Red Devils Aprilia’s Leon Haslam believes that warmer temperatures at Phillip Island’s World Superbike opener will play into his hands as a hotter track will suit the power characteristics of his RSV4.
The Derbyshire rider, who finished second this afternoon and fourth overall on the combined timesheets with a 1’31.466, had a small crash at MG on his last lap but by then the useful work had been done.
Haslam and Michael van der Mark were the only two riders to improve their laptimes in the hotter conditions this afternoon when track temperature went from 29°C to a monster 51°C.
“This first day was a good début for us. Today we tried a lot of different setups and were able to find some good solutions. In my last lap I crashed on turn 10 due to a small mistake. We also focused on the two rear tyre options available to us, on their performance with varying temperatures and wear during the race, and we are close to an optimum setup,” said Haslam.
“Looking at the races on Sunday I think that the hotter tarmac will help my Aprilia. Its power output could make things easier for me. The secret to this track is trying everything and fine tuning the bike, so that’s what we’ll be concentrating on tomorrow.”
