WSS: Imola: Team YZF Yamaha Friday notes

LEARNING SESSION FOR DONI TATA PRADITA

It took a long time to clean the dirty track before the Supersport free practice session could start. Finally the riders started by the end of the afternoon. Doni Tata Pradita, who discovered this difficult circuit, learned the Italian track.

With a beautiful sunshine on the Imola countryside, Cal Crutchlow and his Yamaha were the fastest in front of Kenan Sofuoglu and Joan Lascorz. Doni learned the layout of the Autodromo Enzo and Dino Ferrari, still being careful because of his former shoulder injury. After this learning stage, the young Indonesian rider is now ready to be quicker tomorrow.

Doni Tata Pradita: "I tried to understand the track. This is my first time here. I couldn't do the July tests because of my broken shoulder. To learn, I did many laps. It's a difficult circuit. The first and second corners were very slippery. I preferred to learn. We worked on the suspension setting. I didn't want to take too much risk. Tomorrow I will push harder and go faster.

Martial Garcia (team manager): "The start of the practice session was delayed to clean the track. These are difficult conditions to learn a new track. Doni didn't want to take chances and he learned carefully."

The Imola track

The last World Supersport race at Imola was in 2006. This circuit is one of few European anti-clockwise tracks (Valencia is another). It used to be extremely fast but average speeds were greatly reduced after Ayrton Senna's tragic 1994 crash. You need a nimble machine for Imola's four chicanes. These chicanes mean that the right-hand side of the tyre doesn't get loaded up much under braking so grip characteristics need to be good. Combining high levels of side grip with light steering is hard, especially on a bumpy surface like this one.

The Autodromo Enzo and Dino Ferrari started life in 1950 as a public road circuit. Imola's first large-scale motorcycle race was held in 1953. Imola became a permanent racing circuit in 1979 and welcomed the Formula One championship for an exhibition race (held a week after the Italian GP at Monza). The first F1 championship race happened the following year and was called the "Gran Premio Dino Ferrari". Twelve motorcycle GPs have been held at Imola: 7 Nations GPs (1969, 72, 74, 75, 77, 79, 88), two San Marino GPs (81, 83) and three City of Imola GPs (96, 97, 98). Freddie Spencer took his first 500cc World Championship at Imola in 1983, beating Kenny Roberts by just one point.

Imola is 35 km southeast of Bologna, 90 km from Florence, 16 km from Faenza and 35 km from Forli.

-credit: yzf