Finishing day one with a gap of less than one second to the top, Jonas Folger saw himself making a pleasing start to the weekend at the famous TT circuit in Assen.
After a difficult WorldSBK round four at Donington Park in England three weeks ago, Jonas Folger and his Bonovo Action / MGM Racing Performance team are back moving forward. In a short summer break, the 27-year-old rider from Upper Bavarian was able to recover a bit, draw new energy and motivation for the upcoming eventful second part of the 2021 season.
That was immediately noticeable during this morning’s first free practice session under cloudy skies in the north of the Netherlands, as Folger finished FP1 in 13th spot amongst the top 15, staying a little less than a second behind the front of the extremely competitive World Superbike Championship field. In the second session, the BMW rider was again able to call up his level of performance and in doing so, he again ended up in 13th position, less than a second off the day’s fastest lap time.
In FP3 as well as in Superpole session and the first race on Saturday, Folger plans to continue the uphill trend together with his still young WorldSBK team.
#94 Jonas FOLGER (Bonovo Action / MGM Racing Performance, BMW M 1000 RR)
FP1: P13 - 1´35.530 / FP2: P13 - 1´35.343
“This start here in Assen is a huge relief for me. I am incredibly happy that we got the confirmation today that it was not down to me. So, our search for the cause has paid off, as we have managed to get back to a clear trend of moving forward compared to Donington. We were able to identify and understand some things and we feel that we are now able to get back on a proper base. After the first two sessions we arrived well back in the midfield and finished both sessions in P13, which would theoretically mean points in the races. If we can finish the races in the region of this position, that would be good. But now we have to take it step by step, but that was a decent start to the weekend in any case.”
#NLDWorldSBK - Combined Free Practice Times (FP1/FP2):
1 Jonathan REA / GBR / Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK / Kawasaki ZX-10R / 1´34.391 (FP2)
2 Garrett GERLOFF / USA / GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team / Yamaha YZF R1 / 1´34.512 +0.121 (FP1)
3 Scott REDDING / GBR / Aruba.it Racing - Ducati / Ducati Panigale V4 R / 1´34.591 +0.200 (FP1)
14 #94 Jonas FOLGER / GER / Bonovo Action MGM Racing Performance / BMW M 1000 RR / 1´35.343 +0.952 (FP2)
#NLDWorldSBK – Time Schedule for Saturday July 24th (CET):
09:00 - 09:30 FP3
11:10 - 11:25 Superpole
14:00 Race 1 (21 Laps - 95.382 km)
