Superbike: 2014 test, work completed by the teams in Spain and Portugal

After the two days in Almeria, today the first SBK 2014 tests also conclude on the Portimao circuit. On the track today Laverty and Lowes (Suzuki), the Aprilia with Melandri and the tester Hofmann, the Ducati with Giugliano and Davies, and for the EVO Mahi Kawasaki, PTR Honda and DMC Lorenzini.

A five-day test where the bad weather conditions, characterized by rain, cold and humidity, fortunately did not hinder the teams' work too much.

The news regarding the times is unofficial: in Portimao after the day of testing on Saturday there was talk of a best lap of 1'44"3 for Giugliano, Melandri and Rea, followed by Haslam (Honda) with 1'44"4 and Davies (Ducati) with 1'44”6.

Again in Portugal, on Sunday Eugene Laverty was ahead of everyone with a 1'43”4, followed by Melandri at 2 hundredths and Giugliano at 3. The times recorded were lower than the best lap in the race due to the cold and the humidity in post.

For the tests carried out on the Almeria circuit, however, we only have unofficial confirmation of the times of Sykes and Baz on Friday (no time trials were given on Thursday), which speak of an excellent 1'34"0 for the reigning champion, followed by teammate at 5 tenths.

Let's retrace the work of the SBK teams on the track in Spain and Portugal.

Kawasaki: the champion team only lapped on the Almeria circuit where, despite the rain, the drivers managed to complete the work programme, testing the ZX-10R with some updates and clocking up a good number of laps (Sykes 80, Baz 100) . Tom Sykes left Spain saying he was satisfied with the work done and the level of development of the bike.

Suzuki: Laverty and Lowes in Almeria focused mainly on the development of the new electronics package developed over the winter.
For Lowes, on his debut, it was also a matter of clocking up kilometers with the new bike in view of his debut in the world championship.
After the confrontation with Sykes and Baz, the team moved to Portimao to continue the development work, also setting very good times: in particular Laverty who put himself in front of everyone on Sunday, with great satisfaction from his own team .
Another driver who made a huge impression is the rookie Lowes, who is already very fast: he set the 4th time on Sunday.

Aprilia: the Italian team chose to ride only in Portimao, where Marco Melandri continued work on the new RSV4, still looking for the basic set up. He confirmed himself among the most present riders on the track and always among the top 3 fastest.

Ducati: in Portimao Giugliano immediately seemed at ease with his new Panigale R, with which he also continued research into the set up.

Honda: in Portimao I also work on the electronic package for Haslam and Davies, who are a little slower than the other riders on the track. Contrary to what was communicated at the beginning of the test, the team also ran today.

MV Agusta: Slightly more complicated tests instead for the MV Agusta team and its driver, Claudio Corti, who arrived in Portugal with the aim of verifying the performance of the new exhausts and the modifications to the engine (there is talk of around 10 HP more compared to the Jerez tests at the end of the year). Other innovations were the shaped tank and a different rear shock absorber ratio. Corti seems to have liked the new updates, even if he requested more rear traction. Also thanks to the weather and the fact that the R4 is still a "debut" motorcycle, it was far behind the others.

Next meeting in Jerez, February 5-6, with the Kawasaki and Honda tests.