European Superbike Championship, Pierre Texier fighting in Valencia.

November the 21th 2015

This is the last race of 2015 championship. Pierre Texier is ranked sixth overall, second private and first Kawasaki.

The Valencia circuit is unfavorable to powerfull machines, it has only one hard braking and requires high speeds passage in several corners.
This is the only circuit in the championship where the team can monitor drivers on the track from the pit wall :-)

The two Friday's free practice sessions were going well. The weather is good and the temperature of the track too. This one is always tricky, especially turns 2, 3 and 4 and one of our French competitors, Jonathan Hardt spend his weekend in the hospital after only one lap. It will come out on Sunday, without serious injuries.
Pierre slips forward on the angle and struggle to get stronger in the corner entries. It only remains the two qualifying sessions for us to find solutions.
Michelin warn us about the soft tires that we use, it won't last the race if Pierre reaches its usual performance level or if the track temperature increases further...

The first qualifying session on Saturday. The track conditions are identical to those of yesterday. After a substantial change in the geometry of the chassis Pierre improves by one second but it is still at odds with the front...
The last setting we try provides better feeling on the front but we loose too much grip at the rear.
Pierre Texier ranks ninth of the session.

The second qualifying session is dedicated to look for a setting with hard rear tire because the soft is indeed damaging quickly.
Pierre does not have enough grip and looses a lot of time out of corners. We try in vain a last setting which does not allow us to use a tender tire and we loose two positions on the grid...
Pierre therefore will start from eleventh.

A fork problem is detected during the preparation of the bike, a new spring we rode the morning is not the good reference, it is too short. It is difficult to calculate which alternative spring to use, fortunately we have the warm-up to validate.

Sunday morning, the warm-up, Pierre has to hone brake pads and a soft rear tire for the race.
We also need to check the front geometry. This is several millimeters too high but this time we can calculate the settings to apply.

The last race of the season is now! The track temperature is the highest of the weekend. Our competitors also ask what rear tire to use ... Should we take the risk of not finishing the race? Or the one to ride one second slower each lap?
We choose the soft tire with appropriate settings to limit it's temperature and riding instructions for Pierre.

 Starting from the fourth line is always risky, while the first corner allows multiple paths the second is the tightest of the track.
Pierre launches well on green but hits a competitor who did not start from the second line! Fortunately it does not fall! The carbon front brake protection is broken in two pieces! He hurts very badly on his right arm that he can no longer fully extend.

No need to say that he has lost a lot of places in the action.
He attacks immediately before spreads will widen and get back on the group that argues the seventh. It then takes the lead then digs a small gap of a second.
The provisional championship standings is unchanged for now, his rival is two places behind him in a fight in the group.Pierre procrastinates and tries to preserve his tires for the end of race. It also saves his right arm that makes him suffer more and more.

In the penultimate lap he was surprised by the sudden attack of an opponent and had to give him the seventh.
He does not attack right away to prevent the return of the pursuers, his rear tire slides a lot and prefers to attempt an attack on the brakes on the last corner but his competitor runs the risk of resistance and manages to keep his place.
Pierre Texier finished the race in eighth position, just ahead of his rival in the privateer's standings.

We thank a lot our partner KART System and our technical partners, Pam Racing, Dafy moto, Louit moto and Poupiz Performance.