The first of two days of testing for some top teams in World Superbike was conducted on a mostly damp track at Jerez in Spain, with heavy rain arriving more than once as the track never truly dried at any point. This is effectively the final test in Europe for the top teams before they pack up and head to Australia for more testing – followed by round one of the championship at the same facility on February 24. One day remains at Jerez with the conditions still uncertain for day two.
The weather conditions on Tuesday today made lap times almost irrelevant, but the fastest man was Althea Racing Aprilia’s Davide Guigliano with his 1:50.531. Of possibly more significance was the second fastest time of Marco Melandri, as the official 2013 BMW Motorrad GoldBet team found some improvements in wet conditions.
Aprilia’s Sylvain Guintoli was third quickest and Crescent Fixi Suzuki rider Leon Camier was fourth best on the latest spec of engine in his GSX-R1000.
Eugene Laverty completed the top five of Superbike riders on his Aprilia Racing machine.
No less than 25 riders set times on the first of two days of testing with transponders fitted to their bikes, with the fastest World Supersport competitor being Sam Lowes and his Yakhnich Motorsport Yamaha, with a 1:54.067, making him sixth best of all 25 entrants.
Tom Sykes and Loris Baz, from the KRT Superbike squad, plus SMS Honda WSS rider Balazs Nemeth, rode today but did not use transponders, so no times were given.
Monday, January 21 was the final day of Jerez testing for the Ducati Alstare duo of Carlos Checa and Ayrton Badovini, who finally got a good weather window of three hours on the final afternoon – and they were in Jerez for three straight days. They had tested with the Ducati MotoGP squad, not the World Superbike peer group, for logistical reasons.
Superbike Times
1. Davide Giugliano (I), Althea Aprilia, 1:50.531
2. Marco Melandri (I), BMW GoldBet, 1:50.950
3. Sylvain Guintoli (F), Aprilia, 1:52.909
4. Leon Camier (GB), Fixi Crescent Suzuki, 1:53.285
5. Eugene Laverty (IRL), Aprilia, 1:53.410
6. Chaz Davies (GB), BMW GoldBet, 1:54.084
7. Jules Cluzel (F), Fixi Crescent Suzuki, 1:54.168
8. Leon Haslam (GB), Pata Honda, 1:54.548
9. Jonathan Rea (GB), Pata Honda, 1:54.907
10. Ivan Clementi (I), HTM BMW, 1:56.029
World Supersport
1. Sam Lowes (GB), Bogdanka Honda, 1:54.067
2. Jack Kennedy (IRL), Rivamoto Honda, 1:54.830
3. Kenan Sofuoglu (TR), Mahi Kawasaki, 1:54.980
4. Massimo Roccoli (I), Pata by Martini Yamaha, 1:55.625
5. Vladimir Leonov (RUS), Yakhnich Yamaha, 1:55.812
6. Michael van der Mark (NL), Pata Honda, 1:55.848
7. David Salom (E), Intermoto Kawasaki, 1:55.946
8. Federico D’Annunzio (I), Pata by Martini Yamaha, 1:56.140
9. Christoffer Bergman (S), BWG Kawasaki, 1:56.563
10. Lorenzo Zanetti (I), Pata Honda, 1:56.883
11. Gabor Talmacsi (H), Prorace Honda, 1:56.944
12. Berardino Lombardi (I), Pata by Martini Yamaha, 1:57.913
13. Luca Savadori (I), Pata by Martini Yamaha, 1:59.857
14. Fabien Foret (F), Mahi Kawasaki, 2:05.821
15. Alex Schacht (DK), Schacht Honda, 2:07.109
