2024 WorldSBK Testing
Oct 31, 2023
Day one of testing at Jerez was not as productive as hoped with intermittent rain spoiling progress.
It was early in the day that conditions were best and Remy Gardner GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) set the pace with a best of 1m39.837s in his 25 laps. Team-mate Dominique Aegerter was third, just over a quarter-of-a-second behind the Australia.
Next door at the factory Yamaha team, Rea was fourth after completing 12 laps. His time of 1m40.302s was 0.465s down on Gardner as the Northern Irishman focused on getting comfortable on his new bike after spending many years on the Kawasaki ZX-10RR. Bradley Ray (GMT94 Yamaha) was also in action on the YZF-R1 machine, completing 27 laps and setting a 1’42.295s.
Michael Ruben Rinaldi’s future with Motocorsa Racing was only announced on Monday afternoon, but the Italian wasted no time in getting on track with the team. One of the first to leave the pits when the session started at 1000 Local Time (GMT+1), the five-time race winner was consistently at the sharp end of the time-sheets. Rinaldi’s best time was a 1’40.034s to take second spot after lapping 36 times, the most of anyone.
Down the pit-lane was his previous Aruba.it Racing – Ducati squad, where champion Bautista was fifth. He set a 1m40.564s but his day was disrupted by a Turn 13 crash which briefly brought out the red flags. Despite this, he racked up 24 laps. Bautista’s new team-mate, Nicolo Bulega, took eighth spot with a 1m41.244s, lapping around seven-tenths slower than his two-time Champion team-mate. His plan was to understand the V4 R and adapt his riding style, while also aiming for a good base set-up.
Tuesday also marked Andrea Iannone’s (Team GoEleven) return to a race bike in difficult conditions, with ‘The Maniac’ setting a best of 1m41.922s and racking up 26 laps.
American star Garrett Gerloff’s (Bonovo Action BMW) recent form has been on the up and was again the lead rider for the German manufacturer on day one as he finished in sixth place after posting a 1m41.193s. Scott Redding made his first appearance with the Independent BMW outfit after his switch from the factory team, with the Brit in a new environment but on the same M 1000 RR machine. Redding was ninth after setting a 1m41.333s, with just two-tenths separating the team-mates.
Star BMW recruit Toprak Razgatlioglu is not taking part in the test as he is still under contract with Yamaha until the end of November. We believe the Turk will not get to throw a leg over the M 1000 RR until December. Yamaha had offered Toprak the chance to test as long as he kept any comments out of the press until after his contract expires, but Toprak chose not to.
Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) heads into the new season as the de facto team leader at KRT, and as to be expected he was faster than his new team-mate. Lowes was seventh quickest as he completed 14 laps with his best time, a 1m41.229s. New team-mate Axel Bassani, making his first appearance with the team, was three places and six-tenths down on Lowes. There’s been a reshuffle of staff within the KRT box. After working with Marcel Duinker for four seasons, Lowes has moved into Pere Riba’s side of the box with Bassani working with the Dutchman for his maiden campaign.
After a year in WorldSSP with the Petronas MIE Racing Honda Team, Tarran Mackenzie tried out the team’s Honda CBR1000RR-R machine at Jerez. He’s tested the bike before, notably at Misano when he stood in for Eric Granado and Hafizh Syahrin, as well as with Honda in testing for the Suzuka 8 Hours. However Mackenzie only recorded seven laps which had him at the bottom of the time-sheet.
There were three crashes at Turn 13 with Garrett Gerloff (Bonovo Action BMW), Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) and Jonathan Rea (Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK) all going down.
