Guintoli Quickest BMW

Official test rider Sylvain Guintoli was the fastest BMW on the track on Thursday, finishing 1.910 seconds behind leader Jonathan Rea. BMW’s Technical Director Christian Gonschor said that each of the BMW bikes that would be tested in Jerez would be running different specs in order to collect the most data possible.

Montella Happy With Wet Times

Testing is a time for riders to get up to speed and it seems like rookie Yari Montella (Barni Spark Racing Team) did that despite tricky conditions in testing for the MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship. Overnight rain left the track wet and, with more rain falling in the morning, several riders opted not to head out on Day 2 at the Circuito de Jerez – Angel Nieto. However, Montella was one of seven WorldSBK riders who ventured out and the #5 finished in P3.

The Italian rider completed 32 laps on Day 2 in the differing conditions, with the track drying up as the rain cleared although it was never fully dry. He did three stints across the day, with his first the longest at 12 laps long as he eased into riding the Panigale V4 R in the wet. His best time in this stint was a 1’54.998 which came on Lap 10, before he entered the pits for a few hours. He returned at around 14:30 Local Time (UTC+1) for a seven-lap stint before his final run at around 15:00.

This is the stint where he set his best lap time of the day, a 1’53.978s which came on his seventh lap in the nine-lap run. He showed more consistency in his final part of the test, completing five laps in the 1’54s bracket or faster between his fourth and final laps. That time gave him a third-place finish on Day 2, less than a second away from six-time Champion Jonathan Rea (Pata Yamaha). The #65 topped the times with a 1’53.058s.

Reflecting on his wet-weather running and finishing third on the timesheets, Montella said: “I’m quite happy for that. It’s nice but, in the end, we were just a few riders in strange conditions and the wet. We decided to ride because I need to ride in every condition because I need to keep the feeling with the bike, understand it in every condition. I’m happy for the test because it was complete: some dry, some wet.”

Honda Returns To Ohlins

Honda have changed suspension for the 2025 MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship with Ohlins coming onto the scene once again. Team Manager Jose Escamez spoke about Honda’s opening day at Jerez, with only Xavi Vierge (Honda HRC) on track from the race team, with Iker Lecuona missing out as he recovers from a training injury, as well as the reason behind the switch to Ohlins suspension for this season.

Vierge was the fastest rider on the CBR1000RR-R machine as he finished in seventh place, setting a 1’39.916s and completing 81 laps as he got back up to speed and tested the new suspension. He was joined by test rider Tetsuta Nagashima with the Japanese star also racking up 81 laps as he added valuable mileage and data for Honda in Lecuona’s absence. Nagashima’s best time was a 1’41.498s.

Reviewing Day 1 from his perspective, Escamez was happy that Honda have started 2025 as they ended 2024: “The day has been good because the weather has respected the predictions from Tuesday. So far, we are good enough, we can say but not happy at all. It’s quite good. Xavi has been doing laps and everything looks as we expected. This means we’re in the same way that we finished last year, which is already a positive point. We’re still looking forward.”

Honda had previously used Ohlins suspension before a switch to Showa for 2022, but have now reverted back to Ohlins although it’ll be the first time Vierge and Lecuona have raced the CBR1000RR-R machine with the Ohlins products – in 2020 and 2021, Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) and Leon Haslam were on the machines. After making big progress throughout the 2024 season, Honda will be aiming to keep that going in 2025 and hoping the change of suspension supplier helps.

Discussing the move to Ohlins, Escamez said: “It’s going to be a way of creating or establishing a base setup. It’s been quite good. We have found, quickly, the right way to keep going. We have been working to find a good base setup, and this will help the riders feel comfortable for lap times, of course, and there are some differences with the previous suspension we’ve been using. Just trying to understand but there’s not much difference, though. There’s a small improvement in performance and also feedback from riders. It’s a fair enough reason to let them ride with this one.”

Redding Back On Ducati, Immediately Fast

British star Scott Redding (MGM BONOVO Racing) return to the Ducati Panigale V4 R for the first time since 2021 on Day 1 at the Jerez test for the MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship and was immediately on the pace. He claimed third place and lapped just over half-a-second down on pacesetter Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) as he got back up to speed on the machinery, he claimed 12 WorldSBK wins on between 2020 and 2021.

REDDING’S DAY: fast and consistent

The English rider finished the day in P3 as in his last lap of the day he recorded a blistering 1’39.280 run on the SCQ tyre, pushing Garrett Gerloff (Kawasaki WorldSBK Team) to fourth place. This run was only topped by Andrea Iannone (Team Pata GoEleven), who beat it by less than a hundredth of a second, and Riders’ Champion runner-up Nicolo Bulega. Redding’s familiarity with the Panigale V4R was on clear display as while these pre-season tests are by no means just a test of who can set the fastest lap, Redding was among the top 10 throughout the day. Riding in stints between two and eight laps, Redding was working to gain confidence atop his Panigale V4 R after three years atop a BMW M 1000 RR. According to his team, their goal was to work on the bike’s balance and suspension ahead of Phillip Island and Round 1 of the WorldSBK season on February 21st.ç

Reviewing his day, Redding said: “My goal was try to go P1 on my first day… it’s a little bit ambitious, but you’ve got to aim high! I also had a yellow flag on my best lap so I lost a little bit of time. In general, to be top three on my first day and all of these guys have tested I think two times two days or three days since the end of the season; it was hard to get up to speed initially but when I found my rhythm and relaxed a little bit, I could build. My best lap was on the SCQ and then I did s 1’40 with the race tyre.”