The WSBK has started its work in preparation for the next season and the Honda, Kawasaki and BMW teams were hard at work in Jerez this Wednesday. They will potentially still have two days left to enjoy, but we will have to see how the capital allocated per driver for ten days of testing will be managed...
We will indeed recall that the teams in WSBK each have eight additional hours before the winter break. Typically, no one uses the full three days of testing, because each driver only has dix available by season. Otherwise, what did Jerez deliver to us this Wednesday? The spotlight was held by Jonathan Rea who, on his Kawasaki, came within half a second of the race lap record set by Baptist on the Ducati in 2019. The six-time winner who had lost his crown this year led the timesheets with 1'40.065 until the afternoon, then the Northern Irishman clocked a 1'39.561 with his Kawasaki ZX- 10RR. This means that he is only half a second away from the best race lap of 1'39.004 that Alvaro Bautista set in 2019 with the Ducati in the sprint race with the SCX soft rear tire.
WSBK: Honda goes Showa
The BMW factory driver Michael van der Mark finished the first of three possible days of testing in second place and lost exactly 6/10 of a second on Sale. Newcomers to Honda, Iker Lecuona et Xavi Verge, showed a decent performance with the CBR1000RR-R Fireblade in their premiere and only lost a good second to the fastest. The surprise on the CBR triple R was to see it in suspension Showa and not in Öhlins as in the previous two seasons. We will recall that, until then, only Kawasaki ran with Japanese suspensions.
The newcomer from BMW, Loris Baz, from the German Bonovo action team, was by far the hardest worker, completing a total of 80 laps with the M1000RR between 10:00 a.m. and 18:00 p.m. The Frenchman is gradually moving towards the limit. With a gap of 1.574 seconds, he was the slowest of the eight Superbike riders on Wednesday.
Chronos Superbike World Championship Jerez-Test, Wednesday December 15:
1. Jonathan Rea (GB), Kawasaki, 1:39.561 min
2. Michael van der Mark (NL), 1:40.161
3. Alex Lowes (GB), Kawasaki, 1:40.454
4. Eugene Laverty (IRL), BMW, 1: 40,612
5. Iker Lecuona (E), Honda, 1:40,621
6. Scott Redding (GB), BMW, 1: 40,701
7. Xavi Virgin (E), Honda, 1:40,745
8. Loris Baz (F), BMW, 1:41,135
