WorldSBK – Constructive practice sessions for Syahrin and Granado at Aragón

The Motorland Aragón circuit in Spain is the stage for this weekend’s tenth Superbike World Championship round, in which the PETRONAS MIE Racing Honda Team is competing with Malaysian rider Hafizh Syahrin and Brazilian Eric Granado.

Syahrin and Granado got straight to work during the morning’s first free practice, wasting no time as they began the work to adapt their CBR1000RR-R machines to the technical Spanish track. Gradually lowering their respective references, Syahrin rounded out the session in twenty-second position with a time of 1’53.743, just ahead of team-mate Granado, twenty-third with a 1’53.975 that he set in the final seconds of the practice.

Both PETRONAS MIE Racing Honda riders were able to make progress already in the early stages of the afternoon’s FP2. Getting back into a good rhythm after having sat out some of the recent races due to injury, Syahrin took more than a second off his earlier time to set a best of 1’52.622. Keen to do well during the final SBK events after having been away from the tracks for almost two months, Granado was fully focused for the duration of the session. The Brazilian ultimately set a fastest time of 1’53.238. The two riders therefore placed twenty-second and twenty-fourth in Friday’s combined standings.

Hafizh Syahrin P22

“I expected a little bit more today, to be honest, but we’re still a bit too far from the middle group. We fared a little better in FP2 anyway, but it’s a challenge in terms of speed around this kind of long, flowing track. I did my best today and am confident that the team can help me find a way to improve the lap times further, both in tomorrow’s FP3 and in qualifying, so that we’re in a stronger position for the races.”

Eric Granado P24

“I’m pleased to be back in SBK after two months away. I worked to regain the feeling and get back into the rhythm, considering the power of the bike and the physicality involved in riding it. So it’s been a day of adaptation really. We’re clearly not where we want to be, but we knew this would be the case today, considering the circumstances. Now I’ll rest up and speak with the team to see what we can do to improve tomorrow.”

Full Results *Courtesy of WorldSBK