Tom Sykes says he was surprised by his pace during practice for the World Superbike round from Magny-Cours despite breaking two fingers and his wrist in a crash two weeks ago.
The Kawasaki rider snapped the little finger on his left hand in half, as well as breaking the finger next to it and his wrist, in a fiery fall during third practice for the Portimao round 14 days ago.
Sykes missed that weekend’s racing and underwent surgery on the Sunday, but was passed fit to ride by WorldSBK medical staff prior to practice.
The Briton was 10th fastest in the first session – one second from pacesetting team-mate Jonathan Rea – and briefly led proceedings in the afternoon with a 1m38.217s before once again being shuffled back to 10th, eight tenths off the pace.
Focusing more on race set-up, Sykes was not concerned about his finishing position on the combined standings and was pleased with his long run pace.
“We tried some set-up changes, trying to make myself more comfortable on the bike in preparation for the race,” he said.
“So, we only lost ground in the last moments; we know people put in new tyres, so I’m happy to be inside the top 10. It means I don’t have to do Superpole 1.
“But, yeah, surprised myself, only one tenth from Jonathan until that moment.
“It was only 12 days ago that my little finger bone was sticking out the palm of my hand and it cut the nerve, we broke the finger next two it and also a bone on the base of the hand.
“Thanks to the Kawasaki Racing Team, they’ve made me more comfortable on the bike.
“Sure, it’s not perfect on the change of direction, but we’re here and I’m very luck to be doing what I’m doing. I’m enjoying it and tomorrow and the races we’ll give more, sure.”
The Kawasaki rider believes he has a bike able to at least challenge for a podium in the first race, but remains wary of the potential for rain on Saturday.
“Yeah, the rain, it’s a shame because in the dry I feel now we have a good set-up to fight,” he added.
Certainly, after race distance on the tyre, we still had very good laptimes. I feel we have a bike capable of at least the podium if not more.
“But tomorrow in the wet, we’ll see. I’m happy and unhappy.
“Happy because, physically, (it’s) less demanding, but unfortunately in the wet there’s a lot more risk of crashing and today I was so slow and quite steady, and I really took my time to find my rhythm to understand the limitations of me and the bike.
“So, tomorrow I’ll have to start again, which is a shame, but the main thing is we were able to get through and more so competitive.”
