On track in cool but dry conditions for the first free practice on Friday morning, Tarran and Ivo got straight down to work, working to adapt the setup of their CBR1000RR-R bikes to the Spanish track. A best of 1’42.428 for Lopes and a 1’42.570 for Mackenzie saw them place twenty-fourth and twenty-sixth at the end of FP1. 

The weather stayed dry for the afternoon session, despite some threatening grey clouds. Mackenzie almost immediately improved on his earlier reference and continued to make progress throughout this second phase. A time of 1’41.623 saw him position twenty-third in the day’s combined standings. Lopes was also able to shave valuable tenths of his best of FP1, rounding out day one in twenty-fifth position with a time of 1’42.053. 

Tomorrow will see Mackenzie and Lopes back on track for the Superpole qualifying and the weekend’s first race. 

Tarran Mackenzie P23

“This morning was a little difficult as we had some electronics things to sort out, which meant I needed to come in and out of the garage a few times. A little frustrating, but we fixed it for this afternoon, and I went out to do a ten-lap run which was a lot better than this morning. And then we put in a fresh tyre for the final part, and I again improved on my lap time, despite not being totally happy with the setting. I feel there’s still more in the bike; nothing big but lots of little areas where we can improve. We’ll see what we can find tomorrow…” 

Ivo Lopes P25

“I didn’t improve too much today because we were basically starting from zero in terms of the electronics. But not so bad overall, we just need more track time. I’m losing too much time along the straight and need to understand why, but the feeling is OK and the pace is not bad. Our performance improved in FP2, and I was able to complete a run of about fourteen laps and set my fastest time on lap twelve, I think. The group is not far off either, so we just need to keep working in practice tomorrow to find a little more.”