Norrodin and substitute rider Lopes make good progress at the Autódromo Internacional do Algarve in Portugal.

On track at the Autódromo Internacional do Algarve in Portugal, the PETRONAS MIE Racing Honda Team and its riders Adam Norrodin and Ivo Lopes have completed the first practice sessions making up round seven of the WorldSBK championship. In a change to the usual race schedule, all track sessions are taking place a little later in the day, with the SBK races scheduled to run at 6pm on Saturday and Sunday.

Despite the fact that temperatures were already high for the first practice session, PETRONAS MIE Racing Honda Team rider Adam Norrodin put in the work during FP1, focusing on bike setup and race preparation together with his technicians. After a steady session in which the Malaysian gradually lowered his times, the rider placed twenty-second with a fastest reference of 1’44.754 set in the final moments. Ivo Lopes, who stands in for Tarran Mackenzie this weekend, is riding the Honda SBK for the first time this weekend. The local rider made good progress throughout the opening session, improving in terms of outright performance with every exit he made. The Portuguese rider ultimately set a fastest time of 1’44.399, which put in twenty-first place at the end of the phase.

In the afternoon’s second practice, both Norrodin and Lopes soon improved on their earlier times. Getting into a good rhythm around the track despite the challenges posed by the heat, the PETRONAS MIE Racing Honda riders both continued to work in the right direction. In the final ten minutes, Ivo found another few tenths to set a 1’43.510 and position twenty-second, followed by Adam, twenty-third with a 1’43.958.

Adam Norrodin

“I’m happy to be back after missing the Most round due to injury, but I think it will take me a little time to find the right feeling again. Physically, I feel ok though I’ve only put together about eight laps, so we’ll see how I am over race distance. In FP1 we tried many things, some positive, some negative, and then tried something else during the second practice that straight away brought some improvement. I set my fastest times with the used tyre, which is important, and I think we’re moving in the right direction each time we head out. The bike is not perfect yet and we have a few things to adjust ahead of tomorrow, but we’ll get there. I think we can have a positive weekend; we just need to trust and keep pushing.”

Ivo Lopes

“Day one is successfully completed, and I can say we made great progress. We knew it was going to be difficult but the work we’ve done today has been very positive and I am very happy. It’s a new bike and new tyres that I’m not used to using, so it was bound to take me a little time to adapt. I really like the teamwork because we got straight down to the essentials; the guys all have a lot of experience and that’s been great. But I always want more, so we head into Saturday with the desire to work harder, step by step but with real motivation. It is a great pleasure to be in Portimão with this team.”

Lopes and Norrodin battle the heat and each other to place P19 and P20 in race 1 at the Portimao circuit in Portugal.

The PETRONAS MIE Racing Honda Team is on track at the Autódromo Internacional do Algarve in Portugal for round seven of the 2024 Superbike World Championship.

After a final free practice, in which riders Adam Norrodin and Ivo Lopes both found a little more to set their best respective times of the weekend so far, the team turned its attention to the Superpole qualifying session. In hot and humid conditions, the SBK field had just 15 minutes in which to secure the best possible grid position for race 1. A best of 1’42.769 for Adam saw him qualify twenty-first for the day’s 20-lap race, while team-mate Ivo, unused to the frenetic Superpole format, set a 1’43.181 to place twenty-second.

In a change to the usual weekend schedule, SBK Race 1 ran at 6pm local time (CET-1). In very hot conditions, Norrodin was lying twenty-first through the opening laps, just ahead of Lopes, twenty-second. The team-mates exchanged places on lap five, but the gap that had opened up in front of them in the meantime made it impossible for them to catch the group ahead. Gaining a position apiece on lap seven, the PETRONAS MIE Racing Honda Team crossed the line in P19 with Lopes and in P20 with Norrodin.

Ivo Lopes

“My feeling today was good. The position on the grid was not so important for me, because I knew that it would be difficult to exploit the qualifying tyre in Superpole, but in FP3, with used tyres, I was able to better understand the bike and improve on my times with respect to the previous practices. As for Race 1, I’m very happy with how it went. I want to find another half second a lap over the first laps and that wasn’t possible today, but at least I understand why. I was pleased with the second half of the race anyway, as my fastest lap time came on lap nineteen so that bodes well. I’m continuing to improve session by session, and I can only be pleased with that. The important thing tomorrow is to try and find better pace through the initial stages so that I don’t lose too much early on, because if we can do that I’ll be in a better position later in the race, when I’m generally stronger.”

Adam Norrodin

“A positive day overall. In qualifying I’m normally more than three seconds from the front but we took a step compared to previous weekends, the bike feeling good and my feeling with the bike improving as a result. The start of the race wasn’t too bad, and my times were in line with my performance in qualifying. The pace was OK until a few laps from the end actually, when I started to feel a little unwell. It was strange, but it affected the last part of the race. Anyway, we’ll analyse the data from today and see what we can do in tomorrow’s Superpole race and race 2.”

The PETRONAS MIE Racing Honda Team has completed the seventh WorldSBK round at the AIA circuit with substitute rider Ivo Lopes, while permanent entry Adam Norrodin was unfortunately ruled unfit to race today.

The track schedule for the seventh Superbike World Championship round at the Autódromo Internacional do Algarve in Portugal saw all sessions run later in the day than usual, in an attempt to combat the August heat. So it was not until 2.45pm local time (CET-1) that the lights went out on Sunday’s Superpole race.

After feeling a little unwell overnight, displaying the symptoms of a migraine, Adam Norrodin was checked at the circuit medical centre after Sunday morning warm-up and subsequently deemed unfit to compete in the day’s races. This meant that Ivo Lopes, who has deputized for Tarran Mackenzie at Portimão, was the team’s only representative on track today. From twenty-first on the grid, Lopes made a good start when the ten-lap Superpole race got underway. Running a consistent race despite his limited experience of the sprint format, local rider Ivo crossed the line twenty-second.

The weekend’s second and final 20-lap SBK race ran as planned at 6pm. Having made gradual progress over the course of each session, Ivo’s main goal for this last race of the weekend was to find a little more pace with respect to race 1. Making up two positions in the first six laps, the Portuguese rider ultimately concluded the race in twentieth position but leaves Portimão pleased with the progress made over the race weekend as a whole.

The PETRONAS MIE Racing Honda Team will now travel north to the Estoril Circuit for two days of testing with Norrodin and Lopes on Tuesday 13 and Wednesday 14 August, after which it will continue its work back at base, in preparation for round eight of the WorldSBK championship at the Magny-Cours circuit in France on 6-8 September.

Ivo Lopes

“Warm-up went better for me today; I was able to lap faster, and the brief session was really useful ahead of the Superpole race. But managing the power was difficult in the sprint race because at full throttle the bike became overly aggressive and tough to ride. The positive is that, if we look at our pace over the ten laps of the sprint compared to the first ten laps of race 1, we were three seconds faster today. But the engine power was the issue, in that I felt I was fighting the bike. This track is all about finding the flow, and too much aggression causes you to lose that flow. Overall, I’m very pleased with how the weekend has gone and how I’ve worked with the team, and I thank them again for the opportunity. I made continual improvement over the course of the three days, and I hope the feedback I’ve provided and data we’ve collated is useful to the team moving forward.”

Adam Norrodin

“In race 1 yesterday I was feeling unwell. The headache persisted overnight, and I didn’t feel great as I went out for morning warm up today. I tried my best but thought it best to go to the medical centre after warm-up. The doctor said I shouldn’t race today and so that was that. There were positives this weekend anyway and I felt we saw improvement in some areas so hopefully we can carry that into the next rounds.”