Superbike, Phillip Island Round, Race 1: seventh place for Jordi Torres

Good performance for the Althea Racing Team riders today on the Phillip Island track for the first race of the Yamaha Finance Australian Round: Jordi Torres crossed the finish line in seventh place, while Markus Reiterberger scored in the points with twelfth place.

The Spanish driver, who started from the seventh spot on the grid, got off to a less than brilliant start and found himself thirteenth, but over the course of the 22 laps he managed to recover important positions which will allow him to start from the second row of the grid tomorrow, thanks to of the new features of the 2017 regulation.

“All in all, we finished the race quite well” – he explained Jordi Torres – “I thank my mechanics who did an excellent job as the bike set-up was very good. Unfortunately, however, I lost a lot at the beginning. We need to work on the launch control strategy. If instead I had managed to stay with Camier and Forés after the start, I probably could have kept up with them. We improved anyway, the pace was good and the result was also good. Tomorrow, according to the new regulations, we will start fourth on the grid, and we must absolutely take advantage of this opportunity."

A decidedly more complicated race, however, was that of Markus Reiterberger, who was unable to improve on his twelfth position on the starting grid, which he will also maintain tomorrow for the second heat.

“Today was a bit difficult” – he declared Markus Reiterberger – “During the tests, we tried to improve the rear part of my bike, working on the set-up and this took us some time. I struggled to do a fast lap with the qualifying tire and finished the Superpole in twelfth position. Then in the race I didn't have a good start, but I was behind Jordi and so I tried to follow him and stay with him. I managed to do it for a few laps, but he overtook Laverty and I wasn't able to do the same, also because having forced my pace I put too much stress on the front tire. My pace wasn't as fast as I hoped, but I hope I can do better tomorrow."