Countdown has begun…..
The Superbike season starts this weekend at the picturesque circuit of Philip Island, Australia, which is located South East of Melbourne in a beautiful landscape overlooking the Ocean.
The circuit is very hard for both riders and tyres due to the variety of curves that characterise it, starting from famous hairpin bend until the long left turns that destroy the left side of rear tyres. Guandalini’s team tackles this season with a new Director, Pier Francesco Chili, thanks to his strong Superbike experience will try to help the two young riders in the team: Australian rookie Brendan Roberts and Jukub “Kuba” Smrz at his second season with this team.
After the positive results obtained in the at the first test in January in Portimao, Portugal, the team will see a galvanized and ready Smrz after an intense winter training schedule trying to get in a top position at the soonest possible opportunity and Brendan Roberts, who will starts his adventure in World Superbikes in front of his home crowd, trying to gain experience and assert his title of 2008 Superstock 1000 champion.
The new formatted Superpole session, this emulates what is seen in Formula 1 and other disciplines such as the Formula Indy and the British Superbikes Championship. There are three mini-sessions of 12 minutes each, and in each stage riders are narrowed down to finalise the overall qualifying positions. Each session will determine a qualifying position and slowly these are narrowed down over three sessions to the final eight riders, which determines the final positions on the grid.
The strategies of the various teams will be capital in order to place the riders at the front of the start grid and the experience of Frankie Chili assisted by Mirco Guandalini will be very important for our team. The new 2009 liveries are very striking and captivating, with the numbers 96 for Jakub Smrz, and 24 for Brendan Roberts who will fight for the Rookie of The Year 2009 title.
