The all-new Triple M Honda World Superbike Team secured their best finish to date thanks to a tenth place for their American rider PJ Jacobsen in race two at a hot and steamy Buriram in Thailand today.
Following on from 17th place in race one, when PJ finished ahead of his countryman Jake Gagne, Jacobsen scored tenth place in race two, finishing much closer to the leading rider in Thailand than he had in the opening round in Australia last month.
PJ was only a couple of seconds from ninth place, and had four more experienced riders behind him in only his second full Superbike event. A long time rider in WorldSSP before making the jump to Superbike with his new Triple M Honda team this season, PJ had qualified 17th on the grid after Superpole 1 on Saturday, shortly before race one.
Despite ambient air temperatures of 33°C Jacobsen and his bike ran strongly for all 20-laps in each race, with PJ trimming several seconds from his overall race one time in today’s race. Great advances in the team’s electronics and chassis settings were the main areas of improvement for team at this round, after a very respectable debut at Phillip Island in late February.
Thanks to his second race haul of six points, plus the two he scored in round one, PJ is now 17th in the championship rankings. The next round will take place in Europe for the first time in 2018, at the Motorland Aragon circuit in Spain, between 13th and 15th April.
PJ Jacobsen 99
Our first top ten in WorldSBK was a good step for us. We have come a long way since the first round in Phillip Island, both with the electronics and with the chassis and electronics going together. It has been a huge step and the team is brand new. Everything has just really gelled together. I got to have our first real race with someone yesterday, when I competed with Yonny Hernandez, so it was good to do that. And also to get the experience of how the bike is reacting in a real race. Today was even better and our pace was not too bad. I saw Lorenzo Savadori in front of me and I really wanted to hold onto him, and try to get to the end. I am really happy for the team because they started out two months ago with literally nothing and they have built this whole team, which is absolutely amazing.
Manuel Cappelletti
Team Manager
I am happy with the result of both races in Thailand. In Race 1 we didn’t get what we expected but PJ was close to the group fighting for 11th position. We made another small step in race pace for race 2 and we got a great tenth position. We are still working a lot with the new Marelli electronic system but we are looking forward. Thanks to Honda for their support and the mechanics for their hard work. PJ did a great job in the office today
