Michael Ruben Rinaldi begins WorldSBK farewell weekend on top

Michael Ruben Rinaldi seems to be on his way off of the WorldSBK grid after the end of the 2024 season, but he began his final weekend in the top class of production motorcycle racing on top.

Rinaldi used the SCQ tyre to go fastest in FP2 on Friday afternoon at the WorldSBK Spanish Round at Jerez, beating Nicolo Bulega by just over 0.2 seconds.

Rinaldi concluded that it was a “good” Friday for him in Jerez, even if he confirmed that it was his last in WorldSBK — although we know Rinaldi will be replaced by Ryan Vickers at the Motocorsa team next year, his destination has still not been made official.

“It was a good day for us,” Rinaldi told WorldSBK.com. “This morning, I started pretty confidently. We tried the tyres that I won’t use in the race because of the numbers.

“The feeling wasn’t bad but it wasn’t perfect. I thought this afternoon could be better and it was, so I was pretty happy with my pace with the race tyre.

“We made some modifications with the electronics side. I feel we can be a little bit more competitive than at other rounds, which is positive.

“Today is my last Friday as a WorldSBK rider, so it was important to finish on top and I’m pretty glad to do that.”

Although he was fastest of all on Friday, Rinaldi felt there was more time for him to find for Saturday’s Superpole session.

“I think I could be a little bit faster, but I found some traffic on the first and then, on the second, the tyre already dropped,” Rinaldi said.

“This is good because I know I understand that, maybe there’s a 90% chance I won’t use this tyre [SCQ] in the Superpole Race.

“Also, I can improve with my team to be faster in Superpole tomorrow which is very important.”