FIM Superbike World Championship
Circuit de Jerez, Spain
November 26, 2014
Unofficial Day Three Test Times (all on Pirelli tires, as provided by www.worldsbk.com):
1. Jonathan Rea, UK (Kaw ZX-10R), 1:40.738
2. Randy De Puniet, France (Suz GSX-R1000), 1:41.296
3. Alex Lowes, UK (Suz GSX-R1000), 1:41.321
4. Tom Sykes, UK (Kaw ZX-10R), 1:41.335
5. Michael Van Der Mark, Netherlands (Hon CBR1000RR), 1:41.437
6. Sylvain Guintoli, France (Hon CBR1000RR), 1:41.813
7. Leon Camier, UK (MV Agusta F4 RR), 1:44.905
More, from a press release issued by Team Suzuki Press Office:
VOLTCOM CRESCENT SUZUKI ON-FORM AT JEREZ
Voltcom Crescent Suzuki’s Randy de Puniet and Alex Lowes completed another full-day of testing at Jerez in Spain today with second-and-third fastest times in the FIM Superbike World Championship class following the third-day of testing.
De Puniet – feeling confident on his newly-acquired Suzuki GSX-R – recorded 74 laps of the Andalucian track, setting his quickest time on a Pirelli qualifying tyre – a 1’41.296 – on his 54th revolution. He continued to evaluate the new 2015 engine-spec late into the afternoon before the rain called halt on proceedings; the Frenchman concluding the day content with the progress made.
Lowes, who was disrupted by a red-flag as he left pit-lane on a qualifier, set his fastest time of 1’41.321 – on his 63rd of 68 laps – which was enough to claim the third-fastest of the day. Working on race-rubber for the entire duration – including a full race-simulation and a number of practice-starts – the British racer was pleased with his Yoshimura-powered machine’s development over the past two-days having found a setting that allows him to improve the lap-time on new tyres.
Spanish sun soon broke-through early-morning fog to leave largely-cool-but-bright conditions for the majority of the day. But rain returned with less-than 10-minutes to go; having allowed the Suzuki racers to work-through a full-programme as the development of their respective GSX-R machines continued.
Weather looks ominous for the remainder of the week, so Voltcom Crescent Suzuki will decide overnight whether to return for its final day of testing at 10:00hrs local time (09:00GMT) tomorrow.
Randy de Puniet:
“It was a very good day! We had a full day’s testing which was very interesting and in my situation I needed a day like that. We worked very well and I’m feeling more-and-more comfortable on the bike and I think we have done a great job with the few laps and the three day’s that we have had. We are becoming more comfortable as a team and working together and I have a good feeling and am starting to enjoy riding the bike. It’s a great start, my team-mate is also doing a good job, which is great, as we can work together to be very strong for the first race.
“We can see we are near the top of the timesheets and this is important, even if it is only the winter tests, and it is good to finish the year like this. I hope the weather will be good for tomorrow, but in the wet conditions on the first day, my feeling was very good too, so if the test finishes tonight, for me it’s fine and we will see what happens next year.”
Alex Lowes:
“Today was good on race tyres, set-up and understanding the bike. We worked a lot on old tyres and got more out of the day race-wise than yesterday; we didn’t use a qualifier, we just concentrated on race-tyres and hopefully, fingers-crossed, it will help us by the time we get to Australia. We are testing, so some things didn’t work, some did, and we are slowly finding a new base-setting for the bike which is different than I had last year and I think it’s in the right direction. We are working hard and thinking about the races and hopefully I’ll be in a better position come Phillip Island.”
Paul Denning- Team Manager:
“Another positive day’s work here in Jerez with good track conditions all day apart from the early-morning mist. Randy’s third day on the Crescent GSX-R has seen him look more-comfortable and more aggressive lap-by-lap and his understanding of the bike and Pirelli tyres is improving all the time. He has never used a Pirelli qualifier before, so he used a couple of those and took big steps forward in lap-times; and then when returning to the race-tyre his pace was immediately better than before, and also very consistent.
