Superbike, Pirelli Riviera di Rimini Round, FP: interview with Lorenzo Savadori

One of the most awaited riders this weekend at the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli, where the seventh stage of the World Championship of production-based derivatives is taking place, is certainly Lorenzo Savadori who is originally from Cesena, a few km from the track, and is expected to a good performance in his home race and that of the manufacturer Aprilia

The Team Milwaukee driver knows this track very well, one of his favourites, where he triumphed in 2014 and 2015 when he was racing for the Stock1000 but the high temperatures recorded today, and also expected in the race, do not make work on his RSV4 any easier which would need a few degrees less.
Since he made his debut last year in WorldSuperbike the goal has always been the podium, which he came close to several times in 2016: this season there seems to be a few more difficulties but it would be a dream to be able to stay in the top three in front of his fans.

At the end of the two free practice sessions Savadori remained outside the top 10 by just 40 thousandths, his combined time of 1'35.923, so tomorrow he will have to go through the first heat of TissotSuperpole.
We met him at the end of the tests to understand what his sensations were on the track.

You stayed out of SP2 for just a few, 40 thousandths, do you feel a bit disappointed?

“I'm a little disappointed because being able to enter SP2 directly is also important because SP1 is always a question mark, but I'm not disappointed because compared to this morning we've made a good step forward and I'm positive that tomorrow we'll be able to do something better."

In fact you were one of the few who managed to improve between the two rounds, what changed?

"The heat. The hotter it gets, the more the track loses grip and becomes slippery, so it is difficult to ride. We tend to do a little worse when it's hotter, if there was a milder climate it would be better. If it were to be this hot again, we'll be ready: we did the tests two weeks ago and we found a line to follow, in my opinion also for the future, so I'm positive."

So you are making progress compared to the beginning of the year.

“We are trying to reduce the gap, it's true that what you think are improvements aren't always improvements in the end, at least in the short term. Sometimes it can go better, sometimes not. However, the work we are doing is different from that of last year."

How is it different?

“The support is different. Aprilia is helping us a lot and so is the team: we are all working with the aim of reducing the gap with our direct rivals."

Returning to this weekend, could the difficulties you are experiencing also depend on a problem in making the tires work?

“Let's say that in general, in terms of characteristics, with the heat, and with these tyres, we suffer a little more, not just here. Today we worked a lot from a race perspective and we will also do so in FP3, even if a third free practice session at 8 will have completely different conditions compared to qualifying and the race.
However, this is a bit of a problem in general with the Superbike race weekend where on Friday you have two free practice sessions which are almost qualifying and on Saturday you actually only have qualifying and the race."