Kawasaki Racing Team rider Jonathan Rea took his Ninja ZX-10RR to the fastest lap time of all in post-race testing at Portimao, just one day after completing a stunning race winning double.

With his team-mate Tom Sykes out injured after a crash in FP3 on Saturday, championship leader Rea was the lone official KRT rider on track today. He made the most of his opportunities on a dry surface, posting a 1'42.313 lap as he worked his way through test items and chassis settings in readiness for both the next race in France and next season. His best pace today was under the existing lap record of 1’42.475.
 
Rea also had two different Pirelli rear tyres to evaluate during back-to-back long runs, to provide valuable feedback for the championship’s single make tyre supplier.
 
In good conditions, with bright sunshine for much of the day, Rea also helped Kawasaki Puccetti Racing STK1000 rider Toprak Razgatlioglu with his first ride on a non-factory Superbike-spec machine, showing him some Superbike racing lines and offering invaluable advice that helped him to finish fourth fastest from the 12 riders at the test.
 
Rea and his crew had completed their work plan before spots of rain appeared on the Portimao track surface with 45 minutes of the full day remaining.
 
Next up for the entire KRT squad is the 11th round of the championship, to be held at regular WorldSBK venue Magny Cours, with race weekend starting on Friday 29th September and ending on Sunday 1st October. 

Jonathan Rea, stated:

“It is always useful testing after a race weekend because you have a good rhythm. So we did not rush into too much today. We started with the bike set-up how we finished the race and then we started work on set up ideas, namely trying to optimise our chassis balance. We know the chassis next year is going to be very important for us. Showa brought some good test items and I found some positive things. I then did some Pirelli tyre tests at the end, based on a tyre that was here on the weekend. I did not so many laps today but I also spent a little bit of time on track with Toprak, trying to help him round, which was enjoyable. He got up to speed really fast so it is clear that the base package of the Ninja ZX-10RR is really good.”
 
Pere Riba, Crew Chief for Jonathan Rea, stated:

“Mainly we confirmed some items that we used on race weekend. This track is a special one with its ups and downs, and a lot of bumps. When we came here in April we made a base set-up for this track, which is a little bit different compared to the base set-up we use in other tracks. We made some changes to understand for the next race. We made some tests about geometry and then we moved onto chassis and suspension with Showa, already thinking about 2018. Then we tested tyres as the request from Pirelli was to make 15 laps on one tyre and then 15 on another tyre. We made in total of 55 laps, and 30 of those were for the tyre test. We finished early as we had dome enough and now we are thinking about the next race in France.”