Successful One Day Test For KRT

2023-08-21 08:54
In June sunshine the 5.077km long Motorland Aragon circuit offered up maximum track temperatures over 50°C - exactly as the official Kawasaki WorldSBK team had hoped them to be.

Having faced challenges in races with high track temperatures this season Alex and Jonathan put in lots of hard work with their technical staff to improve the current Ninja ZX-10RRs outright pace and race-long consistency. There was also an opportunity to test items for the future, and thus KRT split the overall workload between solutions for 2023 and for future use.

Despite only riding for one day the riders got through a considerable amount of test items and machine settings, finding improvements in some key areas and providing valuable feedback to the engineers in Japan.

Now that the intense Motorland test is complete Round Six of the WorldSBK championship itself will take place between 30 June and 2 July at Donington Park in the UK. July will be a busy month for WorldSBK with Donington coming along very soon, then Imola and Most will also host races before the traditional summer break in the race calendar begins in August.

There will be another KRT test in August, before the final four rounds of the year, in France, Motorland, Portugal and Argentina.

Jonathan Rea, stated: “We had great conditions in Motorland and we were able to try some real test items both for the upcoming races and the future. That was really important to give some feedback to my team and also the engineers in Japan, about directions to improve. I want to thank everyone in the team because it was hot, and with the calendar now getting quite busy they made a huge effort. I was able to do a lot of laps, especially in the morning. After a late lunch we were able to get some work done back-to-backing some items. The test items were all over the bike - engine side, chassis side and electronics. It is clear the work Kawasaki are putting in, trying to improve. I am happy with my riding, I enjoyed the bike and the lap times were competitive. So, I am leaving with a smile and good rhythm, ready for my home race at Donington next week.”

Alex Lowes, stated: “We found the right track temperature for what we wanted to test. We were happy that the track conditions were slippery and greasy as we worked on some new things on the bike and trying to keep our performance when the grip is low. We have three races coming up in July where the track temperatures could be high. I think we did 85 laps which is enough on a very hot day. It was nice get out on the bike and now we can focus on my home race at Donington. Some of the things we tested were for the future, to give Kawasaki information. This was a good positive test and I really enjoyed being back on the bike. Sometimes a one day test is a lot of effort for one day on track, but we had a positive test and we found a few small things that may make a big difference in the next few races. A big thanks to all the team for all their hard work.”

Pere Riba, Crew Chief for Jonathan Rea, stated: “The test was divided in two sectors. The first one was trying some items and giving the feedback to the engineers in Japan, because we are thinking to improve the package for the future. This was one part of the day and Johnny did a great job giving information to the engineers. The second part of the test was to understand a couple of items from the last race in Misano because, unfortunately, the results were not the ones we expected. For this reason it was very important to try them again in hot conditions and get some feedback to decide the direction to go in. That was very positive and it now seems to be in line. I believe we have a good starting point for Donington, even if we do not expect over 50°C of track temperature. But the items and things we tested will help the performance, not just the durability of the tyres. Johnny was in good shape, he did a lot of very good laps and was very consistent. Now we go to Donington trying to achieve a result that Johnny deserves. We leave Motorland happy and confident going to the UK.”

Marcel Duinker, Crew Chief for Alex Lowes, stated: “We targeted a hot day of testing, to test items for the next race and next year. We gathered very valuable information and because it's June, we have enough time to prepare the next step for our August test. Alex did 85 laps in these hot conditions at Motorland, with the correct speed and consistency. Now our focus is on Donington. A track with character, nice fans and good memories!”

2023 KRT Rider WorldSBK Statistics

Jonathan Rea: World Champion 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019 & 2020
2023: Races 15, Wins 0, Podiums 4, Superpoles 0
Career Race Wins: 118 (103 for Kawasaki)
Career Podiums: 249 (207 for Kawasaki)
Career Poles: 40 (36 for Kawasaki)

Alex Lowes:
2023: Races: 15, Wins 0, Podiums 1, Superpoles 0
Career Race Wins: 2 (1 for Kawasaki)
Career Podiums: 34 (14 for Kawasaki)
Career Poles: 1 (0 for Kawasaki)

8 x Riders’ Championships (Scott Russell 1993, Tom Sykes 2013, Rea 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019 & 2020), 1 x EVO Riders’ Championship (David Salom 2014)
6 x Manufacturers’ Championships (Ninja ZX-10R 2015 & 2016, Ninja ZX-10RR 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020)
5 x Teams’ Championships (KRT/Provec Racing 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 & 2019)

Kawasaki FIM Superbike World Championship Statistics
Total Kawasaki Race Wins: 177 – second overall
Total Kawasaki Podiums: 528 – second overall
Total Kawasaki Poles: 105 – second overall

#NinjaSpirit

Source: Kawasaki Racing Team

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