While the MotoGP protagonists were traveling in the direction of Assen, where the tenth round of the season is taking place this weekend, several SBK riders along with the test teams of the premier class on Wednesday and Thursday put their wheels on the Balaton Park track for the first time. The Hungarian track represents an absolute novelty in the calendars of world-level motorcycle racing, so it was necessary to organize a test in order to assess its adaptation or not to the safety standards required by the organizing body and the FIM, necessary to receive the green light to host SBK in July and MotoGP on the weekend of August 22-23-24.
In this regard, the news from Hungary is not entirely reassuring. Several riders have expressed concerns about Balaton Park, both with regard to its safety, due to an asphalt in suboptimal condition and some walls too close together, and with regard to a layout considered by many, including Bradl and Lecuona, to be excessively narrow and twisty.
Also flying to the Magyar country on a mission for the usual Ducati colors was Michele Pirro, who between Wednesday and Thursday notched up the kilometers first on a road-going Panigale and then on the Desmosedici GP. The Apulian rider's tour de force saw him take off yesterday from Budapest at 6 a.m. to get to Vallelunga on time. Here we caught up with him on the occasion of the third round of the CIV, which sees him engaged in the fight with Alessandro Delbianco, to gather the valuable opinion of an experienced rider on the conditions of the Hungarian track.
"At Balaton there is definitely some work to be done, some things to be fixed. By now we are used to high standards at other circuits where we have been racing for many years while for them it is the first time and actually there are some things to put in place. In this month leading up to the SBK race there will be some work to be done and they have promised that they will fix everything that needs to be fixed. Now the ball is in their court."
Are we facing problems that within a month can really be solved?
"You know, where there's a will there's a way. Basically, they need to make the track a little bit safer, especially the asphalt, which was getting really bad with the passage of the bikes, also because of the high temperatures."
What about the layout? We've heard mixed opinions, Lecuona and Bradl didn't really like it because of its twistiness, Petrucci on the other hand found it fun, full of braking in which to overtake. How did it seem to you?
"I'm not crazy about the layout, because it's not smooth. You can feel that the circuit is not natural, you can feel that variations have been made specifically to slow down some sections and go for the safety system. Having said that, we have made the point with the Dorna and FIM guys at least to make it safe, then how spectacular it will be or how problematic it will be with 25 bikes on the track, we will only find out in the race. For me there are not a lot of points to overcome or anyway everything is a little bit on the limit, but the important thing is that at the safety level they do what is needed. The organizers have promised that for SBK they will already fix everything," concluded the reigning CIV Italian Superbike Champion, to whom we wish the best of luck for the continuation of his race weekend.