KRT Heading To Jerez To Restart 2016 WorldSBK Preparations
The official Kawasaki Racing Team is currently heading to the regularly visited Jerez de la Frontera circuit in Spain to make a formal restart of its track testing schedule, in readiness for the full race debut of the all-new Ninja ZX-10R at Phillip Island in Australia in late February.
2015 FIM Superbike World Champion Jonathan Rea and 2013 champion Tom Sykes are both eager to get back into action in their race bikes after helping launch the new showroom model Ninja ZX-10R at the Sepang International Circuit very recently.
With both Sykes and Rea having already tested the 2016 model at Jerez in late November of 2015 there will be an opportunity to make comparisons with existing data, as well as discovering more about their new machinery in full WorldSBK spec.
Jerez is something of an ideal circuit for testing, with a wide variety of corners and curves. Its location in Andalusia is usually an advantage in terms of weather conditions, and currently the weather forecast is fair for the period of the test. The forthcoming Jerez action will start on Tuesday 26 January will take place over two days.
Tom Sykes
“The winter break was good and we finished with great pace at the end of last season’s tests. We went into the break with a very good winter test schedule, even before Christmas, which was really important.
“I am looking forward to getting back on the new bike and getting into the swing of things again. Jerez is a good place to go testing, as there are a lot of variables and different parameters. We were really happy with the set up so now it is down to the fine details, setting up the last little bits and keeping working.
“I do not want to get carried away because I want to arrive in Phillip Island with a good bike set-up. I also rode the new roadbike Ninja ZX-10R recently and the first few laps I did put a smile on my face – because it is the work we have done over the last few years that have defined the bike that we have now. Kawasaki has done a great job and we have a much better base for 2016.”
Jonathan Rea
“The roadbike launch was cool and it was nice to be involved in the excitement of the new bike and the presentation. I got three good days on track and did a lot of riding on the new model, which is an amazing bike in itself. It seems they have built a production bike really close to the race bike, so it feels good.
“At the previous test in Jerez we pretty much got through most of our test items and we worked on performance as well, setting some fast lap times. Right now we need to make the package really consistent and I need to understand the limit of the bike. We also have some different geometry to try, and play around with the balance of the bike a little bit.
“The fact that we have a new bike means we are still in the process of understanding it, even though we have been superfast in previous tests. This is a new challenge and it is highly motivating because we are starting with something fresh and things are only going to get better.”
Guim Roda, Team Manager KRT
“Following our test plan for the 2016 season we start work on the new ZX-10R KRT again at Jerez, after a long Christmas break. For Tom and Jonathan this will be the first opportunity in 2016 to jump on the KRT bike and I know they are really impatient to ride it again.
“Kawasaki made the ZX-10R road bike track launch in Sepang last week so now we have to confirm all the expectations the press made about that great bike when we get to Jerez. KHI in Japan and those of us in Europe have been working hard to make the improvements that the riders requested at the November tests, so let’s see the new level they will show us on the bike in Jerez.”
