The PETRONAS MIE Racing Honda Team was back out at Balaton Park on Saturday, ready for the first ever WorldSBK race to be staged at the Hungarian track. Tito Rabat did well to cross the line eighteenth, despite two crashes earlier in the day, while rookie Zaqhwan Zaidi ran a consistent race to close nineteenth.

The day began with a final free practice, which allowed Rabat and Zaidi to make some final adjustments and preparations ready for qualifying. The Spanish rider was caught up in a crash though fortunately suffered no physical consequences. 

Next up was the Superpole qualifying, a 15-minute phase in which riders go all out to the set the fastest time and secure the best possible grid position. The threat of imminent rain also meant that the field was keen to get a good lap in early on in the session. Still looking for more, Zaidi set a time of 1’41.868 with which he concluded twenty-third. Initially placing eighteenth, Rabat was pushing hard to complete a flying lap when a violent Turn 8 crash stopped him in his tracks. Although the Spaniard was unhurt, the bike suffered significant damage. The session was red flagged as a result of the incident and restarted a short time later, but Tito was not in a position to participate. Taken to the medical centre for a check-up, Tito was declared fit having fortunately only suffered bruising. A time of 1’40.114 set at the start of the session meant that he placed eighteenth at the session’s end.

Race 1 got underway at 2pm and ran in dry, sunny conditions. The Superpole results meant that Rabat and Zaidi lined up on the sixth and eighth row of the grid respectively. Although Tito and Zaqhwan both got away well, a multi-rider incident at turn 2 saw the race immediately halted with a red flag so that the injured riders could be assisted. Restarted a short time later, the race was reduced to 20 laps. Rabat was lying nineteenth through lap one, followed by teammate Zaidi, twentieth. Though both riders made up one position over the course of the race, neither was able to make any real inroads, the duo crossing the line seventeenth and eighteenth in this challenging opening race.

Tito Rabat #53

“Today was a long day. We suffered two crashes, the first in FP3 when another rider caused me to go down. I was lucky not to be hurt. Then in qualifying I was pushing to make a fast time and just couldn’t save it, the bike destroyed again. I want to thank the team because they had to repair two bikes in a very limited timeframe. When the race started, I realised we had a technical issue, so when the red flag came out we were able to sort that to some extent, though there was an ongoing problem with the rear brake, which made the first laps of the race very difficult. At least we crossed the line and collected more data. Thanks again to my team; two bad crashes conditioned the day but we showed in qualifying that we can be fast. Let’s see tomorrow; we already cut the gap to the front today with respect to our Donington results, so I’ll be looking to move closer again in tomorrow’s race 2.”

Zaqhwan Zaidi #21

“I think we made some progress in terms of lap times with respect to Friday. In Superpole, I was able to set a 1’41 and might have been able to do more without the red flag. I made an okay start when the race first got underway but we then changed strategy, and tyre, for the restarted race. I tried to stick with those in front but it was tough to keep the pace with the tyre we chose. I think it offered a little less grip but allowed me to be a bit more consistent later on in the race. I feel I’ve improved compared to previous rounds and will try to do more again in tomorrow’s races.”