Hot Weather Testing Day For KRT
With the midpoint of the 2023 WorldSBK season soon to be reached the long gap between Rounds Five and Six offers the ideal opportunity for the KRT squad to make a hot weather test at Motorland Aragon in Northern Spain.
The Motorland Aragon circuit will host a 2023 WorldSBK race weekend once more this year, but of immediate importance for KRT is to use one of their remaining permitted test days to work on a hot weather machine set-up, They will also make chassis tests to enhance overall performance in 2023, as well as working towards the future.
The 2023 season has been tough in parts for both six-times champion Rea and proven race-winner Lowes, especially when the track temperatures have been particularly high.
Motorland is a circuit conceived and executed on a grand scale, covering a large area and featuring corners of many kinds along its relatively long 5.077km length. A very long back straight adds to the feeling of space and scale at Motorland.
The next round of the championship itself takes place at Alex and Jonathan’s home round of Donington Park, in the UK, between 30 June and 2 July.
Jonathan Rea, stated: “This test comes at a great time because we have made no secret that we really need to make a step with our bike. Added track time with good conditions is always important for us. We will try some ideas from a chassis point of view and also how we can improve for the future. From another point of view, with the big break from Misano to Donington, it is always good to ride the bike to keep the rhythm. We expect favourable conditions and it is an important to test to understand the direction we will take in the future. Misano was a tough weekend, in finishing so far from the race winner, so we need to work hard. Big respect to the team for getting another mid-season test in. Hopefully we can draw some conclusions and find a way forward.”
Alex Lowes, stated: “I am looking forward to the test and I always find that ‘in-season’ tests, with hot temperatures, to be a lot more valuable than winter testing in cooler conditions. With a busy month coming up in July, featuring three race weekends, we want to try and improve our base package. We will work on that on Friday at Motorland. We are still looking at improving the front end of the bike, especially in hotter conditions, to not have a drop in performance when the track gets slippier or the temperatures rise a lot. It looks like the track temperatures are going to get high, so that is what we are focusing on, hoping to make a couple of nice improvements to be ready for the home round at Donington.”
Guim Roda, KRT Team Manager, stated: “This Motorland test is planned to check possible items to use in the 2024 season as well as trying set-up solutions for the coming races. Trying to improve our bike according to the limitations inside the rules, we could not find the package we wished to, and now we need to reconsider how to work for next championship rounds. Our target is Honda, Yamaha, BMW. It is a matter of rule limitations that do not allow us to maximise the potential of our ZX-10RR, but it is what it is. The FIM/Dorna Management has decided it should be like this, so we will need to play the game the best we can.”
