Baz’s catapulting crash leaves Ten Kate facing substantial repair job

Loris Baz and Ten Kate SBK endured a somewhat inauspicious return to the World Superbike Championship at Jerez as a mammoth airborne crash in second free practice left the team with a significant repair job to complete overnight.

Baz was enjoying a positive first day back in action as he lapped just outside the top ten in FP1, while the Frenchman looked to be capable of ascending further in FP2 with the Yamaha R1 proving well-suited to the Spanish venue.

However, with eight minutes of the session remaining Baz came down at the quick turn four left-hander, his Yamaha digging into the gravel trap and launching into a series of pirouettes before eventually coming to rest.

Though Baz was unhurt, the excessive damage leaves his Ten Kate SBK team a substantial repair job to complete before its first qualifying session of the season on Saturday.

“It was an up and down first day, let’s say. I’m not really happy because I’ve given my guys a lot of work to do tonight with the fast crash at the end of FP2, which definitely wasn’t in the plan, but we also need to understand why I crashed because it was a bit strange.

“Apart from that the day was going well; we weren’t that far from the other four Yamaha riders and we managed to improve on the set-up we finished with at the Misano test.

“We need to continue working in this way tomorrow and then use the race as another opportunity to increase our understanding with the bike. I’m looking forward to tomorrow already.”

WATCH: Bad start for @lorisbaz - and A LOT to rebuild for @TenKateSBK!#ESPWorldSBK

FREE VIDEO | #WorldSBK https://t.co/zVroTcwC6I pic.twitter.com/dj5itRzoTn

— WorldSBK (@WorldSBK) June 7, 2019