The TT Circuit poses an uphill battle for Honda HRC on Friday
TT Circuit AssenHonda HRC have work to do after a less than simple start to the Dutch WorldSBK weekend
As the curtain goes up on the third Superbike World Championship round at the TT Circuit Assen, the Honda HRC team and riders Somkiat Chantra and Jonathan Rea complete the first of the weekend’s practice sessions.
The Dutch WorldSBK round kicked off on Friday morning with free practice 1. In dry conditions, WorldSBK rookie Somkiat set to work with his technicians, in search of a setup that can allow him to lap comfortably and confidently with his CBR1000RR-R. On the other side of the garage, test rider Jonathan Rea, a veritable expert around this track, was able to rely on his detailed knowledge of the TT Assen Circuit and focus solely on the bike and its technical development. By the end of this 45-minute phase, Rea was lying nineteenth with a time of 1’35.592, and Chantra twenty-second, having lapped in 1’36.276.
The second session ran later in the day, in similarly cloudy but dry conditions. Though there is still work to do, Rea was able to find some small details that allowed him to set a best of 1’35.124, four tenths quicker than his best FP1 reference, the Northern Irish rider placed nineteenth in the combined standings at the end of day one. Rookie Chantra continued to get to grips with the Honda Fireblade around this challenging circuit. Finding another full second with respect to his FP1 performance, the Thai rider closed in overall P21 with a time of 1’35.253. The Honda HRC team will make the most of Saturday’s morning final practice before heading into the Superpole qualifying followed by the first race of this Dutch WorldSBK weekend.
“It’s been nice to ride at Assen again. It’s true that we didn’t maximise our track time today, but we were able to make many laps with some different ideas from a chassis setup point of view, moving more in the direction that Tom (Jojic) and Jake (Dixon) were following at the beginning of the season. This meant we also needed to make some electronic adjustments. We’re working across different areas, but the main focus is on trying to generate more rear traction from the bike. From the first time I rode the bike, this seems to be a clear way in which to improve. For tomorrow, I expect the guys to come up with a different package so that we can really understand if we can work in a different way to define that aspect. I think it could fix a lot of other issues. We have a lot of work to do, but we are collecting a lot of good data to understand if we can take a step tomorrow morning. Then we go straight into Superpole, so it will be important to try and maximise my one-lap attack to qualify as best as possible. We’ll keep working step by step anyway. As for the development tyre, we didn’t try it today. We opted to focus on testing new ideas and didn’t spend too much time on that, as it could influence our direction. Let’s see what we can do tomorrow.”
“It’s been nice to ride at Assen again. It’s true that we didn’t maximise our track time today, but we were able to make many laps with some different ideas from a chassis setup point of view, moving more in the direction that Tom (Jojic) and Jake (Dixon) were following at the beginning of the season. This meant we also needed to make some electronic adjustments. We’re working across different areas, but the main focus is on trying to generate more rear traction from the bike. From the first time I rode the bike, this seems to be a clear way in which to improve. For tomorrow, I expect the guys to come up with a different package so that we can really understand if we can work in a different way to define that aspect. I think it could fix a lot of other issues. We have a lot of work to do, but we are collecting a lot of good data to understand if we can take a step tomorrow morning. Then we go straight into Superpole, so it will be important to try and maximise my one-lap attack to qualify as best as possible. We’ll keep working step by step anyway. As for the development tyre, we didn’t try it today. We opted to focus on testing new ideas and didn’t spend too much time on that, as it could influence our direction. Let’s see what we can do tomorrow.”
“Today we were on track at Assen for FP1 and FP2. In FP1 we tried something different, but it didn’t bring the result we were hoping for. Then in the afternoon we worked more on the electronics side, and things were getting better. We also changed some settings on the bike and that helped too. I was feeling better, and the bike was easier to ride. The gap was closer than in the morning because now there’s just one way forward. We’ll be looking to improve again tomorrow, and will do our best to make another step for Superpole and also for the race.”
“Today we were on track at Assen for FP1 and FP2. In FP1 we tried something different, but it didn’t bring the result we were hoping for. Then in the afternoon we worked more on the electronics side, and things were getting better. We also changed some settings on the bike and that helped too. I was feeling better, and the bike was easier to ride. The gap was closer than in the morning because now there’s just one way forward. We’ll be looking to improve again tomorrow, and will do our best to make another step for Superpole and also for the race.”
