Double top 10 for Rinaldi and Barni Racing Team at Laguna Seca

With a race of pure consistency, Michael Rinaldi rode his Ducati Panigale V4R once again to a top-ten finish in race two at Laguna Seca, where ninth round of MOTUL FIM WorldSBK come to an end. After the tenth place in race 1 on Saturday and a not completely satisfying 13th place in Superpole Race the Barni Racing Team rider conquered another good result in the ultimate race before a long period of holidays. Now the Championship standing see Rinaldi in eleventh place with 97 points, three less than Cortese and one more on Torres. 

Superpole Race

It was a thrilling Sprint race which was red flagged at lap 1 due to a crash at the famous turn of Corkscrew. In the race restarted with only eight lap Rinaldi didn’t managed to recover lot of positions from his fourteenth place of the starting grid and he crossed the finish lane thirteenth, without scoring points in the Championship.  

Race 2  

The Barni Racing Team rider got of well from the fourteenth spot of the grid but at the braking point of turn 1 in order to avoid a crash with another rider He was forced to go wide losing positions. Despite of this Michael put his head down and He made another good race: showing a strong pace on long distance He raced fourteenth second faster than yesterday with a personal best lap in 1'24.492, eight tenth of a second better than his personal best lap in race 1. The italian #21 gained position when Bautista and Van der Mark went out of the race, but he was able to overtake Laverty and Cortese. Determined to conquer another top 10 Rinaldi managed to catch up and overtake Mercado three laps to go.

Marco Barnabò - Team Principal

"We are satisfied because, even the position was the same of race one, our pace was stronger and Rinaldi managed to cover the race distance more than ten second faster. This means that our improvement from yesterday was clear. The start was a shame because after a contact he lose positions and than he lose ground trying to overtake Laverty and Cortese. Otherwise I think He could fight with Melandri for ninth position". 

Michael Ruben Rinaldi #21 Superpole Race: P13 - Race 2: P10

"It was an unknown track for me and because of that I could not have high expectations. For this reason I am globally satisfied with the weekend. We grew in each session and this is what I say about the good quality of our work. When you arrive for the first time in a new track it's very easy to lose the right direction and make mistakes, instead of this we made a good job".