First day of action on track for the Evan Bros. WorldSSP Yamaha Team, engaged on the spectacular Portimao track for round number ten of the season. During the first two free practice sessions, Steven Odendaal and Peter Sebestyen started to get familiar with the track and to work on the set up of their Yamaha YZF - R6, obtaining respectively the 5th and 14th best time in the combined classification of the day.
As usual, the Friday of the reigning world champion team started with FP1, held in the late morning in Portugal. Odendaal completed four runs of different lengths with a total of 16 laps, conquering the 4th position. Sebestyen completed 18 laps and immediately reached the top ten thanks to his 10th time.
In the afternoon, FP2 is characterized by a significant increase in temperature. In search of the perfect set up for the many changes of slope in Portimao Steven put together 17 laps, focusing more on his sensations than on the lap time, conquering the 9th place. A lot of work also for Peter, author of 14 laps and owner of P13, despite a crash without consequences at turn 3.
After having acquired the first information about the track, the Evan Bros. WorldSSP Yamaha Team is now ready to face the day 2 of the Portimao weekend, during which the Superpole (11.25 Italian time) and Race 1, which will start at 16.15 (Italian time) and will last 17 laps, will be held. Both sessions will be visible live: Superpole on Sky Sport MotoGP (channel 208), Race 1 on Sky Sport Action (channel 206).
Results FP1 + FP2 #PRTWorldSBK
P1 - Manuel Gonzalez (Yamaha) 1'44"180
P2 - Jules Cluzel (Yamaha) 0.170
P3 - Federico Caricasulo (Yamaha) +0.341
P4 - Dominique Aegerter (Yamaha) +0.405
P5 - Steven Odendaal (Evan Bros. WorldSSP Yamaha Team, Yamaha) +0.430
P14 - Peter Sebestyen (Evan Bros. WorldSSP Yamaha Team,
Yamaha) +1.398
Yamaha) +1.398
Steven Odendaal: "Today was a day of ups and downs. We started off strong, but then in FP2 we couldn't make the progress we wanted, also because of the strong wind. Our situation is encouraging though, so I think tomorrow could be a good day for us".
Peter Sebestyen: "In FP1 we found a good base to start from, while in the afternoon a small crash slowed me down. I tried to push as hard as I could but there was traffic at the end so I struggled to get a good lap time. The wind didn't help us, but in general we know we have to improve and we want to do it as soon as possible".