From a press release issued by Team Suzuki Press Office: Rizla Suzuki Tom Sykes and Atsushi Watanabe riders ducked under the lap record at the Al Carras circuit in Spain today during the team’s third and final day of its private pre-season test. Both riders left the Al Carras circuit knowing that they were the fastest people to ever lap the demanding venue with Sykes setting the new unofficial lap record while Watanabe was just 0.47secs behind. Sykes more than made up for the electrical gremlins which hit his track time yesterday by completing a total of 80 laps. He concentrated on chassis geometry and getting in plenty of consistently fast laps. “It has been a good test, I’m very happy,” said Sykes. “We have got some good base settings now to work from. I’ve got plenty of laps under my belt; now I need a rest and then I’ll be excited and ready to go for the next test. I’m really enjoying the atmosphere in the team and I’m enjoying my Rizla Suzuki GSX-R1000.” Watanabe worked on various set-up combinations in order to learn as much about his Rizla Suzuki as possible as he completed 69 laps. He said: “This track is very different to Calafat and to Japanese tracks and it took some time to get used to. After the first day I was comfortable and the end times were good. I’m happy with my Rizla Suzuki. I come to the UK in late February and look forward to my first visit to UK tracks with John Reynolds as he will help me learn.” Team Manager Jack Valentine was thrilled with how well both his riders and team performed. “The team worked really hard to get the Pirelli tyres working on the abrasive track surface,” explained Valentine. “This will stand by us as we prepare to go to the official Pirelli test at Almeria which has a similar surface. “We’ve got a good feel for things and just need to keep tweaking the package,” he continued. “I’m looking forward to getting to Almeria so we can get our hands on race rubber. It will also be good to see where we stand against our competitors as there will be other teams there. I’m really pleased with how this test has gone and if we had stayed here for another day both guys would have dropped their lap times even further.”