Slight tendency for a humid WorldSBK weekend on the Adriatic

After the second day in Motorland Aragon at the start of the season had already taken place in difficult conditions, there is also a slight rain tendency for Misano this coming weekend. Currently, it only looks reasonably certain that it will stay dry for Friday morning and Saturday from noon. At least Jonathan Rea has fond memories of rainy conditions at the Autodromo in Santamonica, close to the coast. While his current teammate Alex Lowes crashed on the Pata Yamaha back then, the Northern Irishman won the first race in heavy rain. That was on June 22nd, two years ago, when we photographed him on the way to the podium after the race, see the following picture.

It was the first third win of the 2019 season when Jonathan Rea was on his way to the podium and second was Tom Sykes with the first podium for BMW since the blue-whites had returned to the WSBK at the factory. What the Kawasaki ace and the BMW rider mean before Misano, see our report “Pre-Misano voices”.

Quotes from HRC Honda and Yamaha before the third round in Italy

Leon Haslam (HRC Honda) two years ago in Misano he was a KRT-Kawasaki teammate of Johnny Rea: „Misano is always a special race. I heard that some fans will be watching, and it will be fantastic because the atmosphere in Italy is always great. In the past we always spent a few days with Frankie Chili and everyone there on the beach, so I have very fond memories of the place. Of course, I really like the track and was on the podium in our last race in 2019. I’m now looking forward to riding the CBR-1000RR-R SP Fireblade there and working on finding the good feeling we had this winter.“

WSBK 9 years ago in Misano with from left Jonathan Rea (then Honda), winner Max Biaggi (Aprilia) and BMW driver Leon Haslam, who again stood on the podium for Kawasaki in Misano in 2019. Now he’s trying one more time for HRC Honda.

Alvaro Bautista (HRC Honda) before the Misano weekend: „The last race weekend left us with mixed feelings. It was a tough Friday, followed by improved performance and confidence throughout the weekend, despite the added challenge of having my best qualifying time on Saturday canceled. Nevertheless, we are of the opinion that we have missed some of our potential there and look forward to improving ourselves this weekend. We approach Misano with a strong mentality, and we will work to find the feeling we had in Aragon. Our main goal is to have a bike that is well-balanced for all conditions and every route. I am very happy to return to the Adriatic coast after missing out on it last season. It’s a track that I really enjoy, and it’s definitely very different from Aragon and Estoril, so we’re going to try to find a good setup with the electronics, chassis and everything to get closer to the top. What I’m really happy about is that we finally have fans in the stands again. A limited number, sure, but it’s a first step we’ve been looking forward to during this long period of closed doors.“

A podium in the first round of Italy in May 2019 from us in Imola photographed with from left winners Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki), Alvaro Bautista (Ducati, P2) and third-placed Toprak Razgatlioglu (Kawasaki Puccetti), who was in the Season went to the podium.

Toprak Razgatlıoğlu (Pata Yamaha with Brixx): „For me, it will be the first time that I will race the Yamaha R1 in Misano, and I am looking forward to it. I’ve had some good duels with Jonathan Rea for the win in the past and I like this track, but we have to see where we stand on Saturday afternoon first. We’ve been pretty strong so far this year, and we also had two days of testing in Misano over the winter, which felt perfect with the new bike. It’s not easy to say where we can be now, the race is the most important part, so we won’t know more until Saturday after the 1st run. The goal is always the podium and the battle for victory, and I think the R1 will be very competitive at this track.“

Andrea Locatelli (Pata Yamaha with Brixx): „It’s very nice for me to be back on track on the Adriatic. It’s the home race for me, and it’s always nice because we can have fun on the weekend too. It is important to have a certain balance! I feel good because we had an excellent second race at Estoril. I now understand more about the bike and the setup that helped me take another step. Furthermore, I’m sure we can do very well at home with that because we’ve improved from race to race. Superpole qualifying will also be important, and I want to improve and understand the best way to get maximum performance with the Q tire. The goal is of course to be in the top group and to get a good result, because our path now is to improve every race and of course I know the Misano circuit very well. We’ll see, but we’re ready. “

Photographed by us in Misano on Saturday lunchtime in 2019, about two hours before the first race, when it was almost certain that the rain would soon come. After that, the first rain race of the season took place, because before that in Imola in May the second run was not even started due to heavy rainfall.

Stand in the WorldSBK world championships

The “Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli”

Misano weekend schedule

>WSBK Misano Preview see separate report on this page.

Unless otherwise mentioned, applies to all images (© WorldSBK).