Estoril continues to test Bridewell in SBK Race 1

The Estoril WorldSBK round continues to pose challenges for the rookie Superbike Advocates Racing team and rider Tommy Bridewell, seventeenth across the line in a taxing Race 1 on Saturday.

This eleventh Superbike World Championship round continued this morning with a final free practice. Not satisfied with his performance on Friday, Bridewell used the short session to make further adjustments to the technical setup of his Panigale V4 R. Having found a little more pace and feeling with respect to day one, the SBK rookie headed into the subsequent Superpole qualifying session with renewed determination.

With only fifteen minutes in which to make his mark, Tommy got straight down to work when the Superpole began. As is customary in this brief qualifying phase, the British rider made a first exit before pitting mid-session to switch tyres. Once back on track, Bridewell was able to find a little more with respect to his first flying lap of the session, putting in a best of 1’35.640. Struggling more than he would like to keep pace with his rivals at a track that is new to him, Tommy qualified nineteenth, for a place on the seventh row of the grid for the afternoon’s Race 1.

The first of the weekend’s races ran according to schedule mid-afternoon, in warm, dry conditions. Making up one position soon after the race commenced, Tommy gradually got into a rhythm that allowed him to stick with, but not quite close in on, his closest rival. Lying eighteenth towards the mid-race point, Bridewell began to put in lap times slightly quicker than some of the riders ahead but struggled to translate this pace into outright progress, also considering the gaps that had begun to open up. Working hard all the way to the line, the British rookie gained one position on the penultimate lap to finish this first race in seventeenth place.

Tommy Bridewell (Superbike Advocates Racing #46)
“It’s proving difficult for sure this weekend. I’m just struggling to get any of the sensation or feeling I want from the bike. So I’m very tense and reserved in my riding, because I’m lacking in confidence. The circuit is a very complex one to get right, and it’s taking longer than we anticipated. But we were always going to have some more challenging weekends, and I think the experience can only make us stronger and better able to deal with tough situations moving forward. So, I’m certainly not downhearted. We continue to take steps in each session, and we’ll work to keep doing that tomorrow; we’re just on the back foot from having missed the test here. It is what it is, and we just need to keep our heads up and keep working hard.”