Riders Rabat and Zaidi work hard to find feeling in Friday’s SBK practices at Motorland Aragón.

PETRONAS MIE Racing Honda riders Tito Rabat and Zaqhwan Zaidi have been on track at Spain’s Motorland Aragón today for the first of the practice sessions making up the 2025 season’s tenth WorldSBK championship round.

The morning’s first free practice gave Rabat and Zaidi a first opportunity to start setting up their CBR1000RR-R machines to suit the Spanish track. Local rider Tito knows the circuit well, so was able to focus solely on identifying setup solutions, while rookie Zaqhwan refamiliarised himself with a track he hasn’t visited for ten years. Both worked methodically with their respective technicians, with Rabat in particular making good progress in the final stages. A fastest time of 1’50.879 for Rabat put him in temporary sixteenth position. Finishing the session with a time of 1’53.375, which put him twenty-second on the timesheets.

A few hours later, and despite much warmer conditions, Rabat was able to perform in a similar way. Finding an extra couple of tenths with respect to the morning, Tito’s best of 1’50.632 saw him round out Friday in nineteenth place. Teammate Zaidi continued to build confidence and feeling with both bike and track in preparation for the weekend’s races. Satisfied with the day’s progress, the Malaysian placed twenty-third with a 1’53.264.

Tito Rabat #53

“We made a good start in FP1, which I felt went well. In FP2 we were able to maintain the same kind of pace, despite different conditions, which was good. I know it’s hard at this track, especially in the afternoon, and things went better than expected today, to be honest. It’s also good to see that we’re not so far from the group, so that makes us confident as a team heading into the weekend.”

Zaqhwan Zaidi #21

“It’s great to be riding here at Aragón again; it’s been ten years since I was last here! We’ve worked to try and find some good solutions, as I need to build the feeling with the bike. There are many high-speed turns here, so we need to have good confidence with the bike. I believe I can do more than I have today, and my lap times were not so bad this afternoon; I’m pleased with the progress made from one session to the next. I will try my best to do more as we work to find a good setup for qualifying tomorrow.”

Rabat and Zaidi gain valuable knowledge and run a fast WorldSBK race 1 at Motorland Aragón

The PETRONAS MIE Racing Honda Team and riders Tito Rabat and Zaqhwan Zaidi successfully closed the gap to the front with respect to previous rounds during the first of the weekend’s three WorldSBK races at Motorland Aragón.

Earlier in the day, the team was out for a final practice, the session allowing the riders to make some final changes to setup ahead of the subsequent qualifying session. Despite a track temperature of just 15°C, both Rabat (1’50.520) and Zaidi (1’52.809) put in their best practice times in this session.

Running on an already warmer track, the Superpole phase was particularly hard fought, with six riders improving on the previous lap record. During this 15-minute qualifying, Rabat put in an initial ‘49.5. After pitting to switch tyres, the local rider was able to shave off another couple of tenths to set a fastest time of 1’49.351 and qualify on row seven, in twentieth position, for Race 1. Teammate Zaidi improved on his initial reference by almost a second throughout the short session. The Malaysian rookie’s best, a 1’51.094, put him twenty-third, for a spot on the eighth row of the grid.

Race 1 ran according to schedule in dry, sunny conditions. Rabat made a spirited start, up to seventeenth almost immediately. Racing at his home track, the Spaniard was keen to do well but unfortunately lost contact with those ahead fairly early on, which meant that he found himself lapping alone for a good part of the race. Despite that, he was able to limit the gap to the front with respect to previous races. Having climbed to sixteenth in the latter stages, Rabat ultimately crossed the line seventeenth. Zaidi had a harder time sticking with the pack today, unable to find the same good feeling in the race that he had experienced in Superpole. The Malaysian nevertheless ran a faster race overall, focusing on consistency and working to understanding where he and team might be able to improve for tomorrow’s races. Zaidi completed the race P20.

Tito Rabat #53

“Today’s race was tough, to be honest. We made a good start and were doing okay over the first few laps, but then had a few issues with the clutch, which slowed me down later on. Hopefully, we can sort that out for tomorrow, as I was happy over the first laps when I saw I could stick with the group. We just need to put it all together. The aim for tomorrow will be to try and improve a few things so that I can follow the group and have better feeling.”

Zaqhwan Zaidi #21

“I was happy with my Superpole performance, better than it has been on previous occasions, I think. Because I had good feeling in that session, we kept the bike more or less the same for Race 1 but for some reason the feeling was not so good, maybe because the conditions were warmer by the time the race started, I’m not sure. I tried to stick with the group at first but after I lost contact, I worked to understand the areas where we can improve, so that hopefully we can be more competitive in tomorrow’s races. We’ll keep working to find a little more.”

Riders Rabat and Zaidi do their best in Sunday’s SBK races despite both suffering a crash.

PETRONAS MIE Racing Honda riders Tito Rabat and Zaqhwan Zaidi experienced ups and downs today as the tenth WorldSBK round drew to a close at Motorland Aragón.

After a short warm-up, the duo was ready for Sunday morning’s ten-lap Superpole Race. From nineteenth on the grid, Tito got off the line well but was almost immediately involved in a multi-rider incident at Turn 5. A blameless Rabat crashed as a result of another rider’s actions and was unable to rejoin the race but was fortunately unhurt. Over the course of this short sprint, rookie Zaqhwan progressed from twenty-second to nineteenth position. Just as he did in Saturday’s Race 1, Zaidi was able to complete another fast race, again reducing the gap to the front with respect to previous sprint races.

The afternoon’s 18-lap race rounded out the weekend’s SBK action at Aragon. Starting P20, Rabat held that position throughout the first half of the race. In a hard-fought race, the gaps quickly opened up, which prevented Tito from closing in on the rider ahead. The rider nevertheless kept his head down and focused on his pace, ultimately moving up to seventeenth, a position he held to the line. Zaidi made a good start from twenty-third and was working hard to maintain his pace. The Malaysian was unfortunately unable to complete the race, a Turn 9 crash putting paid to his hard work with six laps to go.

With just two rounds left to run, Rabat places twenty-fourth in the standings with 6 points and Zaidi twenty-sixth with the point he scored at Magny-Cours. The team will return to action over the weekend of 10-12 October at the Estoril Circuit in Portugal.

Tito Rabat #53

“Obviously I’m not happy about the Superpole race, as the crash was not my fault and it meant my race was over immediately. We made changes to try to improve something for today’s long race but unfortunately it felt tougher than in Race 1. We need to analyse the data to understand why. I tried to do my best anyway and continue to give 100%. Let’s see what we can do next time out at Estoril.” 

Zaqhwan Zaidi #21

“We’ve worked really hard and tried many things to find the best possible feeling. In the Superpole race I tried to keep good pace but didn’t really have the feeling I was looking for. We made a change for the long race and that definitely improved things, as I felt more comfortable and was better able to maintain the pace compared to Race 1. Maybe slightly lower temperatures also helped with the grip today. Unfortunately, I felt a bumping sensation and one point and crashed at  Turn 9; I tried to save it but it was not possible. I think we’ve made progress anyway, working well as a team and achieving the mini targets we’re setting each time. We’ll keep working and see what we can do next time.”