Reigning world champion Jonathan Rea led the time sheets at the end of the opening day of pre-season testing from Jerez from Kawasaki Racing team-mate Tom Sykes.
Some of the team present had already tested their 2017 machines extensively towards the end of last year, and as such today was just about getting reacquainted with the bike. For the rest, today marked their first contact with their 2017 challengers.
Kawasaki’s Rea impressed hugely at a test at the Jerez circuit last year when he lapped his ZX-10R quicker than a MotoGP machine. With a good base set-up ready to go, the Northern Irishman pounded out the laps, completing 60 in total and setting a best lap of 1m40.162s on his 42nd tour. Team-mate Sykes, who said last year that the changed to the regulations may work against him, was just over two and a half tenths adrift in second having managed 61 laps.
Many have Aruba.it Ducati’s Chaz Davies down as Kawasaki’s biggest threat in 2017 after winning seven of the last eight races in 2016. The Welshman completed 68 laps on his Panigale with a best effort of 1m40.784, whilst team-mate Marco Melandri ended the day an impressive three hundredths of a second down in fourth.
Pata Yamaha’s Alex Lowes rounded out the top five on the YZF-R1, with new team-mate Michael van der Mark completing the top 10 on his first test with the team as an official Yamaha rider. In between the duo were Barni Racing’s Xavi Fores, Milwaukee Aprilia’s Lorenzo Savadori, Althea BMW’s Jordi Torres and Honda’s Nicky Hayden, who tried out the brand new Fireblade for the first time along with WorldSBK debutante Stefan Bradl.
Joining the WorldSBK field this week is JG Speedfit’s Leon Haslam and Luke Mosey, who finished the day 15th and 16th respectively on British Superbike-spec Kawasakis. Several European STK1000 and World Supersport riders were also in attendance, with Althea’s Marco Faccani and Orelac Racing’s Zulfahmi Khairuddin the fastest in each class.
Comments.
Loading comments…