Round 08 #FRAWorldSbk SUPERPOLE & RACE 2
September 5, 2021
Round 09 #CATALANWorldSbk COMBINED FREE PRACTICES
September 17, 2021
Just over a week since the eighth Superbike World Championship round played out at the Magny-Cours circuit in France, Team HRC is now in Montmeló, Spain, ready for round nine, the first event in a triple-header that will see the SBK field take on the challenge of nine races in three weeks.
The Superbikes made their first visit to the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya in 2020, a round during which factory rider Alvaro Bautista scored a top-five finish in race 1. Bautista also holds the fastest lap record, having set a 1’41.828 during last year’s Superpole race.
In mid-August, Team HRC completed what Alvaro deemed to be a very constructive test with his CBR1000RR-R FIREBLADES at this same Spanish circuit, the rider now keen to see whether they can translate the progress made during those sessions into results on the track this weekend.
Built in 1991, the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya has regularly hosted Formula 1 and MotoGP events right from the early years. Various modifications have been made over the years with a view to improving rider safety, and the track was resurfaced in 2018. 4627 metres in length, the fast and flowing track incorporates fourteen turns, eight of which are right-handers and six left.
WEEKEND SCHEDULE (CET -1)
Friday
10.30 – 11.15 – SBK Free Practice 1
15.00 – 15.45 – SBK Free Practice 2
Saturday
9.00 – 9.30 – SBK Free Practice 3
11.10 – 11.25 – Superpole
15.15 – SBK Race 1
Sunday
9.00 – 9-15 – SBK Warm-up
11.00 – Superpole race
15.15 – SBK Race 2
Alvaro Bautista #19
“We arrive in Barcelona full of energy after the last two rounds during which we were quite competitive. At Navarra, we struggled a little bit at first but we were ultimately able to improve both our feeling and speed. Then at Magny-Cours we had a good weekend because even if we suffered a bit in practice and couldn’t qualify well, we ran strong races and had good feeling with the bike. Barcelona is a track I really enjoy, with long and fast corners, and of course it’s another race in Spain in front of a Spanish crowd, so I am very happy to race there. It will definitely be challenging because the level of the category is very high and there are a lot of fast riders, but I have good memories in terms of our performance last year and I think it can be a good weekend for us. We’ll get straight to work to be sure to get every detail right for the races and we’ll see – hopefully we can start this triple-header with good feeling and solid results.”