Superbike Misano, Race 1: Fifth and sixth position for Torres and Reiterberger

Superbike, Pirelli Riviera di Rimini Round, Race 1. It was a very good race for the Althea team that took place today at the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli, eighth stage of the world championship of production derivatives: Jordi Torres and Markus Reiterberger finished in fifth and sixth final position.

Raffale De Rosa instead qualified second for tomorrow's Superstock 1000 FIM Cup race, thanks to a best time of 1'37.464.

In qualifying, Reiterberger and Torres had direct access to Tissot-Superpole 2 by virtue of the second and fifth times obtained yesterday after the two free practice sessions, but they were not as lucky.
The German driver recorded a 1'35.605 with the race tyre, which was further lowered by half a second, despite a crash, with the qualifying tyres: however, his rivals' times were very competitive, and he did not go beyond the XNUMXth place on the grid.
Torres, however, lost time at the start of the session due to a technical problem and was only able to complete one fast lap, finishing twelfth.

Race 1 took place in hot and dry conditions: both drivers had a good race pace and were very consistent, thus managing to recover to the fifth and sixth place finish, also taking advantage of the falls of the riders ahead of them on the grid.

“This morning we worked well in practice, confirming that we have a good pace. In the Superpole we encountered a small problem that unfortunately made us lose a lot of time” – he said Jordi Torres – “In the race, I was there among the riders who crashed at the first corner, but fortunately I managed to avoid the chaos. After that I was able to recover well, doing my race. I'm sorry because we still don't have the pace we want and deserve, but the data collected today can help us do better tomorrow. The bike goes quite well, there are just a couple of things to work on to make it more stable and improve the performance of the tyres.”

“In Superpole we returned to yesterday's set-up and I felt comfortable. With the race tire I was already fifth, but with the qualifying tire I had a small crash which affected my fastest lap. I still had time to do another lap but I didn't find the right feeling with the front” – he declared Markus Reiterberger – “In the race I was a bit in the middle of traffic when the others crashed at the first corner and I lost time. Afterwards I managed to find a good rhythm, but I know we can be even faster. Sixth isn't bad, considering everything, but we will have to do more. I'm still too far from the leaders at the end of the race because I still don't have the necessary confidence with the front. I would like to thank my team who are doing a great job this weekend.”

“Seeing as we were fast yesterday even with used tyres, I expected to do a little more today. I'm sorry about the little fall. Luckily I immediately returned to my garage and the guys fixed what needed to be fixed, but after this problem the bike didn't work perfectly" – he said Raffaele De Rosa – “A normal thing after a slip. I feel sorry for the team who worked hard to get the bike right. I saw that we have a good pace, and I'm happy, even if I'm sorry we didn't get pole, a result that was within our reach. Obviously the important thing is tomorrow's race, we will be the ones fighting for the podium and I feel very confident.”