Scott Redding tops Aragon WorldSBK Testing

2020 Aragon WSBK Test

The battle lines for the 2020 Motul FIM Superbike World Championship are taking shape after two days of testing at the Spanish circuit of MotorLand Aragon.

Despite the heavily limited dry track time on both Wednesday and Thursday, the visit to the Alcañiz circuit has allowed a first glimpse into what awaits the Championship next year, with nine top WorldSBK riders participating over the course of both days.

WorldSBK Test Nov Aragon Day Scott Redding — Scott Redding

Many questions naturally remain unanswered; one that does not is whether Scott Redding (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) can adapt to this new chapter in his career. The Gloucestershire rider, who was suffering from food poisoning hours before the test was due to start, finished day two at the top of the time-sheets.

One of just three riders to go out on wet conditions as well, Redding clocked in a best time of 1’49.929 after 60 laps, beating team-mate Chaz Davies by two-tenths-of-a-second – both faster than Rea’s best time from the day before.

WorldSBK Test Nov Aragon Day Chaz Davies — Chaz Davies

Leon Camier (BARNI Racing Team) was the first WorldSBK rider to set out in the morning and occupied first place on the timing sheets until the final three hours of running, yet his day was over nearly as quickly as it started. A slip at turn nine left the English rider feeling significant pain in his left shoulder – the same one he had surgery on last July – which prompted a quick visit to Alcañiz hospital. Thankfully, Camier was back in his garage a couple of hours later, although the day was over for him with just four laps completed.

WorldSBK Test Nov Aragon Day Camier — Leon Camier

That was four more than Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) made on Thursday. The reigning champion already opted to skip the wet hours of Wednesday testing, and with improvements uncertain for the afternoon both the team and he decided to reschedule their programme for Jerez.

Jonathan Rea

“We have been a bit unlucky with the weather and the only track time we could use was in the afternoons. Even in windy and cold conditions we were able to be fast and we have a consistent understanding of some new components in our test plan. While we have nothing revolutionary to try we will continue to evaluate some ideas that we have to improve our ZX-10RR in the next tests at Jerez, where we hope to find consistent conditions to complete our test plan.”

That left Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) as the only rider waving the Kawasaki flag on day two. The 2019 bronze medallist already mentioned the day before that 25 dry laps were “not enough to understand the bike completely”, so Thursday’s inclement weather will not have helped. Heading onto the track shortly before 2 pm, Lowes nonetheless managed 50 laps and improved his performance from the day before, closing the gap with the leading riders and even dipping into the 1’50s. Jerez will hopefully give the 29-year-old more time to work on a set-up suited to his riding style.

WorldSBK Test Nov Aragon Day Lowes — Alex Lowes

Alex Lowes

“It was a good test and great to get out on the bike. With the weather conditions we got one full day out of two days on track, but today was good. I am adapting to the bike really well and, more importantly, adapting to the team really well. They understand my comments and going forward that will be a big help to improve the bike set-up. I really enjoyed the bike and I feel that is a more natural way to ride for me. It was really positive and I am really happy to have started the next chapter with the KRT team. I am really happy and a big thank you to all the team for welcoming me at the first test.”

Over to his old colleagues in Yamaha, Michael van der Mark (Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team) continued his calm approach to pre-season while he awaits the 2020 YZF R1. A small crash at Turn 11 was the only blotch on an otherwise positive day in Spain, with 20 timed laps completed.

WorldSBK Test Nov Aragon Day Toprak Razgatlioglu Michael van der Mark — Toprak Razgatlioglu and Michael van der Mark

Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team) meanwhile – testing with two bikes and a team-mate for the first time in his career – was still focused on getting more laps under his belt yet managed to improve his fastest lap from Wednesday by six-tenths-of-a-second, finishing the day as best Yamaha and fourth overall. With two riders of a similar build and both relying strongly on front-end feeling, much of the work on both sides of the Pata Yamaha garage has been in the same direction, in terms of set-up.

WorldSBK Test Nov Aragon Day Toprak Razgatlioglu — Toprak Razgatlioglu

On the GRT Yamaha side of things, Garrett Gerloff topped his efforts from day one by a full seven tenths of a second, propelling him into sixth on the timesheets and only 0.05s behind van der Mark’s fastest time.

The US rookie, testing Pirelli tyres for the first time on Wednesday, has lauded the performance of the front compound while also finding the rear tricky to understand in these early stages. Going by his Thursday improvements, the 24-year-old is a quick learner – although a nasty, late crash at Turn 2 will keep him on his toes for next time (rider OK).

WorldSBK Test Nov Aragon Day Gerloff — Garrett Gerloff

Closing the time-sheets from the other side of the garage, Federico Caricasulo (GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Junior Team) nonetheless closed the gap with the more experienced riders in front of him, dropping into the 1m52s. The Italian youngster has been working on electronics and his riding style, as he makes the steep jump from Supersport machinery to WorldSBK – not just in terms of power, but set-ups, braking and weight.

WorldSBK Test Nov Aragon Day Caricasulo — Federico Caricasulo

The next test on their radar will be in Jerez, in two weeks’ time. It’s the final meet-up before enjoying a European winter break and then late January testing and the season-start in Australia at Phillip Island, Yamaha Finance round on February 28.