Superbike test in Jerez J1: Haslam and Honda win at the end of the day

An hour after our point at 14 p.m., the paddock was surprised to see newcomer Garrett Gerloff place the official GRT Yamaha at the top of the standings, in 1'52.305. The American, the most diligent on the track at that time, clearly had no trouble acclimatizing to his new category...

However, this only lasted a brief moment before Leon Haslam the new Honda imposes in 1'52.149, just after 15 p.m., in just 14 laps.

In the next half hour, Michael van der Mark (Yamaha Pata) reduced the gap to 31 thousandths on a still wet track which still did not arouse the interest of the reigning champion Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team) on his ZX-10RR, Kawasaki having to test in Barcelona next Monday, undoubtedly in better conditions…

His new teammate, alex lowes, impatient to consolidate his marks on his new mount, showed himself to be more reckless and completed a good twenty laps before the rain returned in force, freezing the stopwatches in place around 16:40 p.m.

Around 17 p.m., one hour before the end of the session, Tom Sykes (BMW Motorrad) and Eugene Laverty (BMW Motorrad) took their courage in both hands to brave the Andalusian bad weather which then made the Jerez track at the limit of passable. The idea was obviously not to improve their times but simply to study the behavior of the 1000 RR in such conditions.

Loris Baz, fifth in his R1 of Team Ten Kate, ultimately proved to be the most diligent in superbikes, while Federico Fuligni was the fastest in the category Supersport on his MV Agusta, in 1'57.347, after completing no less than 52 laps, the record for this first day, followed by Jules cluzel (1.57.959) and Corentin Perolari (1.58.154), the two holders of the GMT94.

A mixed first day, then, but unfortunately, the weather forecast doesn't seem much better for tomorrow...

 

Pole position record: Rea 1'38.247

Best lap in the race: Bautista 1'39.004

November test: Rea 1'38.3