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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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).

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.

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. 

2020 Aragon WSBK Test Day Two Times

1. Scott Redding (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) 1’49.929 – 60 laps
2. Chaz Davies (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) 1’50.185 – 30 laps
3. Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) 1’50.653 – 50 laps
4. Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team) 1’50.657 – 36 laps
5. Michael van der Mark (Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team) 1’51.088 – 20 laps
6. Garrett Gerloff (GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Junior Team) 1’51.133 – 25 laps
7. Federico Caricasulo (GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Junior Team) 1’52.477 – 39 laps
8. Leon Camier (BARNI Racing Team) 2’03.047 – 4 laps

2020 Aragon WSBK Test Day One Times

1. Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) 1’50.416 – 27 laps
2. Scott Redding (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) 1’50.868 – 51 laps
3. Michael van der Mark (Pata Yamaha WorldSBK Team) 1’50.941 – 39 laps
4. Chaz Davies (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) 1’51.176 – 37 laps
5. Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha WorldSBK Team) 1’51.313 – 47 laps
6. Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) 1’51.567 – 37 laps
7. Garrett Gerloff (GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Junior Team) 1’51.867 – 52 laps
8. Leon Camier (BARNI Racing Team) 1’52.902 – 37 laps
9. Federico Caricasulo (GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Junior Team) 1’53.514 – 57 laps

Source: MCNews.com.au

Rea tops day one at Aragon from Redding

Winter testing for WorldSBK season 2020 got underway overnight at the Spanish circuit of MotorLand Aragon, with Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) leading a nine-strong group of WorldSBK riders (plus WorldSSP300’s Ana Carrasco) on the time-sheets.

The Northern Irishman’s best time of 1:50.416 was four-tenths-of-a-second faster than Scott Redding who nonetheless hit the ground running on his debut with the Aruba.it Racing team.

The day began slowly, with overnight and early morning rain leaving the Alcañiz track in a drenched state. While every team was present and ready to go when the pit-lane lights turned green no one dared to touch the tarmac until an hour later, when Carrasco took her Kawasaki Ninja 400 for the first laps of MotorLand Aragon as the showers ceased.

Scott Redding (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) was out next onboard his WorldSBK-spec Ducati V4 R, for the first time in full Aruba.it gear. While the early laps were tentative, the 26-year-old’s times dropped progressively throughout the day – even topping the leaderboards at one point – before settling on a 1’50.868 with 51 laps completed.

For his Welsh team-mate Chaz Davies, this will be the first time he can face a full winter testing season with the V4 R in proper conditions – he was still awaiting surgery on his right collarbone twelve months ago – which will be key to building a title challenge for 2020 after a fluctuating first year. Day One saw him work on new ideas concerning the chassis and electronics of his Ducati.

Completing the trio of Ducatis present in Aragon was Leon Camier on his BARNI Racing debut. The Englishman is focusing exclusively on getting to know the V4 R, before diving deeper into the bike’s configuration.

After midday, the track began to slowly dry out with times finally dropping below the two-minute mark around 2 pm, which prompted the first appearance of both Kawasaki Racing Team riders on the Spanish tarmac.

Having proven that the package is as good as it’s ever been, Rea and Crew Chief Pere Riba’s focus in these early stages is on small details destined to make the bike turn a bit easier while not losing any stability. Rea suffered a crash in the session but was OK otherwise.

While their work revolves around fine-tuning the package, for Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) these early laps are all about getting an understanding of the bike as a whole.

The Englishman lands on a new machine and inside a new team, with new relationships inside Provec Racing just as important to develop as his feeling with the ZX-10RR. On day one at Aragon, the final three hours of the day were enough to complete 37 laps, with a best time a second behind his Championship-winning team-mate.

The manufacturer with the strongest representation at MotorLand Aragon is Yamaha, who put out all four riders – two Pata Yamaha, two GRT Yamaha Junior Team – on the 2019 version of the YZF R1, with the new 2020 model ready to hit the tarmac in Jerez, in two weeks’ time.

Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha WorldSBK Team) showed that he could be instantly competitive on his new bike, finishing the day only a fraction of a second from team-mate Michael van der Mark.

For the Dutchman the true test will come in that Jerez test at the end of November, when he meets the evolution of his previous race-winning machine; here, on Wednesday, a few extra components including a different throttle were tested, as van der Mark and new Crew Chief Andrew Pitt began working together for the first time.

Meanwhile, GRT Yamaha’s two representatives began to prove why the Italian team has put its trust in two rookies for 2020. Garrett Gerloff, not only racing on the WorldSBK YZF R1 for the first time but also on Pirelli tyres (and on European tarmac), was immediately competitive, coming within less than a second of van der Mark’s best time.

His Italian team-mate Federico Caricasulo, on a Superbike for the first time after several years on Supersport machines, recorded more laps than anyone as he finds his feet in a new class.

Track action continues on Thursday, the riders then set off for a two-week break before travelling to Jerez.

2020 Aragon WSBK Test Day One

1. Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) 1’50.416 – 27 laps
2. Scott Redding (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) 1’50.868 – 51 laps
3. Michael van der Mark (Pata Yamaha WorldSBK Team) 1’50.941 – 39 laps
4. Chaz Davies (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) 1’51.176 – 37 laps
5. Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha WorldSBK Team) 1’51.313 – 47 laps
6. Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) 1’51.567 – 37 laps
7. Garrett Gerloff (GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Junior Team) 1’51.867 – 52 laps
8. Leon Camier (BARNI Racing Team) 1’52.902 – 37 laps
9. Federico Caricasulo (GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Junior Team) 1’53.514 – 57 laps

Source: MCNews.com.au

Leon Haslam with Honda for WorldSBK 2020

Leon Haslam will have a whole new challenge in 2020 as he joins the much-anticipated factory Honda team, supported by HRC. T

he British rider has an illustrious and distinguished career with the Japanese manufacturer and will return to the official line-up for next season, alongside Spanish sensation and 2019 Championship runner-up, Alvaro Bautista.

Starting back in 2003, Haslam has been one of the most prominent features in the World Superbike paddock. A permanent switch to WorldSBK came in 2004, where he took a first career podium at Oschersleben, finishing eighth in the Championship.

Haslam took three seasons out before taking a third place at Portimao in the final race of 2008 for HM Plant Honda; enough to convince the Stiggy Racing Team to sign him up for 2009. Four podiums helped him to finish sixth overall.

2010 would be Haslam’s greatest season and he switched from Honda to Suzuki, storming to victory in the season-opening Phillip Island race by just 0.004s to make the closest finish of a WorldSBK race in history.

He led the Championship and took two more wins before finishing as Championship runner-up, with only four-time 250cc World Champion Max Biaggi ahead of him. 2011 and 2012 saw him with BMW and he took regular podiums before moving to Honda for 2013.

2013 would be a season blighted by injury, but Haslam had strong rides nonetheless, building on these for 2014, taking a podium in France and finishing seventh overall.

2015 saw him with Aprilia and two more wins came by on his way to fourth overall. Six more starts for Kawasaki over the next two seasons as wildcard would keep Haslam in the paddock, before coming back full-time this year, taking six podiums.

Source: MCNews.com.au