Jonas Folger started round seven of the season in Navarra, Spain, close to the top ten, but struggled with scorching conditions in the afternoon.
The FIM Superbike World Championship will be held this weekend at the Circuito de Navarra in the north-west of Spain. The 3.9-kilometer circuit is new territory for the whole entry list. Jonas Folger and his German team Bonovo Action / MGM Racing Performance, like some of their competitors, have already had the chance to complete their first laps at this new addition to the calendar during a two-day test earlier this year.
The 28-year-old Bavarian started this morning’s free practice one with corresponding confidence. In doing so, Folger closed this 45-minute-long session in twelfth place, just 1.364 seconds behind the front runners. In the afternoon, however, when temperatures increased up to 35 degrees and more, the BMW rider encountered during FP2 issues with traction control at on the hot asphalt, which offered significantly less grip.
Folger now wants to work on this point together with his crew in order to be closer to the top again as early as the third free practice session on Saturday morning at 9:00 local time get underway.
#94 Jonas FOLGER (Bonovo Action / MGM Racing Performance, BMW M 1000 RR)
FP1: P12 - 1´38.993 / FP2: P17 - 1´39.847
“Twelfth place in the morning in FP1 was by and large a decent start when temperatures were still pleasant, while it got much hotter by the second session this afternoon. Unfortunately, we did not make any further progress during FP2 which was due to the heat, among other things. However, as has often been the case this season, we were unfortunate enough to get a bit stuck after the first practice. In this case, we suffered grip issues and there were slight difficulties with the traction control, which intervened too much and did not provide the engine power I would have needed. We will certainly have to take a closer look at the setting again in order to adapt the traction control better for these hot conditions. So, the ranking in the afternoon does not look so good but tomorrow we will try to build on our good first practice from this morning.”
#NavarraWorldSBK - Combined Free Practice Times (FP1/FP2):
1 Jonathan REA / GBR / Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK / Kawasaki ZX-10R / 1´37.629 (FP1)
2 Toprak RAZGATLIOGLU / TUR / Pata Yamaha with BRIXX WorldSBK / Yamaha YZF R1 / 1´37.752 +0.123 (FP1)
3 Scott REDDING / GBR / Aruba.it Racing - Ducati / Ducati Panigale V4 R / 1´37.793 +0.164 (FP1)
13 #94 Jonas FOLGER / GER / Bonovo Action MGM Racing Performance / BMW M 1000 RR / 1´38.993 +1.364 (FP1)
#NavarraWorldSBK – Time Schedule for Saturday August 21st (CET):
09:00 - 09:30 FP3
11:10 - 11:25 Superpole
14:00 Race 1 (23 Laps - 90.459 km)
