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The official race report service of Kawasaki Racing Team.

11 Květen 2018

KRT Riders Complete Early Imola Preparations

Jonathan Rea and Tom Sykes arrived at Imola for the fifth round of the WorldSBK Championship after a recent two-day test at Brno and worked on finding ideal race set-ups during the opening day. Rea was equal fastest after the three sessions and Sykes was sixth in Friday’s combined timesheets, ensuring that each made it directly through to Superpole 2 on Saturday.

The warm and slightly humid conditions that graced the first day at the classic Imola circuit allowed Rea to capitalise on the results of recent Brno tests. He eventually set an identical leading lap time of 1’46.686 to Chaz Davies. Rea was officially ranked second in the final time sheets and now looks forward to the first race of the Imola weekend with a positive approach.
 
Having chosen the optimum front tyre for his riding style already he will now decide on his rear option for race one on Saturday, after championship single make supplier Pirelli brought a new and bigger rear tyre to this round.
 
Sykes worked through several machine set-up and tyre possibilities but was not able to go for his best possible time as a result. He was ranked sixth today but is confident that he and his technical crew will pool their Friday data and make real advances in pace for the first 19-lap race on Saturday the 12th of May.
 
In his wildcard return to WorldSBK action at Imola, regular BSB Rider Leon Haslam (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) was eighth on day one, making it through to Superpole 2 on Saturday like the official KRT riders.
 
Jonathan Rea, stated: “It was a positive day and we basically just continued on with what we worked on in the recent test at Brno. We arrived here with the Brno-based bike we finished that test with. It kind of worked straight away at Imola. Pirelli has brought two different spec rear tyres for the race; one is a standard size and one is a little bit bigger, which changed the gearing and the ride height. We worked through that aspect of the set-up with Pere. Electronically we are fine-tuning the bike now.”
 
Tom Sykes, stated: “We got a lot of information after a busy day. Now we will focus on getting the best from the bike and me for tomorrow’s first race. We will put it all together tonight. We did a number of things today, including trying out two different front and two different rear tyre options. We worked on weight distribution, a different suspension set-up and some gearing options. It is a lot to do in three sessions. A couple of guys have really strong pace but I am sure we can find something for race one on Saturday. We will not be too far away, and over the last few rounds we have always been there. Tomorrow we will go for it.”
 
2018 KRT Rider Statistics
 
Jonathan Rea: World Champion 2015, 2016 & 2017
2018: Races 8, Wins 3, Podiums 6, Superpoles 1
Career Race Wins: 57 (42 for Kawasaki)
Career Podiums: 118 (76 for Kawasaki)
Career Poles: 15 (11 for Kawasaki)
 
Tom Sykes: World Champion 2013
2018: Races: 8, Wins 1, Podiums 2, Superpoles 1
Career Race Wins: 34 (34 for Kawasaki)
Career Podiums: 102 (101 for Kawasaki)
Career Poles: 43 (43 for Kawasaki)
 
5 x Riders’ Championships (Scott Russell 1993, Sykes 2013, Rea 2015, 2016 & 2017), 1 x EVO Riders’ Championship (David Salom 2014)
3 x Manufacturers’ Championships (Ninja ZX-10R 2015 & 2016, Ninja ZX-10RR 2017)
3 x Teams’ Championships (KRT/Provec Racing 2015, 2016 & 2017)
 
Kawasaki FIM Superbike World Championship Statistics
Total Kawasaki Race Wins: 113 – third overall
Total Kawasaki Podiums: 356 – third overall
Total Kawasaki Poles: 75 – second overall
 
 
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