The final round of the 2019 WorldSBK season has commenced in the state of Qatar at the floodlit Losail International Circuit. The riders raced under the blazing heat at 30 degrees celsius for FP1 and FP2. The track conditions were fine considering its first day at the desert track.
Moriwaki Althea Honda Team‘s Leon Camier came in during the practice sessions. Camier is looking forward to his bike set-up tomorrow. Teammate Ryuichi Kiyonari finished his run at 19th place.
FP3 will be taking place today at 3 pm local time, followed by Superpole at 5.30 pm and Race 1 at 8 pm.
Photo credits: Honda Racing Corporation
“Not the easiest of days today. We made a few changes to the set-up and found something a little bit better, but it’s not yet enough. To be honest, we are closer to the front that we sometimes have been, but we are still in 17th place which is not good. The guys immediately ahead are not so much faster than us, and if we can cut two or three tenths, we’d jump up quite a few places but we need to figure out something in terms of the setting, across all areas really, to achieve that. Track conditions were already pretty good today, and we no problems at all with the grip, so tomorrow we’ll be able to keep working and try something that helps us to take a step forward with the set-up,” says Camier as quoted from Honda Racing Corporation.
Photo credits: Honda Racing Corporation
“Today we worked quite a lot on our bike set-up between the two sessions and were able to improve in terms of the braking and rear grip, but at the same time we lost something in turning. So the direction is the right one, but tomorrow we must find something of a compromise as we look to improve our lap times”.