Miguel Praia fought with the Honda CBR 600RR, from Team Lorini, during what was his first day on the track in Portimão, at the Autódromo do Algarve.
Without knowing the bike, which he discovered only this morning on the Algarve track, Miguel Praia quickly became aware that he will have to do a lot to make the bike not only competitive for the race, but, above all, to his taste.
With suspension settings very different from those he was used to on his CBR 600RR, the Albufeira rider never felt comfortable with the bike in any of the 45-minute sessions, not getting better than 26th place in the free practice session of the race. Supersport, and then 27th in the timed practice session, held in the afternoon.
“The bike is very difficult to steer. I never felt confident with her and as a result I couldn't make a clean lap, attacking. The suspension settings are very different to achieve, Team Lorini uses units prepared by a well-known Italian specialist, very different from those he knew and used when he was in the Parkalgar team», began by explaining Miguel Praia.
“So I had to somehow learn everything about how it works and how suspensions react to the changes we are making. In 45 minutes, it's very difficult to achieve, but at the end of this first day, we managed to understand, with the help of telemetry, which way to go and tomorrow we'll definitely try to improve the bike», said the Portuguese rider, who makes in this Supersport race at the Autódromo do Algarve a momentary return to this category.
Miguel Praia thus mirrored some disappointment at the end of this first day of the track with the Honda CBR 600RR from Team Lorini, but he was confident about tomorrow, the most important in terms of qualifying and preparing the bike for Sunday.
“We understand what we have to do tomorrow and that is important. The team is committed to being able to solve the problem, because it is also affecting De Rosa. At the most critical points of the circuit, I couldn't trust the bike and it needs to exist. I know I can walk much faster and tomorrow we will work on the initial session to be able to find the best solutions”, added Praia.
Miguel Praia is not lacking in confidence, who hopes tomorrow to be able to make a 100% fast lap of the Portimão circuit, he who this morning also rediscovered the difference in power of this CBR 600RR compared to the 1000 that he has used in the Brazilian championship.
Comments