The Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team interrupted its summer break undertaking two successful days of testing at Germany’s Lausitzring EuroSpeedway this week. Welcoming back Sylvain Guintoli alongside Alex Lowes on the YZF-R1, the team quickly got down to business, learning this season’s newly introduced 4,255m circuit.
Lowes focused his efforts on reacquainting himself with the WorldSBK-spec machine, after last month’s successful foray into endurance racing at the Suzuka 8 Hours, setting 133 laps as he worked through an extensive programme of test items despite the short individual 40 minute sessions on track. Positively evaluating new engine and chassis hardware direct from Yamaha’s R&D in Germany, the British rider set a 21 lap race simulation in Thursday’s mid-afternoon session demonstrating his usual consistent and impressive pace.
Guintoli’s return to action after his Imola accident in late April provided the Frenchman with over six hours of track time across the two days, as he rebuilt his confidence and natural feel with the YZF-R1 over 139 laps. Initially concentrating on assessing his fitness, he soon moved on to geometry settings delivering a greater understanding of the Pata Yamaha team’s direction of development in recent months.
Satisfied with the results produced Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team now looks towards its next test opportunity, at Magny-Cours in France on Monday 5th September, before the team returns to Lausitzring for the first of the final four WorldSBK race weekends commencing on Friday 16th September.
Alex Lowes
“The test at Lausitzring has been good and we’ve had a productive couple of days here. My feeling with the YZF-R1 has continued to improve and we’ve developed the package and learnt some new additions, which is positive. The track is interesting and it’s always nice to try new venues. The layout is challenging with lots of changes of direction and quite bumpy so compared to other tracks a slightly different set up is necessary. Overall I’m happy with the progress and am looking forward to the final day of testing at Magny-Cours before the season starts again back here in mid-September.”
Sylvain Guintoli
“Today was good as we added a lot more laps to yesterday’s work. It’s been a really useful test to allow me to return to competition smoothly and also to get back to working with all the guys. The next step is Magny-Cours, a track I know really, really well so that will be good to help me get back up to speed and get a bit more rhythm there.
“We’ve been discussing the track and the general opinion is there is still a bit of work to be done but hopefully it will be ready for us to race on next month.
“The YZF-R1 has changed since I was last racing on it, chassis-wise the set-up is also different so the past two days have allowed me to develop a better understanding of the dynamics in place at the moment. We have worked on a few tweaks in performance but the main task has been understanding how the bike behaves now and getting back up to speed.”
