Loris Baz finishes 4-2 during the second round of MotoAmerica Superbike at Virginia International Raceway
Following a tough start to the 2021 MotoAmerica HONOS Superbike Championship at Road Atlanta, the Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati Team and rider Loris Baz finished round two at Virginia International Raceway with positive results. Baz just missed the podium in race 1 at VIR and nabbed the team’s first podium of the season with second in race two.
The team arrived at VIR for round two with the same setup as Atlanta. The 28-year-old Frenchman Baz, who had previously participated in a track day aboard a stock Panigale V4 S in the wet, spent Friday’s practice session learning the track in the dry aboard the Panigale V4 R SBK. Setting up Baz’s bike was challenging and getting around the 2.25-mile circuit with little to no grip was difficult due to the power of the V4 R superbike.
The team found an ideal setup and qualified second for race 1 of the weekend’s doubleheader. During race one on Saturday, Baz paced consistently but struggled on the straights resulting in a big battle for third place which he finished fourth.
The team made adjustments ahead of Sunday’s race two, and Baz charged into the second position. He remained there and ran a lonely race to finish second, delivering the team its first podium of the 2021 season.
“I wanted more coming into this weekend but, honestly, it’s been a tough weekend for us,” said Loris Baz. “We had to guess the set-up of the bike a little bit—we got it right in Atlanta but VIR proved to be a challenge. We changed the bike a lot from Friday to Saturday, a lot of electronics, which made the straight-line speed less than we’d hoped for in race one. I had to fight really hard to stay in front of the guys and I lost the podium.
“We improved the bike a lot in the warm-up, and we had a really good race. I had to fight so hard to bring it home. I kept increasing the gap until I was 4.5 seconds in front, then I just tried to manage it to the flag and we got our first podium, which I’m so happy about. Thank you very much to Ducati and my team who have worked so hard and hats off to Jake Gagne (Yamaha) on an excellent ride.”
After two of nine rounds, Baz is eight in the Superbike Championship with 33 points. The team is looking forward to round three June 25-27 at Road America in Wisconsin, a track that better suits the characteristics of the Ducati V4 R.
The team is made possible through key partners: North American Warhorse, Parts Unlimited, Ducati New York, Horsepower HD, Competition Werkes, Mount Airy Casino & Resort, New York Safety Track, and Fast by Ferraci.
In addition to the support of their technical sponsors: Akrapovic, Bickle Racing, DID Chain, DNA Air Filters, Drippen Wet, Drive Systems USA, EVOL Technologies, FullSix Carbon, Full Spectrum, Hard Knocks Moto Coffee, Melotti Racing, OGNIBENE S.p.A., RaceSeats, Spider Racing , Samco Sport, Spiegler Performance, Race Technologies, and TechSpec.
For ongoing race season updates, follow HSBK Racing on:
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