Fassi Malaysia WSBK Round 6

Turn 15 changes at Sepang. Red new design, blue old asphalt.

“The biggest change for the riders, other than the change of asphalt, is Turn 15. With the original shape water would collect on both the entry and exit of the corner.

“So to remove the water we have made a big camber change on the inside of the corner. There is now a 1m height difference from the old kerb compared to the new kerb. And to make it more interesting and challenging for the riders, the whole corner also rises towards the exit, like going uphill.

“In the picture you can see how the circuit was before (blue) and after (red). So the whole track is flat on entry, then you have the camber change - falling away from the inside - while at the same time the tract is starting to rise.

“The racing line is now completely different. Before they would hug the kerb on the inside, like a traditional racing line, but now if you do that the front will feel like it is going to close on the negative camber.

“So you have to try to go wide on entry, where the track is more flat, and then cut back and make more of a straight line on the exit. But if you are wider it invites somebody to try to pass you on the inside. So the question is do you want to be fast, or do you want to keep your position?

“The corner will be safer because there is less change of them losing the front just as they start to enter the corner. Now they are more likely to lose the front in the apex area, the slowest part of the corner.

“The changes have also slowed down the corner, which in turn means that the top speed on the main straight is slower. We needed to slow down the speed on the main straight because the runoff cannot be extended in Turn 1 and they are going a bit too fast now, every year the speed rises.

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The other main area in terms of overtaking is the braking area into Turn 9.

“Now there is camber around the corner, meaning you can brake less and push more. We wanted to give the riders more confidence to overtake because it is less easy to lose the front.

“Turn 9 is also the place where I expect the most crashes at this track, so we should have reduced the crashes by making these changes.”

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1. Lorenzo Savadori ITA IodaRacing Team RSV4 2m 3.951s
2. Nicky Hayden USA Honda World Superbike Team CBR1000RR 2m 4.167s
3. Markus Reiterberger GER Althea BMW Racing Team S1000RR 2m 4.239s
4. Alex Lowes GBR Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team YZF R1 2m 4.262s
5. Davide Giugliano ITA Aruba.it Racing - Ducati 1199R 2m 4.295s
6. Jordi Torres ESP Althea BMW Racing Team S1000RR 2m 4.312s
7. Michael Van Der Mark NED Honda World Superbike Team CBR1000RR 2m 4.385s
8. Chaz Davies GBR Aruba.it Racing - Ducati 1199R 2m 4.478s
9. Anthony West AUS Pedercini Racing ZX-10R 2m 4.743s
10. Jonathan Rea GBR Kawasaki Racing Team ZX-10R 2m 4.747s
11. Tom Sykes GBR Kawasaki Racing Team ZX-10R 2m 4.748s
12. Alex De Angelis RSM IodaRacing Team RSV4 2m 5.153s
13. Luca Scassa ITA VFT Racing 1199R 2m 5.529s
14. Xavi Forés ESP Barni Racing Team 1199R 2m 5.625s
15. Karel Abraham CZE Milwaukee BMW S1000RR 2m 5.889s
16. Leon Camier GBR MV Agusta Reparto Corse 1000 F4 2m 5.932s
17. Joshua Brookes AUS Milwaukee BMW S1000RR 2m 6.945s
18. Josh Hook AUS Grillini Racing Team ZX-10R 2m 7.389s
19. Gianluca Vizziello ITA Team GoEleven ZX-10R 2m 8.045s
20. Dominic Schmitter SUI Grillini Racing Team ZX-10R 2m 8.861s
21. Pawel Szkopek POL Team Tóth YZF R1 2m 9.765s
22. Imre Tóth HUN Team Tóth YZF R1 2m 9.980s
23. Saeed Al Sulaiti QAT Pedercini Racing ZX-10R 2m 10.616s
Read more at WSBK Results - WorldSBK Sepang - Free practice results (2)

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