Before that, however, Jonas Folger was put to a nerve test. A persistent technical issue could only be fixed at the very last moment.
From the view of Jonas Folger and his team, Saturday at the Superbike World Championship round in Barcelona had many facets to offer. After a wet third free practice session in the morning, the track dried out completely for Superpole. This qualifying session decide the starting grid for the first race on Saturday afternoon. The riders take then the same position for the start to the Superpole race on Sunday morning. In this session, meanwhile, Folger did not get a timed lap because his Yamaha Superbike did not deliver its full power.
Since Folger had already proven his speed on Friday, he was qualified for the race. However, he had to start from last position on the starting grid. Meanwhile, his technicians were working tireless to fix the problem till shortly before the pit lane opened for the race. Finally, they were able to fix the failure so that Folger’s Yamaha Superbike was working perfectly during the race again. Leaving the line with a blistering start, Folger passed four riders which started in front of him during the opening lap already. He had fought his way up to tenth place by the end of the race, but finally he had to slow down a bit due to a significant drop of his tyres. Nevertheless, it was a promising performance at all.
#94 Jonas FOLGER (Bonovo action powerd by MGM Racing, Yamaha YZF R1), Grid position 21 / P12:
“Today was not for the faint of heart, I honestly have to admit. It was like magic that we were not able to locate an issue on the bike during Superpole. My technicians and mechanics were also almost desperate. Only shortly before the start of the first race they were able to locate the cause of it and get the bike ready to start in no time. That was really at the very last minute. But when I left the garage to take my starting position, I immediately noticed that the engine was running with normal power again. The relief was huge for all of us. However, this by no means solved all the problems.”
“Because of the small defect which had a big effect though, we had to set up the engine’s mapping according to the circumstances and after that there was no time left to create a new mapping for more engine power. So, I had to deal with these circumstances in racing with this one mapping. Nevertheless, it was a good race, I enjoyed it a lot. Although the bike was far from perfect in terms of settings and we were far off with our mapping either, we delivered a good performance. We could show our speed very impressively. But more importantly, we were able to collect an incredible amount of valuable data that will help us a lot with regard to Sunday. After a thorough analysis we will certainly be able to improve the bike even more.”
“However, it was a bit of a pity that I lost two places at the end. I would have liked it very much, as well as it would have been nice for the whole team, if I had finished in the top ten in my debut race in this championship. In the end, the tyre had already pretty much given up his life. Our mapping also played a role in this matter, as we did not have a setting for less grip level available. That was actually the main problem. Nevertheless, I am that much happy about the outcome of today and I am happy for my crew, who always stayed calm and gave everything in this hectic situation this morning. They really did a great job. My first Superbike World Championship race definitely whetted my appetite for more. So, I’m already looking forward to tomorrow.”
#CatalanWorldSBK - Superbike Superpole Result:
1 Jonathan REA / GBR / Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK / Kawasaki ZX-10RR / 1´41.619
2 Toprak RAZGATGLIOGLU / TUR / PATA YAMAHA WorldSBK Official Team / Yamaha YZF R1 / 1´41.713 +0.094
3 Alvaro BAUTISTA / SPA / Team HRC / Honda CBR 1000RR-R / 1´41.757 +0.138
NQ #94 Jonas FOLGER / GER / Bonovo Action by MGM Racing / Yamaha YZF R1
#CatalanWorldSBK - Superbike Race 1 Classification:
1 Jonathan REA / GBR / Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK / Kawasaki ZX-10RR / 34´34.245
2 Scott REDDING / GBR / ARUBA.IT Racing - Ducati / Ducati Panigale V4 R / +2.625
3 Chaz DAVIES / GBR ARUBA.IT Racing - Ducati / Ducati Panigale V4 R / +4.459
12 #94 Jonas FOLGER / GER / Bonovo Action by MGM Racing / Yamaha YZF R1 / +22.934
WorldSBK Standing:
1 Jonathan REA / GBR / Kawasaki / 268
2 Scott REDDING / GBR / Ducati / 227
3 Toprak RAZGATLIOGLU / TUR / Yamaha / 157
21 #94 Jonas FOLGER / GER / Yamaha YZF R1 / 4
#CatalanWorldSBK – Time Schedule for Sunday September 20th (CET):
09:00 - 09:15 Warm-Up
11:00 Superpole-Race (10 Laps - 46,270 km)
14:00 Race 2 (20 Laps - 92,540 km)
