PJ Jacobsen and the Honda WorldSSP Team have concluded the opening day of World Supersport action at Donington Park in fifth place, with clear indications of a promising race pace after two hours of free practice around the 4.023 Km circuit located in the UK’s East Midlands.
The 22-year-old American and his crew worked hard on race-distance speed throughout the whole day; last year’s WorldSSP Vice Champion was in attack mode and, despite a small crash at the ‘Fogarty Esses’ in the second half of FP1, he was able to finish the first session in sixth place. Jacobsen continued to show great form in the afternoon; due to heavy traffic in the final stages, though, he missed the opportunity for a quicker lap-time before the chequered flag was deployed.
World Supersport action will resume tomorrow morning with the 15-minute free practice 3 scheduled at 9:25 local time (GMT +1). The seventh-round Superpole 2 session will get underway at 12:40
Patrick Jacobsen 2
5th/1’31.366
Things went pretty well today. I think our race rhythm is really good and very similar to the one shown by Kenan Sofuoglu. On this track there are many riders who are capable of being quick over a single lap, but I think over race distance things can be quite different. Our goal for tomorrow morning is to try and break into the high 30s/low 31s on race pace and if we do that, I think we’ll be in the right conditions for a great Superpole and a strong race.
Pieter Breddels
Technical Manager
PJ did a great job today. We made some changes to the set-up of both front fork and springs, along with other adjustments to the bike settings. When we put a new set of tyres on in the end, despite improving in every sector he was caught up in traffic a bit and just couldn’t put together the right lap. Nevertheless, he showed a great pace over the race distance and his ideal time is very close to the top. We’ll see how it goes tomorrow but things are looking very promising.