Leandro Mercado (MIE Honda) rode the Honda CBR-1000RR-R SP Fireblade for the first time on Friday in Aragon and therefore had to take the first day like a test day. It is to be hoped for the fast Argentine that his team will soon solve the pending problems with him and that he can concentrate on driving (© MIE Honda).

Some facts & more voices about the 1st day of WorldSBK in Aragon

Regarding the falls, the first day in Aragon, except for the WorldSSP 300, went off lightly. At WorldSBK, only two riders had crashed in FP2, and both of them turned out to be relatively light. While Christophe Ponsson only slipped in Turn 5, Michael van der Mark looked a bit more intense after his departure in Turn 8. The Dutchman looked a bit shaky when he got up afterwards and his BMW had landed on the tire wall after rolling over several times. The bike was too damaged when “Magic Michael” made it onto the track again despite a break with red flags.

Michael van der Mark after his crash and on the left his smoking BMW M-1000RR, with which he could no longer compete in FP2. In contrast to MotoGP, reserve bikes are not allowed in the WSBK to reduce costs.

The falls in the smaller classes
There were three fall victims in the WorldSSP with Pavel Szkopec from Poland, the Estonian Hannes Soomer and Vertti Takala from Finland. Fortunately, the drivers were all unharmed. Not so in WSSP 300, where a total of 7 pilots had crashed and two of them had to go to the Medical Center for an examination. The young Spaniard Alejandro Carrion was then declared unfit. It is to be hoped that there will be no improvement in qualifying and the race on Saturday.

Niki Tuuli (MV Agusta F3 675) – the Finn was fastest in both sessions on Friday and is one of the favourites in the first race on Saturday. With Randy Krummenacher, the 2019 world champion was only able to start in the second free practice session because he had a technical problem in the first that took the entire FP1 to solve.

Weitere Fahrer-Stimmen nach dem Freitag

Leandro Mercado – MIE Honda, No. 36: “Today was more of a test day for us, let’s say. In the first free practice session I didn’t do many laps, basically just one ride and then the mechanics worked on the bike to solve a technical problem. Things went better in FP2, and we were able to start working on the setup. Also, on the electronics and in the search for a basis for this route, on which we travelled without a test. It’s a bit of a shame that we missed this morning’s session because we really need a lot of track time. Tonight we are looking at the data we have collected and with that we have to try to improve significantly over the course of the weekend. “

Leandro “Tati” Mercado photographed by us two years ago in conversation with one of his team members when he was still on the road for the Orelac Kawasaki Verdnatura team. At MIE Honda he only got a contract at the last minute and that’s why he’s starting the new season almost unprepared, which unfortunately means that the Argentine is not an isolated incident.

Tom Sykes – BMW: „Most of the drivers used the SC0 tire in the first practice session, which worked for us straight away, and we had a good feeling with the bike. Towards the end of the session, many started using the X-tire developed for the Superpole Race, which pushed us down in order when we decided to stick with the SC0. The afternoon session got a lot warmer and since we had a few things to try it out had an impact on the overall performance of the lap time. But tomorrow is another day, and we will continue to work. The first session this morning was good for us. At first, we lacked a lot of grip, but we found something during practice. This meant I got some good laps at the end of practice. We also understood some areas that we can work on, especially during the braking phase, so this was a good step for us.”

Michael van der Mark – BMW: “The afternoon session was much warmer and the conditions varied. I was fine, but unfortunately I had a fall at T8 which was a shame as I was planning on doing some long runs in hot conditions. Unfortunately there is a lot of work for the guys tonight, but we will come back strong tomorrow. “

Tom Sykes (BMW M-1000RR) on Friday in Motorland Aragon – in the combined rankings, in 9th place, the best of the four BMW drivers, while Jonas was only the third best of the blue-whites in 14th place (© BMW Motorrad WSBK).

Toprak Razgtaglioglu – Pata Yamaha with Brixx: „Today was a very good start! I am happy because everything worked very well together. In the afternoon we tried a full racing simulation which is a good improvement over last year, and we understand a lot about how the bike and tires behave after the first 10 laps. This is very important to understand the race, where and how I can be faster. We keep working because we will try some small changes in FP3 to see if we can improve further. We’ll see if we can fight the top riders tomorrow, which isn’t easy on this track, but I’ll try. “

Andrea Locatelli – Pata Yamaha with Brixx: „In the end, we did a much better job this afternoon than we did during the tests because the feeling with the bike was like the last test here in Aragon, which gives me more confidence. We did a decent long run in the afternoon to understand the tire and see if it was possible to drive on the softer compound. I’m happy because the feeling is good now, we just have to work on the exit of the corner. Now I can brake well, this area is very good, and I hope that we can improve in all areas tomorrow before the first race. We will see. It’s the first race for me and I definitely have to enjoy it and learn for the next races on Sunday “

Toprak Razgatlioglu in front of Yamaha teammate Kohta Nozane – although some riders were astonishingly far ahead on Friday on the YZF R1, you only know how much this was worth on Saturday. A lot of the others were clearly holding back and only after the first race do we know more.

What can we expect on Saturday?

Because Friday is a pure training day in WorldSBK, the times are usually as little informative as in tests. Even lurid headlines from overzealous journalists do little to change that. In this respect, it was also very difficult to want to sell the first day in Motorland Aragon as particularly exciting. On the other hand, it was of little use, to try to present the slip of “Magic Michael”, which at least for the rider was not particularly spectacular, and his battered bike as a supposed sensation. Fortunately for everyone, this will be completely different on Saturday. It should be spectacular in the first race at the latest, if not already in qualifying. Everyone is curious to see if Johnny Rea will win the hundred after he has already won 99 before the lights go out for the first time this year at 2 p.m. local time. We are therefore absolutely certain that there will be enough tension.

The Parador – the landmark perched high above the small town of Alcaniz near the route on a hill. Photographed by us in splendid conditions shortly after arrival. There are only a handful of hotels and restaurants here, which is why there is absolute chaos here on MotoGP Grand Prix weekends.

Motorland Aragon route map

WorldSBK has been racing in Aragon since 2011 and the first win was won by Marco Melandri on a Yamaha, while Aprilia ace Max Biaggi won the second run. The following year, the two Italians won again, but in reverse order and Melandri on a BMW. In the following two years it was first Davies and then Sykes on Kawasaki, which each took a double victory.

Schedule for the first race weekend of 2021

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