After months of waiting for the new Superbike season to start, today’s first round at the iconic Phillip Island circuit, didn’t disappoint and Aprilia inaugurated the opening round with both factory riders sharing the top spots on the podium and both looking like they can be worthy replacements for former two-time World Superbike champion Max Biaggi who won both his championships with the Noale manufacturer.
Sylvain Guintoli won race 1 with Eugene Laverty coming second, and in race 2 the two riders reversed their positions in what turned out to be Aprilia’s pièce de résistance, as not only did Guintoli and Laverty each dominate their respective races, but Michele Fabrizio on the Red Devils Roma Aprilia gave the Italian manufacturer a third place podium in race 1, and in race 2 there were a total of four Aprilia’s in the top six.
Guintoli and Laverty are tied not only in the standings with 45 points each as Aprilia leads Manufacturer championship with 50 points, but they are also tied for the number of career victories in WSBK’s with four each.
We got off on the right foot all the work from the past few days has paid off,” said Laverty.
My Aprilia was fast and it performed as I wanted it to from the first to the last lap.
In Race 1 I may have been a bit too conservative with the tyres, still taking a nice second place, but in Race 2 I pushed a bit more decisively.
At the end, when it was Sylvain, Melandri and me, I tried and was able to get away, shaving a few more tenths off my pace.
The track record two laps from the finish was nice confirmation that we turned up to the races in the best possible conditions.
45 points after the first race are some nice spoils.
I’ve never started a season this well and now we’ll be thinking about Aragon and how to stay on this path”.
“It’s great to start off with a win! Quite honestly, after the tests I know I could do well and from the start my intention was to give it my all.
My goal has always been to win, but sometimes you have to adapt to conditions.
However, today the setting was good, I didn’t have any serious concerns about tyre duration and everything went according to plan.
In the first race I didn’t get off to a good start and I lost a few positions, but lap by lap I found the right pace to move forward.
Eugene had gotten away well and when I overtook him I managed to keep the distance and take this important win.
In Race 2 Eugene had a bit more than me in the last laps.
He employed a strategy similar to the one I used in the first race, but this is a fantastic result for the team even if we are just at the beginning of the championship”, said Guintoli.
The next round will be held in Aragon, Spain from April 12-14.