WSBK – WSBK tests in Jerez: track record exploded, Guintoli crumpled … – Giugliano, Sykes and Rea under 1’40

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WSBK tests in Jerez: track record exploded, Guintoli crumpled…

WSBK - WSBK tests in Jerez: track record exploded, Guintoli crumpled ... - Giugliano, Sykes and Rea under 1'40

Bridged in their winter preparation by bad weather, the World Superbike teams have finally found good working conditions in Jerez. Ducati, Kawasaki and Aprilia riders are hot… and Guintoli made a heat. Shade !

Giugliano, Sykes and Rea under 1’40

After freezing their Pirelli tires in Aragon and Portimao (read), the motorcycles of the main teams registered in 2015 in the Superbike world championship were able to stretch their rods in Jerez (Spain), where the track reached satisfactory and reassuring temperature of 25 ° C !

Monday and Tuesday, the main WSBK pilots took advantage of the rise in the thermometer to lower the times. At the end of the first day, the Top 5 (composed in the order of Rea, Lowes, Sykes, Giugliano and Davies: see the lap times below) was already running in times lower than those of the double winner of the event. 2014: Marco Melandri himself.

The next day, by putting on soft tires, the pilots further reduced their times until they reached new records … but not official ones. At the top of the list with a breathtaking 1’39.339 at the controls of his factory Panigale R: Davide Giugliano…

Author of two Superpoles last year, the official Ducati rider confirms that he is still just as fast … on one lap! As long as it progresses steadily and limits its number of crashes during the race (which fell on Tuesday noon, it only completed 41 laps on the second day against 110 for Haslam!), N ° 34 could well become the "Numero Uno" discipline.

"We were able to work on a lot of little things, calmly and methodically", approves the bubbling Italian – Roman even, like a certain Max Biaggi!"During a race weekend we don’t have time to focus on all the details and we took full advantage of our opportunity to do so here".

"I’m really happy and so is the team", testifies Davide, strong of his cannon turn, a second faster than the."I found a very good feeling on the bike and I hope we will continue like this in the next tests we will do in Phillip Island before the first round".

The tests at the start of the week in Jerez were indeed the last to be held on the old continent. The Spanish pit lanes were barely closed when the teams were already making preparations for their transfer from Spain to Australia, from winter to summer, from pre-season testing to official testing. !

Second on Jerez’s times record and second in the 2014 World Championship, Tom Sykes is also very satisfied with his two days: "we have worked on many parameters and we have come considerably closer to a basic setting", analyzes the 2013 WSBK champion.

On hard and soft tires, the official Kawasaki rider seems satisfied with the behavior of his "new" ZX-10R. As a reminder, the new World Superbike regulations limit interventions on the engine: the 2015 machines therefore differ from the 2014 models, even if the model sold commercially does not change..

"We extended our potential with the race tire and the qualifying tire, and completed a final lap on each to measure the work accomplished", exposes n ° 66 of the Greens."My last two laps were pretty relaxed, I wasn’t expecting much"Says" Mister Grinner "…

As if to justify the gap of a third of a second between him and Giugliano, Tom even reports having "saw some riders use more than one qualifying tire, maybe even three"… Site was not there to count and therefore cannot referee. The only valid judge in this story: the first Australian race ?!

"We found a good base for Tom and he is happy, he was making jokes and having fun with everyone after the fact: we know we have achieved our goal", decoded its chief mechanic Marcel Duinker."In terms of time, we were among the fastest and over the long distance, we are really well placed. Opponents are warned…

Seven hundredths of a second faster than Sykes on Monday, five hundredths slower the next day: Jonathan Rea proved during these first "real" tests of 2015 that he would not be satisfied with the supporting role in the official Kawasaki team.

"I tried different geometries and various options for weight distribution", details the new Ninja, but oddly,"we did not find any big differences in time, even when the changes were drastic". A reassuring phenomenon when the bike is fast as it is now, but which would become very annoying in the event of underperformance….

"We made significant progress on engine management and electronics on the second day and I was able to improve my best time, which I was very happy with., also notes "JR". At the end of his race simulation, the n ° 65 even claimed to have understood the behavior of his machine on worn tires….

"In my opinion we have the right tools in the garage to keep working that way and be in good shape when the fires go out in Phillip Island.". Johnny might even have a good place on the Australian grid:"we used a qualifying tire at the end of the day and it works great on this bike", remarks the former Honda rider.

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