Jonathan Rea and Tom Sykes from the Kawasaki Racing Team were first and second quickest respectively in the official one-day Superbike World Championship tests at Jerez in Spain. Rea set a 1’40.815 best lap, which was under lap record pace. Sykes was also under the lap record and just 0.241 seconds behind his team-mate. He was also over half a second faster than the next quickest rider.

he 4.423km circuit provided dry and eventually warm conditions throughout the eight hour long test session. Rea and Sykes each worked toward 2017 settings, with Sykes running two machines back-to- back to allow for clear comparisons in chassis geometry. He also worked on settings to take into the final challenge in Qatar in two weeks’ time.

Rea used one machine all day and as a result set fewer laps than Sykes. He had a very positive test session overall, and set his fastest time after putting all the optimum material and settings together near the end, when the track was at its hottest. Sykes set 93 laps today and Rea 56.

Both Jonathan and Tom were also pleased with the progress shown by the Pirelli tyres they tried, and each feels confident going into the final races in Qatar.

The next round, the last of the season, will take place at Losail International Circuit, with racedays on 29th and 30th October. Either Jonathan or Tom will be crowned champion, as only they can score enough points over the final two races to win the title outright.


Jonathan Rea, stated: 

“That was a very positive day, maybe the most positive of the season. I spoke for a long time with Fabien Foret, who is helping me to improve my riding, seeing how I am attacking the corners in a different way. I am not a testing guy and woke up today with little motivation but step-by-step everything we were trying out was working. We were consistently fast all day and then, when we put all the items together we had been testing; we made a good step forward. We tested and refined some things in readiness for 2017 including some new front forks, and found not only a happy feeling with the forks but a rear shock we tried near the end as well. Even with used tyres we were able to lap very fast. I was happy all day. Even in the hot conditions we were able to be fast. I am very thankful to Kawasaki and Showa, and all my crew, who worked hard. Also to Pere and Paolo and to Fabien, who has helped me change my riding position on the bike. There were many positives today.”

Tom Sykes, stated: 

“It was a very busy test, lots of laps, and we had an opportunity to do a variety of things with the suspension and chassis set-up. There were a couple of new tyres from Pirelli and also new electronic stuff. I had two bikes so we could do direct geometry comparisons. A massive day of testing in dry conditions and it was really nice to have two bikes, as it makes the testing even more effective. The lads have worked hard all race weekend and during this test - and now they have got to prepare the crates for the flyaway round in Qatar. Credit to all those guys in the team and hopefully on the back of this test we can be even stronger in Qatar.”

Pere Riba, Crew Chief for Jonathan Rea, stated: 

“Each rider is different and Johnny is a really strong Sunday rider; a race rider. He is always working but his strongest point is Sunday. During the tests he is doing the job well but this time he was really, really accurate with all the details he gave to the development staff. This was very positive because we used different things in engine management and suspension, thinking about 2017 and all the results have been very good. All the tests we made have been clear and gave a very strong lap time. We have a very solid package. We tried a new rear tyre from Pirelli that has been working fantastically well. We also tested some things to work out what the base will be to start from in the final round of this year in Qatar. I am so pleased with this test.”

Marcel Duinker, Crew Chief for Tom Sykes, stated: 

“It was nice to have a test day again and we started with some 2017 items. In a Monday test after a race you have the best reference possible and the weather conditions were similar. We simulated the character of some 2017 material this morning and it was working better than expected. Soon after we started to focus on the remaining 2016 round at Qatar. We have a target there and we had clear planning today to help us achieve it. We went through all our items, with one exception, and we found some clear improvements. We will take all this through to the first free practice session in Losail.”