Jonathan Rea | Sumber gambar: Visordown
16 World Superbike riders were in Jerez for the last two days, for the first official pre-season test of the year. The Andalusian track was recently resurfaced, and that meant riders had a smooth asphalt to enjoy themselves and look for fast lap times. As usual, Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team) was the fastest man around Jerez, but his rivals are getting closer comparing to recent years.
With the sun shining bright and air temperature reaching 18ºC, Rea set the fastest time with a 1m39.160s, beating the track record by 30 thousandths of a second. No other World Superbike rider was able to beat Rea’s time, but the fastest rider of the day was a former World Superbike rider for Honda, Stefan Bradl, who spent two days with his former rivals on track, testing the RC213V of MotoGP as he takes on the role of official Honda Racing Corporation test rider. The German was a mere 8 thousandths of a second faster than Jonathan Rea, showing just how fast the Superbike machines are comparing to the MotoGP prototypes.
PATA Yamaha rider Alex Lowes – fastest rider in day 1 – spent the second day putting in long sessions on track with the Yamaha YZF-R1. Lowes finished the day with no less than over 100 laps under his wheels, and ended the test as second fastest of the World Superbike riders.
Leon Haslam, who will make a full time return to the World Superbike paddock to be Jonathan Rea’s teammate in 2019 after a few seasons spent in British Superbike where he was crowned champion, showed he still has the speed to fight for the top position at world level, setting the third time of the test, but closely followed by Spanish rookie Alvaro Bautista, who left MotoGP at the end of last season and is getting to grips with the new factory Ducati Panigale R, a bike that is already showing great performance and lap times, but is still in the early stages of development.
Jerez Circuit | Photo credits: Essentially Sport
From Jerez, World Superbike riders will now travel to Portuguese track Autódromo Internacional do Algarve, where they’ll enjoy another two days of testing (January 27 and 28), before heading to Australia, where in beginning of February the championship will have it’s first round.
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