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15 Wrzesień 2018

Okubo Ninth As Barbera Gains WorldSSP Experience

New regular Kawasaki Puccetti Racing pairing Hikari Okubo and Hector Barbera secured third and fifth row starts respectively for Sunday’s WorldSSP race at Portimao. Okubo was ninth fastest in SP2 and new team member Barbera 13th in SP1. Guest rider Kengo Nagao was 26th after Superpole 1.

On the eve of the ninth race of the 2018 FIM Supersport World Championship season Kawasaki Puccetti Racing new signing Hector Barbera had his first experience of Superpole qualifying on a WorldSSP machine. He came close to entering Superpole 2 despite losing out on some track time, just missing by one place.
 
Okubo was the top Kawasaki qualifier on the grid, pushing hard in Superpole 1 to enter into Superpole 2. His arrival on the third row of the grid leaves him in a good position to stay in contention with the leading group on Sunday, in what is scheduled to be an 18-lap race.
 
Having taken part in few days of testing before going for a final qualifying position at Portimao, Barbera made big improvements in his pace to move from 23rd in combined free practice to 13th on the grid. This will be his first competitive outing at Portimao, having spent his career in the MotoGP scene.
 
Hikari Okubo, stated: “Superpole was not so bad because I got to ninth place. That is a big step because this morning I was 14th. But the lap time is the same as yesterday, so I feel we are a bit limited right now. The bike feeling is coming better, for sure, but we need to work and think a bit more. It is very important that we work with the suspension guys and team staff this evening to try and get a better feeling in warm-up tomorrow morning. If we can, I think we can do a good race. I am also happy to be the top Kawasaki rider today.”
 
Hector Barbera stated: “I am very happy to return to racing. I have a good feeling with the bike, which is very nice and fast. But this track is new for me and yesterday it was only possible to try or a time in FP1, as in FP2 we had an issue and I could not spend much time on track. This afternoon, Superpole gave us a short time to understand the bike, the tyres, the team and the category, because it is all new for me. Qualifying was not bad but I am not happy because I wanted to pass into Superpole 2. The main thing is that the team is working well and I have to go step by step - and I am happier than yesterday.”
 
Wayne Tessels (Chromeburner Wayne’s Racingteam MTM) and his fellow ESS part-time rider Rob Hartog (Team Hartog – Against Cancer) were 18th and 19th respectively in Superpole 1 today.
 
Series regular Nacho Calero (Orelac Racing VerdNatura Kawasaki) qualified 23rd, with Christian Stange and Javier Ezequiel Iturrioz from Team GoEleven Kawasaki) 24th and 25th.
 
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