The winter break is officially over for the WorldSBK teams, as almost the entire paddock assembled in Jerez for the first test of 2019. The WorldSBK and WorldSSP riders took to a freshly resurfaced Jerez to get 2019 underway.
Alex Lowes ended the day as fastest, the Pata Yamaha rider taking over at the top of the timesheets in the final couple of hours to finish just eight hundredths of a second faster than reigning world champion Jonathan Rea. Rea was four tenths faster than KRT teammate Leon Haslam, who was in turn a tenth quicker than Toprak Razgatlioglu on the Puccetti Kawasaki.
A trio of Yamahas finished behind the Kawasaki threesome, Michael van der Mark just a fraction quicker than Marco Melandri of the GRT Yamaha squad, who was in turn faster than Sandro Cortese. Stefan Bradl was eighth fastest on the Honda RC213V MotoGP bike, there in his capacity as HRC test rider. Chaz Davies was the fastest Ducati rider in ninth, just under a second slower than Lowes and half a second quicker than his teammate Alvaro Bautista.
The SMR-run BMW squad of Tom Sykes and Markus Reiterberger were also at the test, but were running without transponders, as it was their first time out on the bike. The Moriwaki Althea Honda team of Leon Camier and Ryuichi Kyonari were not present.
Federico Caricasulo dominated the first day of the WorldSSP test, the Yamaha rider nearly nine tenths quicker than Raffaele De Rosa on the MV Agusta.
Times at the end of the first day of the test:
Pos | No | Class | Rider | Bike | Time | Diff | Prev |
1 | 22 | sbk | Alex Lowes | Yamaha YZF-R1 | 1:40.442 | ||
2 | 1 | sbk | Jonathan Rea | Kawasaki ZX-10R | 1:40.450 | 0.008 | 0.008 |
3 | 91 | sbk | Leon Haslam | Kawasaki ZX-10R | 1:40.877 | 0.435 | 0.427 |
4 | 54 | sbk | Toprak Razgatlioglu | Kawasaki ZX-10R | 1:41.001 | 0.559 | 0.124 |
5 | 60 | sbk | Michael van der Mark | Yamaha YZF-R1 | 1:41.047 | 0.605 | 0.046 |
6 | 33 | sbk | Marco Melandri | Yamaha YZF-R1 | 1:41.119 | 0.677 | 0.072 |
7 | 11 | sbk | Sandro Cortese | Yamaha YZF-R1 | 1:41.203 | 0.761 | 0.084 |
8 | 2 | mgp | Stefan Bradl | Honda RC213V | 1:41.370 | 0.928 | 0.167 |
9 | 7 | sbk | Chaz Davies | Ducati Panigale V4R | 1:41.375 | 0.933 | 0.005 |
10 | 19 | sbk | Alvaro Bautista | Ducati Panigale V4R | 1:41.857 | 1.415 | 0.482 |
11 | 81 | sbk | Jordi Torres | Kawasaki ZX-10R | 1:41.973 | 1.531 | 0.116 |
12 | 36 | sbk | Leandro Mercado | Kawasaki ZX-10R | 1:42.886 | 2.444 | 0.913 |
13 | 50 | sbk | Eugene Laverty | Ducati Panigale V4R | 1:43.376 | 2.934 | 0.490 |
14 | 21 | sbk | Michael R Rinaldi | Ducati Panigale V4R | 1:43.973 | 3.531 | 0.597 |
15 | 52 | sbk | Alessandro Delbianco | Honda CBR1000RR | 1:45.437 | 4.995 | 1.464 |
1 | 64 | ssp | Federico Caricasulo | Yamaha YZF-R6 | 1:42.847 | ||
2 | 3 | ssp | Raffaele De Rosa | MV Agusta F3 675 | 1:43.730 | 0.883 | 0.883 |
3 | 121 | ssp | Randy Krummenacher | Yamaha YZF-R6 | 1:43.854 | 1.007 | 0.124 |
4 | 44 | ssp | Lukas Mahias | Kawasaki ZX-6R | 1:43.948 | 1.101 | 0.094 |
5 | 78 | ssp | Hikari Okubo | Kawasaki ZX-6R | 1:45.317 | 2.470 | 1.369 |
6 | 16 | ssp | Jules Cluzel | Yamaha YZF-R6 | 1:45.493 | 2.646 | 0.176 |
7 | 94 | ssp | Corentin Perolari | Yamaha YZF-R6 | 1:45.930 | 3.083 | 0.437 |
8 | 47 | ssp | Rob Hartog | Kawasaki ZX-6R | 1:46.643 | 3.796 | 0.713 |
9 | 122 | ssp | Federico Fuligni | MV Agusta F3 675 | 1:47.473 | 4.626 | 0.830 |
10 | 10 | ssp | Nacho Calero | Kawasaki ZX-6R | 1:47.635 | 4.788 | 0.162 |
11 | 6 | ssp | María Herrera | Yamaha YZF-R6 | 1:47.734 | 4.887 | 0.099 |
12 | 86 | ssp | Ayrton Badovini | Kawasaki ZX-6R | 1:48.002 | 5.155 | 0.268 |
Comments
Stefan slower than 7 superbikes
Go Alex Lowes, go Yamaha, could be a chance to take second behind Jonathan Rea
Stefan slower than seven superbikes. Mid field of only 15 bikes. Only 18 entered full time. SBK dying or what?
No Leon Camier, No Kiyonari? are Honda busy doing something else ?
Maybe they’re
devoting a lot of resource to a legal battle with TKR?!!
No BMW no Tom Sykes ?
No BeeEms. Do they need to test? are they taking SBK seriously?
Does anyone know much about Alessandro Delbianco ?
Maria Herrera five seconds a lap off the pace. that should come down a bit. Quicker than Bado 86
HRC busy in Madrid. Repsol & Honda patting themselves on the back. Both riders on light duties.
Reading comprehension
Read the article - it clearly states SMR, BMW and Tom Sykes wre there, just not running transponders...
Fingers crossed for Yamaha, Ducati, and BMW
to keep Kawasaki under pressure and just behind on enough occasions to provide excellent racing. I have to admit being highly sympathetic to and hopeful for KTR, and not a fan of HRC doing well - much as I wish Camier some success after so much high level effort for so long. Conflicts such as these keep us engaged....
I recently learned that Jules
I recently learned that Jules Cluzel shifts on the right. What I didn't learn was why? I presume limited left ankle mobilty or some such thing. Anyone know?
Not for sure but that would make sense.
Seeing as he broke his left side fibula & tibia back in 2015. I also broke the lower extreme of my left fib/tib right at the ankle joint (hardware still holding it all together) and only have about 70% mobility left. And yeah, missing shifts has always been far more common since that injury.