In readiness for the next round of the WorldSBK Championship the KRT duo completed a two-day test at the Lausitzring in Germany, taking away very positive results.
The changeable local weather provided periods of both wet and dry track conditions, with the official Kawasaki WorldSBK team concentrating on the dry periods to improve the race performance and other development aspects of the ZX-10RR’s race package. Rea also tried out some development tyres for Pirelli, on which he set his best time of the test.
The rains returned at around 2pm on the final day and the team decided not to test in the wet conditions, having already made such good progress in the dry.
The 4.255km long Lausitzring will be the venue for the next round of the WorldSBK Championship, to be held between 18th and 20th August.
Tom Sykes, stated: “We tried out various items at this test and the feedback from the bike was good. We set strong lap times and found consistency. On standard race rubber I set a 1’36.7 after seven laps. I am happy with that because I think it was about equal to my previous Superpole lap time. We would have tested just a few more things on the final day but the rain came along again this afternoon and put a stop to that. Overall, it was a successful test at the Lausitzring. I think we are ready to race on this circuit, and to race at a high level as well.”
Jonathan Rea, stated: “After last year it was very valuable to test here at the Lausitzring. We were able to do some functional tests for KHI and also evaluate some ideas for chassis and front suspension set up. The weather changed after lunch, which brought the curtain down on our test - but we knew it was coming. We were able to evaluate all the items in the plan before then thanks to Pere’s good planning. Yesterday we were also able to run a race simulation and it’s great to see that we have improved the overall base of the bike compared to last year.”
Marcel Duinker, Crew Chief for Tom Sykes, stated: “We had a clear target for this test which was to improve the chassis performance to be able to close the gap to the championship lead. Even though our track time was limited by rain we were able to reach our goal. Tom showed good initial speed but more than that he was very fast over race distance. It is nice to enter the rest of the summer break in this way because we have a good feeling after this test.”
Pere Riba, Crew Chief for Jonathan Rea, stated: “This test has been another very positive one. We started around 12 on the first day, because of rain in the morning, but when it dried we went through our plans. They were mainly to look for the base bike to use at the Lausitzring race weekend. Last year this one was maybe the hardest race of the season, but finally we made a big step and this bike worked better than last year. On day one we did a long run, which was faster than last year’s race. This means we took a step forward. On day two we tested some chassis items and some rear tyres for Pirelli. We worked through all the things we wanted to try and also Jonathan did a 1’36.6, on a race tyre.”
2017 KRT Rider Statistics
Jonathan Rea: World Champion 2015 and 2016
2017: Races 16, Wins 9, Podiums 15, Superpoles 3
Career Race Wins: 47 (32 for Kawasaki)
Career Podiums: 103 (61 For Kawasaki)
Career Poles: 11 (7 For Kawasaki)
Tom Sykes: World Champion 2013
2017: Races: 16, Wins 2, Podiums 13, Superpoles 3
Career Race Wins: 33 (33 for Kawasaki)
Career Podiums: 97 (96 For Kawasaki)
Career Poles: 41 (41 For Kawasaki)
Kawasaki FIM Superbike World Championship Statistics
4 x Riders’ Championships (Scott Russell 1993, Sykes 2013, Rea 2015 & 2016), 1 x EVO Riders’ Championship (David Salom 2014)
2 x Manufacturers’ Championships (Ninja ZX-10R 2015 & 2016)
2 x Teams’ Championships (KRT/Provec Racing 2015 & 2016)
Kawasaki FIM Superbike World Championship Statistics
Total Kawasaki Race Wins: 102 – third overall
Total Kawasaki Podiums: 336 – third overall
Total Kawasaki Poles: 69 – second overall