Ashford’s Leon Camier is in a positive mood as the World Superbikes heads to Imola for this weekend’s races.
Camier and team-mate Jules Cluzel are both travelling to Italy in the right frame of mind after strong performances last time out at Portimao in Portugal.
Camier was buoyed by his fourth place in race one – a result that could have been even better if he hadn’t been knocked off the track in the first lap – and Cluzel is eager to take the next step in his Superbike apprenticeship and start to push towards the faster front group.
Speaking ahead of the trip, Camier admitted he can’t wait to get back on the track:
“I like Imola and I think we can take some positives from the Portimao weekend because we improved the bike in quite a few areas”
“I felt quite strong on some parts of the track compared to the guys I was racing with so with any luck we can qualify properly and have a good weekend in Italy.”
“We still need to improve the GSX-R slowly and take things step-by-step so I can ride to my absolute limits. It would be nice to have a good result in Imola because all the guys are working very hard and we need to get the Suzuki into the podium fight.”
The town of Imola is located in the Emilia-Romagna region of north-central Italy, approximately 40kms from Bologna. It is also only 80kms from the Ferrari factory at Marenello from where the circuit gets the title of ‘Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari’ as it was named after Ferrari’s founder Enzo and his son Dino.
The 4,936m circuit surrounds the Acque Minerali public park, a name also associated with one of the many famous parts of the track, which also includes Variante Alta, Rivazza and Tamburello.
FIXI Crescent Suzuki’s two riders will take to the track on their Yoshimura-powered GSX-Rs on Friday morning for the first free practice session, before competing in the opening qualifying practice in the afternoon.
Saturday morning will see the final qualifying session to confirm the riders that will progress to Superpole, where the top-15 will fight it out for grid positions in Sunday’s two 21-lap races.