[visordown.com] - Jerez WSBK test day one Rea quickest

[Ninjette Newsbot]

DAY ONE of private testing at Jerez de la Frontera saw an all-British top three with Alex Lowes and Tom Sykes second and third respectively and Jonathan Rea quickest.

Non-stop eight hours of track time saw Rea, on his KRT ZX-10R, lead the rest of the field with a competitive time of 1:41.327s in the early afternoon. Lowes, on-board his Crescent Suzuki machine, was only +0.012s off the pace of Rea.

Both Rea and Lowes put in over 80 completed laps. The only rider to complete more was rookie Jordi Torres with 94 laps.

With dry conditions throughout the day, temperatures peaked at 17°C and most riders were able to make up for lost time due to poor weather in previous tests.

Reigning World Superbike champion Sylvain Guintoli, riding for Pata Honda this season, crashed out on his third flying lap at turn one.

Guintoli has reportedly been ruled out of the rest of the Jerez test after straining his neck and will be returning to the UK for treatment. Recovery time is estimated to be a couple of weeks, just in time for the official WSBK tests and Phillip Island.

Red Devils Aprilia’s Leon Haslam was forced to sit out all day due to technical issues with his Aprilia RSV4 machine.

Sykes also crashed halfway through the session but was unhurt and finished the session third fastest ahead of Ducati team-mates Davide Giugliano and Chaz Davies.

BMW Motorrad Italia’s Sylvain Barrier finished seven tenths behind Rea in sixth, with WSBK rookies Randy de Puniet in seventh, Michael van der Mark in eighth and Jordi Torres in ninth.

The final day of private pre-season testing is tomorrow at Jerez.

Jerez test times – Day 1:

1. Rea 1:41.327
2. Lowes +0.012
3. Sykes +0.073
4. Giugliano +0.189
5. Davies +0.215
6. Barrier +0.760
7. de Puniet +0.863
8. van der Mark +0.924
9. Torres +0.935
10. Baiocco +1.253
11. Terol +1.372
12. Mercado +1.440
13. Salom +1.571
14. Haslam +1.849
15. Sofuoglu +2.634
16. Canepa +2.681
17. Faccani +2.879
18. Pegram +4.793
19. Guintoli +8.056





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