‘Strange morning, different tyres’, but same result as Rinaldi eyes title push

Although Michael Ruben Rinaldi feels as though ‘we need to work a little bit harder’ on day two of WorldSBK testing at Phillip Island, the Aruba.it Ducati rider was once again in the thick of the action as he narrowly missed out on top spot.

Robert Jones

20 Feb 2023

Michael Ruben Rinaldi, Ducati WorldSBK Phillip Island 2023

Continuing his brilliant pre-season form, Rinaldi proved to be the main challenger to 2021 WorldSBK champion Toprak Razgatlioglu after setting a time of 1:30.773, which was +0.099s down on the Yamaha rider.

But while Rinaldi was quick come the end of play, the Italian was not feeling totally comfortable aboard his new Panigale V4 R during the morning’s FP1 session.

"It’s been a strange day because in the morning, I didn’t feel very good with the bike, but the team did a good job," added Rinaldi. "At the end, I pushed like everyone else, and the time was good.

"I think we need to work a little bit harder, as for the race, Alvaro is the strongest and also with the used tyre, he’s the strongest.

"We don’t need that much but it’s the last tenths that are the difficult ones. We’re close to the top and I’m pretty happy about the work we’ve done today."

Rinaldi eyes WorldSBK title charge

While Rinaldi was winless compared to Alvaro Bautista’s 16 victories in 2022, the 27-year-old has looked like a different rider so far in testing.

Quickest on day one in Portimao, Rinaldi has consistently shown enough raw pace to challenge the top three from last season, which is why a title charge is now his aim.

Rinaldi said: "I don’t think too much, I think race-by-race, practice-by-practice. For sure, my goal is to try and aim for the title but as I said before, I need to stay in the present.

Michael Ruben Rinaldi Australian WorldSBK. 20 February

"Everyone is pushing hard, and it won’t be easy if you let your thoughts take your mind. You need to be very strict with your gameplan."

Fast over one lap in particular, Rinaldi still feels as though race pace is where he needs to close the gap to become a race winner in 2023.

"Here at Phillip Island, we use a different tyre choice to the other tracks in Europe as this is a very demanding track for the tyres," started Rinaldi. "We used a harder compound. The work done was to get the feeling from Jerez and Portimao with a different tyre, but it wasn’t easy.

"The team worked really well and at the end, I felt pretty comfortable. We missed some tenths, but the gap isn’t too much to close."