Pata Yamaha’s Alex Lowes has drawn first blood on the opening day of WorldSBK action in 2019, narrowly beating reigning champion Jonathan Rea to top spot at the Jerez test.
Lowes set a 1’40.442 to go under the lap record on his YZF-R1 but Rea was snapping at his heels, trailing by only 0.008s.
Rea’s new/old team-mate Leon Haslam was third and half a second off the pace, pipping fellow Kawasaki man Toprak Razgatlioglu in the final 15 minutes.
Waiting for track condition to progress, Rea sat out the opening hours of the day and came out of his garage after lunch. Working on testing different components for his ZX-10RR, the Kawasaki rider has been focusing in getting is the overall package ready for Australia and he will continue with the same program tomorrow.
After a few laps done in the afternoon he was soon at the top of the timesheet before Lowes took the lead of the opening day, pushing the WorldSBK champion back into second position just 0.008s behind him.
Haslam continued the familiarization process with his new WorldSBK machine. The British rider focused in putting in as many laps as possible, adapting to the new bike and learning the electronics. Thanks to a fastest lap in 1’40.885 he ended the day just four-tenths off his team-mate.
Impressing with his overall pace, Turkish rider Toprak Razgatlioglu (Turkish Puccetti Racing) finished the day in fourth position, after returning in the saddle of his ZX-10RR for the first time for 2019. Leading during the first part of the day, the Turkish rider put in another strong lap in the afternoon closing in 1’41.001.
Testing a combination of chassis part, settings and electronics Dutchman Michael van der Mark (Pata Yamaha WorldSBK Team) set the fifth fastest lap in 1’41.047, just 0.605s behind his teammate.
Working on their full factory configuration for the first time, the brand new GRT Yamaha team took their time to get acquainted with the new package. Both Marco Melandri and Sandro Cortese were able to get used with their machine updates early on and finished the day respectively in sixth and seventh position.
Following just behind the Aruba Ducatis of Chaz Davies and Alvaro Bautista had a lot of things to work on as they continued to improve their Ducati Panigale V4R. Back at his full strength, as he was riding injured last time, Davies completed a positive first day, despite suffering a small crash through turn five late in the afternoon, meaning he couldn’t improve more.
The Ducati rider ended the day eighth with a best lap in 1’41.375. Spanish star Bautista took his time to get used to the WorldSBK machine as he had only two days on the V4 before returning to Jerez today. The Spaniard set a lap time of 1’41.857 after 44 laps ending the day in ninth position.
Davies and Bautista were not the only Ducati riders on track as also Eugene Laverty (Team Goeleven) and Michael Rinaldi (Barni Racing Team) were out taming their Ducati Panigale V4 R. The Irishman, who made the debut on the new Bologna factory bike today, finished in 12th position, while Rinaldi, who was working also on new suspensions, finished the day thirteenth.
Closing the top ten Spaniard Jordi Torres (Team Pedercini Racing) ended the day in tenth position. The Spaniard put in 82 laps as he was testing new components for his Kawasaki ZX-10RR. Another Kawasaki rider, Leandro Mercado (Orelac Racing VerdNatura) finished eleventh as he was working with a different crew from last season.
Completing the timesheet, WorldSBK rookie Alessandro Delbianco (Althea Mie Racing Team), who was the first SBK® rider to take to the track this morning, closed the day in 14th position.
The BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team were also out on track testing today. Both Markus Reiterberger and Tom Sykes were working on getting familiar with their bikes as well as a trying different electronic strategy. With their focus on these aspects and not on the times, both the two riders had not been using a transponder today, meaning they didn’t have they unofficial lap times recorded but pitlane stopwatches have put their times as ‘competitive’.
