The Superstar and the Rookie Happy With Jerez
Puccetti pair Sofuoglu and Krummenacher progress in test.
Four-time WorldSSP champion Kenan Sofuoglu and his new Kawasaki Puccetti Racing teammate Randy Krummenacher took the next step forward in the development of their 2016 Ninja ZX-6R Supersport World Championship machines during the two day collective test at Jerez in Spain.
The team got back on track after the long off-season break with both riders once again posting strong times at the Andalucian circuit, the scene of their previous test in late November.
Superstar Sofuoglu set a fastest lap of 1’43.091, almost matching his previous testing best at the circuit, and rookie WorldSSP rider Krummenacher continued his fast transition from Moto2™ as he recorded a best of 1’43.582, now regularly finding himself in the 1’43 second bracket.
Kenan Sofuoglu, 1’43.091: “It was quite a difficult test for me because in the past two months I was incredibly busy because I won the championship last year and that left me a bit tired. The weather was also not very good in Turkey to train. In these two days we have tried a couple of things on the bike and we found out that the set-up we had in November was very good, so we went back to that specification. We did almost exactly the same lap time today as we did in November. If I had a couple more soft tyres I could probably have gone about half a second faster. In the end, the package is quite good and we now go to Australia for the final test and then the first round.”
Randy Krummenacher, 1’43.582: “We tried many things with the suspension here and sometimes we lost the way a bit - but sometimes that is normal in testing. I think we have a lot of information from this test and we will be able to make another step in Australia. What was good is that I was more constant in the 1’43s whereas last time we tested here I did two 1’43s. Now it feels normal to ride with this kind of lap time. This is very positive. We just need to keep on working and I can’t wait to get to Australia because I really love the track there.”
With an all-new set of rules for WorldSSP in 2016, including limits on electronic rider aids, a lot of work was focused in this area during the tests. The improvements made allowed both riders to set the two fastest Supersport lap times of the two day session, with Sofuoglu laying down an early marker as he looks to defend his crown.
