarbone in Malayisa.
The reigning World SBK Champion – and current points leader – Jonathan Rea sealed eighth aboard his Kawasaki Racing Team Ninja ZX-10R. Rounding out the top 10 were Barni Racing Ducati’s Xavier Fores and IodaRacing Team Aprilia’s Lorenzo Savadori.
Superpole begins at 10:30 a.m. local time Saturday, just ahead of race one a 1 p.m. The second race is set for Sunday.
2016 Misano World Superbike Practice Results – Friday Overall
| # | Rider | Num | Nat. | Team | Constructor | Time/Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nicky Hayden | 69 | USA | Honda WorldSBK | Honda | 1’35.263 |
| 2 | Markus Reiterberger | 21 | GER | Althea BMW Racing Team | BMW | +0.122 |
| 3 | Tom Sykes | 66 | GBR | Kawasaki Racing Team | Kawasaki | +0.125 |
| 4 | Davide Giugliano | 34 | ITA | Aruba.it Racing | Ducati | +0.197 |
| 5 | Jordi Torres | 81 | SPA | Althea BMW Racing Team | BMW | +0.214 |
| 6 | Chaz Davies | 7 | GBR | Aruba.it Racing | Ducati | +0.216 |
| 7 | Alex Lowes | 22 | GBR | Pata Yamaha | Yamaha | +0.230 |
| 8 | Jonathan Rea | 65 | GBR | Kawasaki Racing Team | Kawasaki | +0.269 |
| 9 | Michael van der Mark | 60 | NDL | Honda WorldSBK | Honda | +0.380 |
| 10 | Xavi Fores | 12 | SPA | BARNI Racing Team | Ducati | +0.508 |
| 11 | Lorenzo Savadori | 32 | ITA | IodaRacing Team | Aprilia | +0.805 |
| 12 | Anthony West | 13 | AUS | Team Pedercini | Honda | +1.000 |
| 13 | Román Ramos | 40 | SPA | Team Go Eleven | Kawasaki | +1.068 |
| 14 | Niccolò Canepa | 59 | CAN | Pata Yamaha | Yamaha | +1.149 |
| 15 | Leon Camier | 2 | GBR | MV Agusta Reparto Corse | MV Agusta | +1.166 |
| 16 | Alex De Angelis | 15 | RSM | IodaRacing Team | Aprilia | +1.530 |
| 17 | Karel Abraham | 17 | CZE | Milwaukee BMW | BMW | +1.816 |
| 18 | Joshua Brookes | 25 | AUS | Milwaukee BMW | BMW | +1.914 |
| 19 | Pawel Szkopek | 119 | POL | Team Toth | Yamaha | +3.175 |
| 20 | Dominic Schmitter | 9 | SWI | Grillini Racing Team | Kawasaki | +3.260 |
| 21 | Fabio Menghi | 61 | ITA | VFT Racing | Ducati | +3.338 |
| 22 | Peter Sebestyen | 56 | HUN | Team Toth | Yamaha | +3.697 |
| 23 | Gianluca Vizziello | 4 | ITA | Team Go Eleven | Kawasaki | +4.170 |
| 24 | Saeed Al Sulaiti | 11 | QAT | Team Pedercini | Kawasaki | +5.055 |
