Rea quickest on first day of testing at damp Jerez
World Champion Sylvain Guintoli tries the CBR1000RR with the #1 plate.
The Jerez Circuit in Sourthern Spain hosted today the first day of a full week of private testing for many of the WSBK teams who are preparing for the 2015 season. Given the rain fell overnight, the riders were forced back at the pits for a significant amount of time whilst waiting for track conditions to improve. The conditions worsened again with three hours left, not allowing the teams to make the best out of day one. Due to the weather changes, the track never fully dried up as there were still some damp patches.
New Pata Honda duo of Sylvain Guintoli and Michael van der Mark had their first ride of the off season, both making their debut aboard the team’s CBR1000RR, whilst KRT pairing of Tom Sykes and Jonathan Rea continued evaluating new settings after last week’s successful test at Aragon along with WSS rider Kenan Sofuoglu (San Carlo Puccetti Racing). Ulsterman Rea set the quickest time of the day in 1’44.643.
The Crescent Suzuki Team was also at the track with both Alex Lowes and WSBK debutant Randy De Puniet in what is their first test of the off season. Nicolas ‘Nico’ Terol could try for the first time the 2015 version of the 1199 Panigale R he will ride next year, as the new recruit of the Althea Racing Team was joined this time out by his STK1000 teammates Luca Salvadori and Raffaele De Rosa. Terol’s laps were not officially recorded as the team chose not to use any transponder on his bike.
Jerez test – Monday: 1 - Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki) 1.44.643 2 - Alex Lowes (Suzuki) 1.45.340 3 -Michael van Mark (Honda) 1.45.472 4 -Tom Sykes 1.45.836 5 - Raffaele Da Rosa (Ducati) 1.46.092 6.-Kenan Sofuoglu (WSS) 1.46.202 7 - Randy de Puniet (Suzuki) 1.46.317 8 -Sylvain Guintoli (Honda) 1.47.650 9 – Luca Savadori 1.48.365.
