As the MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship made its way to Cremona, Italy for a two-day test, there were several impressive performances on display. One of the most notable was that of Team Motocorsa Racing’s Michael Ruben Rinaldi, who showed his speed and potential by leading for the large majority of Day 1 of WorldSBK’s first test at the Italian circuit.

A beautiful, sunny morning in Cremona saw several riders take to the track for the first time since its renovation, with Rinaldi and rival Sam Lowes (ELF Marc VDS Racing Team) immediately the two fastest riders on the track. Rinaldi led for the majority of the morning session, increasingly improving his time before eventually pitting with an hour remaining of the session. He would ultimately be second only to Marc VDS Ducati’s Lowes.

Rinaldi would ultimately post a time of 1’30.131s. Speaking about the track and the test, Rinaldi said: “I really like the track. I was able to try the track last week so I could avoid some laps with the WorldSBK bike to understand the track, which allowed us to immediately have a good feeling with the bike. Today, there aren’t all the riders, so I expect tomorrow to see our real level at this track. It’s been a good start. It’s a really strange layout, it’s not usual. The setup surprised me because it was okay for this track. It was strange because I did my best lap time with the SC0 not the SCX. Maybe, tomorrow, we’ll fix that to be faster with the softer tyre. This afternoon, we had the opportunity to test in the wet and I was quite surprised that the grip offered us. Some laps in the wet helped us to have a good feeling maybe for Donington or Magny-Cours. It was a good start.”

In this afternoon’s session, which was inhibited by rain, the riders were faced with a wet surface. Despite posting a time of around 10 seconds slower than the morning session, Rinaldi was extremely positive. Rinaldi was one of two WorldSBK riders who ventured out into the wet, the other being Tito Rabat (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing). The #21 completed 20 laps in the wet, with a best time of 1’39.413s.

Speaking about his experience of testing in the wet, Rinaldi said: “I really liked it in the wet. Usually, I don’t feel so good in the wet! The bike doesn’t always give me good feelings, but I went out and immediately had a good feeling. The bike was functioning okay in the wet. Nothing to try in these conditions. Today’s enough, hopefully tomorrow we have a full day of dry running, so we’ll focus on that.”

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