It was a Saturday to forget for Scott Redding and Michael Rinaldi on the Donington Park Circuit (Great Britain), which was wet in the morning and then almost dry before Race-1.
The two Aruba.it Racing – Ducati Team riders were never able to find the right feeling with their Ducati Panigale V4R, therefore they were unable to fight for the top positions of the ranking in qualifying. The same difficult circumstances recurred in Race-1.
- Superpole
After a very complex FP3 – also due to the heavy rain – Scott Redding and Michael Rinaldi manage to limit the damage in the Superpole, finishing respectively in sixth and eighth place, although with a consistent gap from the front row.
- Superpole result
P1 – J. Rea (Kawasaki) 1’40.101
P2 – M. Van Der Mark (BMW) +0.525
P3 – T. Sykes (BMW) +0.662
P4 – A. Lowes (Kawasaki) +1.250
P5 – G. Gewrloff (Yamaha) +1.292
P6 – S. Redding (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) +1.966
P8 – M. Rinaldi (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) +2.486
- Race-1
Race start for both Redding and Rinaldi is not particularly powerful. The Italian rider immediately loses contact with his teammate, whose race ends with a crash in the middle of the second lap.
Rinaldi’s race pace is not one of the best and the number 21 soon finds himself fighting in the back of the field.
He ends up in 12th position, bringing home at least four points for the Superbike World Championship standings.
- Race-1 Result
P1 – T. Razgatlioglu (Yamaha)
P2 – J. Rea (Kawasaki)
P3 – A. Lowes (Kawasaki)
P4 – T. Sykes (BMW)
P5 – M. Van Der MarK (Yamaha)
P12 – M. Rinaldi (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati)
DNF – S. Redding (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati)
- World Championship standings
P1 – J Rea (Kawasaki) 169
P2 – T. Razgatlioglu (Yamaha) 154
P3 – S. Redding (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) 104
P4 – A. Lowes (Kawasaki) 104
P5 – M. Rinaldi (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) 86
Michael Rinaldi (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati #21)
“The race was below our expectations. After the weekend in Misano, we were expecting a better result. I wasn’t able to ride as I wanted to. For sure we have to work to understand why in certain conditions we are not able to find a good feeling. Something is not working and this is quite clear. We will have to understand why and find a solution.”
Scott Redding (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati #45)
“We’re having a really hard time finding the right grip. This is a problem we’ve been carrying around for a while and we definitely need to solve it quickly. I’m usually pretty strong in wet conditions but today I felt like I was skating and couldn’t even defend myself from the overtaking. The crash? I went into the corner feeling the back wheel slipping and the high side was pretty hard.”
