News

First winter test for Yakhnich Motorsport at Jerez

Friday, 9 November 2012 10:42 GMT
First winter test for Yakhnich Motorsport at Jerez
The Yakhnich Motorsport Team got down to its first winter testing recently at Jerez de la Frontera with riders Vladimir Leonov, Sam Lowes and Dakota Mamola sharing the track - and the poor weather - with BMW Motorrad Italia. In the Supersport side of the box Vladimir Leonov and Sam Lowes had different jobs to do, but first of all the new crew added to the team was introduced to both of them. Leonov concentrated on the new engine development set-up and suspension settings, while Lowes made his first contacts and adjustments with the Yamaha R6 after four years on a Honda CBR.


The second day a completely wet track in the morning allowed Leonov to continue testing new types of rear wet tyres and the result was impressive, with fast times and consistent pace. Lowes got to grips with the electronic management system, and even for him the wet run was very positive. In the afternoon only Lowes was riding because the damp track did not allow Leonov to continue developing suspensions setting, while Sam needed to ride as much as possible to acclimatize to the Yamaha R6. Dakota Mamola, with the Superstock 600 Yamaha R6 made his first contact with the new engine development for the next season, and even for him the first impression was very positive although he only did a few laps.


"Before arriving here I was excited to test my new bike, the Yamaha R6, after four seasons riding a Honda", said Lowes. "Now I'm much more excited because I can see that the potential of the bike will allow me to try and win next year! The riding style required by this bike is different, but it was quite easy for me to understand and improve lap by lap, even in these difficult conditions. Even the team welcomed me in the best way, and I felt immediately at home. I'm sure we will have a great season in 2013."


Leonov declared: "Unfortunately the circuit conditions were never perfect to push enough to finish all our testing program, but I'm happy we obtained good results with all the work we could do. New position on the bike, new engine improvements, new suspensions settings... everything was positive, even in the rain we did many fast laps and now we have lot of data to analyze to improve again in the next test session".