“Today was Randy’s first on the 2015 engine-spec and, as Alex had reported, the engine character is an improvement and with some more refinements on the power-delivery settings, it can be better again.
“Alex had another stellar day, including a full-race simulation early-on, and despite running into a few technical delays during the day – which is often the case in testing – as soon as the right setting for him to push hard was in the bike, the pace on race-tyres was shockingly fast and a lot-more consistent than we saw here last winter or over the course of the race weekend.
“With the rain that has now arrived it looks like our dry-testing is over. We will decide tonight whether to run any wet-testing tomorrow, but for the moment we can only summarise that it has been a good start to 2015.”
Unofficial Times – Jerez – Day 3 Test: 1. Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki) 1’40.738: 2. Randy de Puniet (Voltcom Crescent Suzuki) 1’41.296: 3. Alex Lowes (Voltcom Crescent Suzuki) 1’41.321: 4. Tom Sykes (Kawasaki) 1’41.335: 5. Michael Van Der Mark (Honda) 1’41.437.
More, from a press release issued by Red Devils Team:
The Red Devils Team and the Aprilia RSV4 RR among the frontrunners at the Jerez tests
Team Red Devils Roma today concluded two days of testing at the Jerez circuit in Spain. A first step for Andrea Petricca’s team in preparing for the 2015 Superbike World Championship. Taking to the track with the 2015 version of the Aprilia RSV4 RR were Leon Haslam and Michel Fabrizio. The English rider has already been confirmed as a member of the Italian team, while for Fabrizio this was a test and a return to the track after a long period of inactivity.
Despite unfavourable weather, with rain disrupting the team’s work, the two days at Jerez were undoubtedly positive. The rain that fell yesterday allowed Haslam and Fabrizio to complete only twenty laps or so, on a still damp track. Fortunately, this afternoon, the sun made an appearance, drying the track and allows both Haslam and Fabrizio to work well with their technicians, building confidence with the 2015 version of the RSV4 RR, prepared in accordance with the new Superbike regulations. The stopwatch confirmed the quality of the work completed, with Haslam closing in third place today, with a best time of 1’40″865, just thousandths of a second from Tom Sykes and from the day’s fastest rider, Alex Lowes. Considering his long absence from the tracks and from Superbike, Michel’s fastest time, a 1’41″300 that placed him fifth, was also positive.
Paolo Bonora (Aprilia Racing) will be part of the Italian squad, taking care of electronics alongside Paolo Angelin, who this year worked together with Petricca’s technicians. This will reinforce the collaboration between Aprilia and Team Red Devils who will return to the track, on 19 and 20 January at Motorland Aragon in Spain, for two more test days.
Andrea Petricca – Team manager: “I’m very pleased with the work carried out during these two days at Jerez. The weather was not favourable, but we were nevertheless able to see how Leon has already found good sensation with the RSV4 RR, so much so as to immediately be among the fastest on track. Michel needed time to readjust but showed that he could adapt quickly to the bike. Over the coming days, we’ll analyse the data collected here in Spain and evaluate Michel’s position.”
Leon Haslam : “The RSV4 is a fantastic bike! Despite the changeable weather, I was able to work with my team and have realized that my riding style is already quite close to what I need to be doing to exploit the great potential of the RSV4 RR. I improved with each exit and it wasn’t difficult to find good feeling with both the bike and the technicians on my new team. I’m going home happy and very confident ahead of the coming season.”
Michel Fabrizio : “I’m very pleased to have had chance to ride a Superbike again. These two days were enough to reignite my enthusiasm and make me see that I am ready for a world championship season, with a competitive team and bike. It’s a pity the weather made us lose time yesterday, but together with my technicians I was able to adapt my riding style to the RSV4 RR and it was great to see how the bike responded to each change and how lap times came down as a result, so that by the end I was very close to the fastest guys. Now I wait calmly for the team to make its decision.