The Imola Round is one of the most highly anticipated events of the World Superbike championship, particularly for us at Nolangroup.
It transpired to be an important race, not only in the championship but also for the fans. Unfortunately there was no victory in Superbike, Melandribarely grabbed third in race 1 and was so unlucky in race 2. Chaz Davies achieving the opposite, second in race 2 and off the podium in race 1, with a fourth place finish.
Also an excellent performance of Rinaldi, on his debut in Superbike on the home track. Also racing at home were Savadori who was unlucky, and Caricasulo, second in Supersport. While in the Superstock 1000 it was the German, Reiterberger who represented Nolan Group on the podium with an important third place.
The next appointment is for England, in another historic track, Donington Park Circuit. See you there!
Commuting, leisure, holidays are all good reasons to wear your Nolan or X-Lite helmet and enjoy your two wheels. Obviously, always riding carefully!
SUPERBIKE
MARCO MELANDRI RACE1: 3rd
"All in all, we can be happy because I couldn't have done more today. It was a hard race, and early on I was struggling with a full fuel tank and I couldn't keep up with the Kawasakis. I tried everything I could, and I made a couple of mistakes as I was on the limit. From lap 10 onwards we've been really fast, so we need to analyze the data to restart from there in Race 2 tomorrow. I want to thank the home crowd for their support, the atmosphere is always incredible here and this podium is for all of them."
CHAZ DAVIES RACE1: 4th
"Unfortunately we couldn't get a good start, then I went straight at the last chicane, so I had a quite a bit of catching up to do after that. In the end our pace was really good, so I think we could have fought for the podium if not the win, but we came through just a little too late. Looking at the positives, tomorrow we'll start from pole position. It's the first time I'll be able to take advantage of this rule, but we can also still improve a few details."
MICHAEL RUBEN RINALDI RACE1: 7th
"I started off quite well and my goal was to stay with Melandri, but I made a small mistake. After that, I pushed really hard to recover but, when the tires drop, I still struggle a bit. This is what we'll work on, we only need experience. Aragon was similar, but today our gap was narrower, so the trend is positive. We still have plenty of room for improvement."
CHAZ DAVIES RACE2: 2nd
"We did our best today but unfortunately it wasn't enough. The temperatures were higher and I didn't have much feeling, so I was struggling a bit both in corner entry and acceleration. I thought I'd try and go with Rea but realistically I knew it would have been too risky. Twenty points is the best we could do today. It's very important for me to be on the podium at Imola, Ducati is very close and there are so many fans supporting us. We would have liked to give them an even better result, but we still had fun."
MICHAEL RUBE RINALDI RACE2: 7th
"I'm quite happy with this round, which finished with two seventh places and the satisfaction to have led the race for two laps. We have the potential to do better, but we still lack a bit of experience. The important thing is to keep improving, and we'll try to do that in Donington as well, another track that I really like."
SUPERSPORT
FEDERICO CARICASUO 2nd
"I am happy for the podium because a podium is always good! I am not that happy for the race, but I am happy for the championship as it is very close again - I am only 12 points behind the leader. My race was good, I pushed very hard to break away at the front with Lucas but we both made a little mistake. In the second part of the race I managed to catch back up with the leading group and was in P2, but when I tried to overtake Jules Cluzel, it was impossible because he had better speed than me out of the corners and I couldn't do anything without taking too many risks. I am very excited for Donington as I feel that I and my team are very strong now, we just need to work on our acceleration when exiting a corner. My team did an incredible job all weekend, without making a single mistake and the championship is now a lot closer and more interesting!"
SUPERSTOCK 1000
MARKUS REITERBERGER 5th
"The track in Imola is very demanding, especially in terms of acceleration and braking. That suits me well, but unfortunately we have not managed to solve our problems in the best possible way. Qualifying was difficult to predict with the increasing rain and we did not choose the best setup under the conditions. I then tried to make the most of the situation, but could not make a good lap. More than P9 was not in it. We might have had to take another setting, but you’re always smarter afterwards. We then did some adjustments for the race, which had a negative impact after a few laps. I had to ride more conservatively and concentrate on braking. At some point I got violent problems with the front and I almost crashed several times. Gravel bed excursion included. Today I had to ride way above my limit to bring P5 home. Fortunately, a wildcard rider won the race and I’m still just overall leader. We have to make sure we get back to our pace for the next race.“
