Tetsuta Nagashima in the points in WorldSBK race 1 at Jerez
Competing as a wildcard in the final WorldSBK round at Jerez, Team HRC wildcard Tetsuta Nagashima scored a fifteenth-place finish in today’s Race 1, crossing the line ahead of several permanent entries.
Nagashima took full advantage of the morning’s third and final practice, soon improving on Friday’s performance in terms of outright lap times. Working hard with the HRC test team engineers, the Japanese rider continued to make progress throughout the phase, closing with a time of 1’41.117 to position twenty-first.
A little later the rider was back on track for the Superpole qualifying session when he was able to set an encouraging 1’39.792 already during his first exit. After pitting mid-session to switch out his tyres, Tetsuta returned to the track but was unable to improve further. His earlier time therefore remained his best reference, which meant that the rider qualified in twentieth position for the afternoon’s 20-lap race.
Quick off the line when Race 1 got underway at 2pm, Nagashima made up two places already on lap 1. Lying seventeenth in the early stages, the Japanese rider was able to get into a good rhythm and progress to sixteenth midway through the race. Working hard to catch and pass Rabat, Tetsuta successfully reached the points zone on lap fifteen and did well to hold this position to the line, scoring one point as a result of his P15 finish.
Superpole full results Courtesy of DWO
Race1 full results Courtesy of DWO
Tetsuta Nagashima 49
“I really enjoyed this first race at Jerez with the full WorldSBK field. At first, I struggled a bit with rear grip, especially through the tighter corners, but as the race went on, I learned a lot riding alongside the regulars. This helped me to improve lap by lap as I figured out how to manage the tyres better. This experience will be even more valuable for our future work because I now have a clearer idea of where we need to improve the bike so as to take another step forward. Iker and Xavi are putting in strong performances, but there’s still room for improvement in certain areas where we still have limitations. Maybe I can help work on these areas going forward, so this wildcard entry has been a great opportunity in every way. Tomorrow, we’ll try to make a few small changes in order to gather more data for the test team.”
