After slaying the field of fellow WorldSBK dragons on Saturday, and then again in the ten-lap Superpole race on Sunday morning Michael Rinaldi’s full attempt at a home-ground hat-trick was put on hold by the endless push and better braking performance of one Toprak Razgatlioglu.
All the same, Rinaldi once again beat Jonathan Rea in straight races, not to mention a certain Scott Redding, who is - after all - his own team-mate. Rinaldi’s 2021 win total stayed on two on Sunday afternoon but in finishing second he came within 1.286 seconds of another major victory in his first few riders as a full factory Ducati rider.
“Sincerely, I gave my 100 per cent, but the difference was the track condition,” Rinaldi toldbikesportnews.com. “It was hotter, so it means different track, different feeling with the bike. Many more risks.
“So, I tried to do the same strategy, go in front and push, but I see in the pit board that somebody was there and catching me. I was already pushing my 100%. Toprak passed me. He went away. I tried my 120% to catch him again and pass him, but I almost crashed twice. The last four laps I see that I couldn’t catch him. So, I say to myself, ‘second is better than a crash’, but I was quite upset because I needed that win.
I was so close. But they just were better than us today. They worked really good. After win yesterday and today, we didn’t take the risk to change many things on the bike. Give you the same bike, but maybe you don’t improve too much. With the higher temperature on the asphalt, I struggled a little bit. That little bit makes you finish second and not first.”
Rinaldi was happy with his tyre choice, it was just the whole package that stopped his three winning strategy. “Yeah. I was quite happy,” he declared. “The bike’s comportment was really different compared to yesterday but because of the hot temperature. So I struggled at the beginning. The middle of the race was so-so, then the last part I tried as hell to pass him but I couldn’t catch him. It was okay, but we have data to improve. But, I am happy about the first and second races.”
With Axel Bassani finishing well for a privateer, and also a strong younger Italian rider, was it more local knowledge for both that gave them the edge? Yes and no, it seems.
“Yeah. I’m really impressed about Axel, because sincerely last year he was struggling extremely when he came to WorldSBK. But I know him since a long time and I say he has talent - just was a bad year last year and he proved he has talent.
So I think this track helps the bike with more riders maybe, but also because we are Italian and we start ‘growing’ here. So this is why I think there is good tracks for us, bad tracks for us, there are many things. You cannot say it’s one thing.”
With Donington next up for Rinaldi, and his confidence sky high, has he now found a set-up and a way of working inside his new team that will transfer to that venue and many others.
“I finished first and second this weekend, but I miss something,” explained Rinaldi. “You see the race of Toprak was much better than us in braking. This is a point that I complain since race one. We didn’t improve 100 per cent yet. So I think we have room for improvement, but I hope we find something because we are quite okay but not 100 per cent.
‘So, it’s difficult also to try new things because it can be worse in 90 per cent of the cases, then good. So we don’t want to lose our small step forward. We just want to keep going in this way. So Donington is a track that I struggle, but also in Estoril I struggled last year, and in the race of this year I was quicker about one second. So I think we have a new pace to ride.”