Jonathan Rea (Pata Honda World Superbike) took the 4.936km Imola track by storm to lead the timesheets in Monday’s official WSBK test. The Ulsterman put in a competitive 1:46.625 lap-time at his last attempt, on new tires, before the end of the afternoon’s session, to snatch first position from Davide Giugliano (Althea Racing Aprilia).
“Today was really successful for the whole team, because we had a lot of test items and we improved gear shifting and my front brake feeling,” Rea said. “We’ve been developing new things and it was good to try them out. We worked a lot on old tires but then in the end we put the package together for a quick lap and it was quite a good one, so now I’m looking forward to Russia.”
The manufacturers’ representative teams took a chance to test new rear compounds developed by Pirelli and especially designed to work best under high temperatures.
Factory Aprilia duo of Sylvain Guintoli and Eugene Laverty, following the mixed emotions of last weekend, focused mainly on the set-up for their RSV4, with the Irish rider able to find a breakthrough in terms of bike balance that made him more than happy about Monday’s outcome.
Marco Melandri and Chaz Davies (BMW Motorrad GoldBet) kept working on chassis settings and new components, along with upgrades in electronics, to improve the stability of the BMW S 1000 RR under braking in order to carry more speed in corner entry.
There were different tasks for Leon Camier and Jules Cluzel: the 2009 BSB Champion tried some changes in riding position and electronic settings in order to get a better drive out of slow turns, while the young Frenchman worked on the chassis to find a better overall feeling with his FIXI Crescent Suzuki GSX-R.
Carlos Checa and Ayrton Badovini completed 56 and 47 laps each in the first day of a busy week for Team Ducati Alstare, as Francis Batta’s squad will be back on track at Misano World Circuit for a further two-day test, scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday.
STK1000 rider Lorenzo Savadori (Team Pedercini Kawasaki) jumped on WSBK team mate Alexander Lundh’s ZX-10R as the Swedish rider is currently injured following the crash in Qualifying 2 last Saturday.
Sam Lowes (Yakhnich Motorsport Yamaha) completed the official test day at Imola on top, for the World Supersport class, thanks to the 1:50.477 lap-time set in the first session. The British rider took some time to test the new front and rear compounds available to Pirelli development teams, and was still the fastest in the afternoon despite lapping 0.5 seconds slower than in the morning.
Kenan Sofuoglu (Mahi Racing Team India Kawasaki) had to perform the same tasks as the Brit and was able to slightly improve his time from one session to the other, finishing third behind Lowes’ team mate Vladimir Leonov (Yakhnich Motorsport Yamaha), who suffered a technical problem on his YZF-R6.
Sheridan Morais rode well to end up fourth fastest under hot temperatures (34°C in the air, 49°C on the track) while testing a new spec-engine for his PTR Honda CBR600RR.
Michael van der Mark crashed out of turn six and was sixth in the combined times behind team mate Lorenzo Zanetti. Both riders evaluated a good number of new parts developed by the Pata Honda team.
World Superbike Times
1 65 J. REA GBR Pata Honda World Superbike Honda CBR1000RR 1’46.625
2 34 D. GIUGLIANO ITA Althea Racing Aprilia RSV4 Factory 1’46.908
3 50 S. GUINTOLI FRA Aprilia Racing Team Aprilia RSV4 Factory 1’47.324
4 58 E. LAVERTY IRL Aprilia Racing Team Aprilia RSV4 Factory 1’47.496
5 84 M. FABRIZIO ITA Red Devils Roma Aprilia RSV4 Factory 1’47.542
6 33 M. MELANDRI ITA BMW Motorrad GoldBet SBK BMW S1000 RR 1’47.583
7 2 L. CAMIER GBR Fixi Crescent Suzuki Suzuki GSX-R1000 1’47.759
8 86 A. BADOVINI ITA Team Ducati Alstare Ducati 1199 Panigale R 1’47.888
9 19 C. DAVIES GBR BMW Motorrad GoldBet SBK BMW S1000 RR 1’47.969
10 16 J. CLUZEL FRA Fixi Crescent Suzuki Suzuki GSX-R1000 1’48.530
11 23 F. SANDI ITA Team Pedercini Kawasaki ZX-10R 1’48.741
12 91 L. HASLAM GBR Pata Honda World Superbike Honda CBR1000RR 1’48.930
13 7 C. CHECA ESP Team Ducati Alstare Ducati 1199 Panigale R 1’48.995
14 27 M. NEUKIRCHNER GER MR-Racing Ducati 1199 Panigale R 1’49.467
15 25 L. SAVADORI ITA Team Pedercini Kawasaki ZX-10R 1’49.843
16 36 L. MERCADO ARG Team Pedercini Kawasaki ZX-10R 1’50.523
–From worldsbk.com
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