With the Moscow Raceway debuting for the first time on the World Superbike calendar, the SBK riders have been give a few hours today to learn the new circuit before the round officially begins on Friday and use the front and rear SC1 ad SC2 tires that Pirelli brought for this weekend.
The first session was slightly delayed this morning due to the cold temperatures and some of the marshals were also late, but practice finally got underway as the air temperature rose to a more comfortable 18°C and the track warmed up to 35°C.
After memorizing the secrets of the circuit lap times started to tumble and the fastest rider in the morning session was Carlos Checa who posted the best lap time in 1’37.
189 to take the top of the timesheets.
Following Checa was Leon Haslam who was just 0.
186s adrift but the surprise of the session was seeing Honda’s Hiroshi Aoyama for the first time this season in the top three.
The Japanaese rider jumped to third with one of his last laps.
Tom Sykes dropped to fourth after leading much of the practice while Jonathan Rea took fifth in what looks like a good start for the Honda team.
Davide Giugliano claimed 6th but he binned his Ducati at turn 13 in the final minutes trying to better his lap times.
Marco Melandri who is just 10.
5 points from standings leader Max Biaggi took 7th and was the last rider under the 1.
38 barrer.
Michel Fabrizio who is tipped to ride for Red Devil Roma team was 8th, ahead of Aprilia’s Biaggi.
John Hopkins (FIXI Crescent Suzuki) closed out the top ten.
Niccolò Canepa crashed in the opening minutes and the session had to be red flagged and he ended up 13th.
while Eugene Laverty also suffered a crash but his was at turn 3.
Silverstone race winners Loris Baz and Sylvain Guintoli were just 15th and 18th respectively, while the Pata rider was excluded from the session after just six laps.
David McFadden and Alexander Lundh are debuting with Pedercini Kawasaki this Russian weekend and were 19th and 21st, while regular rider David Salom was 16th.
WSBK Moscow 1° session results01- Carlos Checa – Althea Racing – Ducati 1198 – 1’37.
189 02- Leon Haslam – BMW Motorrad Motorsport – BMW S1000RR – + 0.
186 03- Hiroshi Aoyama – Honda World Superbike Team – Honda CBR 1000RR – + 0.
223 04- Tom Sykes – Kawasaki Racing Team – Kawasaki ZX-10R – + 0.
523 05- Jonathan Rea – Honda World Superbike Team – Honda CBR 1000RR – + 0.
632 06- Davide Giugliano – Althea Racing – Ducati 1198 – + 0.
681 07- Marco Melandri – BMW Motorrad Motorsport – BMW S1000RR – + 0.
808 08- Michel Fabrizio – BMW Motorrad Italia GoldBet – BMW S1000RR – + 0.
826 09- Max Biaggi – Aprilia Racing Team – Aprilia RSV4 Factory – + 0.
842 10- John Hopkins – FIXI Crescent Suzuki – Suzuki GSX-R 1000 – + 0.
852 11- Chaz Davies – ParkinGO MTC Racing – Aprilia RSV4 Factory – + 0.
874 12- Leon Camier – FIXI Crescent Suzuki – Suzuki GSX-R 1000 – + 1.
069 13- Niccolò Canepa – Red Devils Roma – Ducati 1198 – + 1.
076 14- Eugene Laverty – Aprilia Racing Team – Aprilia RSV4 Factory – + 1.
150 15- Loris Baz – Kawasaki Racing Team – Kawasaki ZX-10R – + 1.
473 16- David Salom – Team Pedercini – Kawasaki ZX-10R – + 1.
502 17- Ayrton Badovini – BMW Motorrad Italia GoldBet – BMW S1000RR – + 2.
220 18- Sylvain Guintoli – PATA Racing Team – Ducati 1198 – + 3.
056 19- Alexander Lundh – Team Pedercini – Kawasaki ZX-10R – + 3.
639 20- Lorenzo Zanetti – PATA Racing Team – Ducati 1198 – + 3.
929 21- David McFadden – Team Pedercini – Kawasaki ZX-10R – + 6.
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