The Gaerne Spanish Round may have drawn to a close but there was no rest for Sylvain Guintoli and Alex Lowes today as the Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team completed a full eight hours of testing at the Circuito de Jerez. Fresh from Sunday’s positive racing, the WorldSBK riders got straight down to business on their YZF-R1’s as the track reopened at 10:00 local time, riding until the flag at 18:00.
A detailed plan of action saw Guintoli and Lowes successfully work through a raft of 2017 development parts, including chassis components, software upgrades and engine development. Retrospective testing was also undertaken to further evaluate settings from this season’s earlier rounds, with both aspects proving fruitful.
The Pata Yamaha pair finalised the day by targeting their specific preparation for the Losail International Circuit ahead of the MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship’s visit to Qatar on Friday 28th October. With 13 WorldSBK riders on track, Guintoli concluded the day fourth in the times, his confidence growing further from his already strong performance during the past weekend’s races. Lowes rounded out his Jerez visit in seventh and greatly buoyed by the progress in pace made over the last 24 hours.
The Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team now prepares for a week back at base before making the season’s final trip, to the Middle East, as the series gets set to conclude under desert floodlights at the end of the month.
Sylvain Guintoli
4th / 1’41.627 / 71 laps
“It’s been a good day testing for us here at Jerez after a good weekend of racing. This weekend I have felt like my feeling with the bike has really sunk in and come back to me – I have really enjoyed my riding and I’ve felt like I was riding better. Today was good, we did about 70 laps and it was efficient work. We’ve worked hard to be ready for Qatar and also to carry on the development in general so it was a very positive day!”
Alex Lowes
7th / 1’41.895 / 84 laps
“The test today was good as we’ve already improved the bike from the weekend, there was no miracle step but we had a good day. We’ve worked through a lot of stuff, focusing on everything but specifically working on improving the front end feeling, and we now understand a little more the direction and the area of the bike that we want to focus on next, which is always a good thing. We were working a lot on old tyres and got plenty of laps in and I felt quite good. My consistent rhythm, even in the hottest part of the day and on older tyres, was really strong, which for me personally was nice because I didn’t get an opportunity to show that in the race yesterday, so yes it was good!”
Jerez WorldSBK Official Test Times
1. Jonathan Rea, GBR, Kawasaki Racing Team, 1’40.815
2. Tom Sykes, GBR, Kawasaki Racing Team, 1’41.056
3. Chaz Davies, GBR, Aruba.it Racing Ducati, 1’41.563
4. Sylvain Guintoli, FRA, Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team, 1’41.627
5. Nicky Hayden, USA, Honda World Superbike Team, 1’41.740
6. Michael van der Mark, NED, Honda World Superbike Team, 1’41.748
7. Alex Lowes, GBR, Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team, 1’41.895
8. Jordi Torres, ESP, Althea BMW Racing Team, 1’41.970
9. Marcus Reiterberger, GER, Althea BMW Racing Team, 1’42.056
10. Davide Giugliano, ITA, Aruba.it Racing Ducati, 1’42.247
