Rain was forecast for Friday, but the Spanish sun was present during the two free practice sessions. Jules Cluzel finished FP2 in a respectable 5th place, after FP1 which served to better understand the direction to take in terms of bike set-up. Indeed, this Barcelona track is particularly slippery, and requires special settings. After a 10th place in FP1, Andy Verdoia encountered some electronic problems in FP2. The rider of the #94 Yamaha R6 could only do better than 23rd.
The Superpole will be particularly important here. The first corner is particularly tight, and overtaking is not always easy, especially if the riders can’t take advantage of a good rear grip, in order to get a good start on the exit of the corner. See you at 10.25am for the Superpole, then at 3.15pm for Race 1.
Jules Cluzel: “It was not an easy day, because the grip of the circuit here is very particular. The bike has to be adjusted to compensate for the low grip level. We have made some progress in the sessions, but we still have some room for improvement to help me approach the fast corners and accelerate better. If we can get a good fast lap in Superpole the race can be interesting.“
Andy Verdoia: “FP1 was pretty encouraging and I was able to work on the rest of the weekend. Unfortunately in FP2 I had a small electronic problem that didn’t allow me to ride freely. The team is doing everything possible to fix the problem in superpole. “