On a sunny Friday, Jonas Folger was able to get good first impressions of the challenging Autódromo Internacional do Algarve.
Although Jonas Folger and his Bonovo Action / MGM Racing Performance team never had been at the demanding hilly 4.5 kilometres long circuit not far from Portugal’s Algarve coastline before, they managed a strong debut on day one of practice. Beyond that, the 28-year-old BMW rider immediately took a liking to the track’s unique layout.
After Folger first got to know to the track during free practice one, he then worked together with his technicians on a set-up to the team’s BMW M 1000 RR. The improvements directly were seen in the lap times, as Folger was able to go a full 0.887 seconds faster from the first to the second free practice session.
For Saturday in Portimao, Folger and his crew already have numerous ideas to further improve the feeling and rhythm from FP3 in the morning in order to deliver a strong Superpole and a good first race before the season ends early for him and his Bonovo Action / MGM Racing Performance team on Sunday. Participation in the overseas races has been ruled out for health precautions.
#94 Jonas FOLGER (Bonovo Action / MGM Racing Performance, BMW M 1000 RR)
FP1: P17 - 1´44.208 / FP2: P16 - 1´43.321
“I am incredibly impressed by Portimao! It is mega fun to ride out there, but the track’s varied layout requires a lot of intuition and good knowledges. That is why it takes a little time to find the line and build up an appropriate rhythm. In addition to the initial familiarization, we have done quite a bit to the chassis so far and will also change a few things for tomorrow, especially to find the right balance. During both sessions we suffered grip issues, as well as confidence was far from optimal in braking.”
“But the second session was already a step in the right direction. The situation has improved although, I think we still can improve in terms of balance, and then we should be stronger in the middle of the corner and corner exit. At this track everything has to fit more or less in order to be fast. But for now, I am still finding it difficult to set consistent lap times. But I am confident that with more laps and increased track knowledge this step will also succeed. I hope that this will help us to improve further on Saturday.”
#PRTWorldSBK - Combined Free Practice Times (FP1/FP2):
1 Jonathan REA / GBR / Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK / Kawasaki ZX-10RR / 1´41.466 (FP2)
2 Alex LOWES / GBR / Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK / Kawasaki ZX-10RR / 1´41.657 +0.191 (FP2)
3 Garrett GERLOFF / USA / GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team / Yamaha YZF R1 / 1´41.683 +0.217 (FP1)
16 #94 Jonas FOLGER / GER / Bonovo Action MGM Racing Performance / BMW M 1000 RR / 1´43.321 +1.855 (FP2)
#PRTWorldSBK - Time Schedule for Saturday October 2nd (CET):
10:00 - 10:30 FP3
12:10 - 12:25 Superpole
15:00 Race 1 (20 Lapsd - 91.840 km)
