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The official race report service of Kawasaki Racing Team.

18 août 2017

Sykes And Rea 1-2 In Lausitzring Practice

KRT riders Tom Sykes and Jonathan Rea finished first and second quickest respectively on their official Ninja ZX-10RRs after the FIM Superbike World Championship season got going again today at the Lausitzring, at the end of a five weekend-long summer break in competitive action.

After an opening day of practice during which FP2 was red flagged and delayed in its completion for one and a half hours, Sykes led his team-mate in the combined timesheets by 0.332 seconds. Both riders had tested at the Lausitzring during the summer break and felt that even in the dry part of today the track conditions were less favourable than they had been two weeks ago.
 
Sykes had a small fall in the afternoon session today and went back to the pits unharmed but before he could even consider taking to the track again on a repaired machine a red flag was shown, due to an oil leak from a rival’s machine. Threatening rains soon arrived with a vengeance, which led to a long delay as the track was cleaned and dried in some sections.
 
After the eventual FP2, restart in wet and patchy conditions, neither KRT rider opted to take to the track again but focused instead on working out their final settings for FP3, Superpole 2 and then race one on Saturday 19th August.
 
As ever Superpole 2 will determine the final grid positions for the top ten riders from today, plus the two best qualifiers from Superpole 1 on Saturday. Race two at the Lausitzring will take place on Sunday.
 
Tom Sykes, stated: “Overall, a good day. I am feeling really comfortable with the ZX-10RR and the boys did a great job in testing here. We have really set ourselves up for the start of the race weekend. I jumped on the bike and this morning even through the track itself was not in great condition, the bike was working great. From then we made steady progress and I am really happy with our performance. I had a small fall early in the afternoon but after checking the data I am putting it down to a little bit of over-excitement! I was really enjoying myself on the bike. When the rains came we lost nothing. I am looking forward to tomorrow now.”
 
Jonathan Rea, stated: “We so lucky to have been able to come here two weeks ago and have a test and take away a few gremlins I had had about the track previously. I was starting to feel really good about the track but today we missed something to really allow me to push to the maximum but we are not so far. Today I never put anything together to make me feel really comfortable. We will study the data tonight and understand the areas we can improve to come back stronger tomorrow. It does not feel like the summer break has been as long as normal but I feel really refreshed and I am looking forward to the final stage of the championship.”
 
2017 KRT Rider Statistics
Jonathan Rea: World Champion 2015 and 2016
2017: Races 16, Wins 9, Podiums 15, Superpoles 3
Career Race Wins: 47 (32 for Kawasaki)
Career Podiums: 103 (61 For Kawasaki)
Career Poles: 11 (7 For Kawasaki)
 
Tom Sykes: World Champion 2013
2017: Races: 16, Wins 2, Podiums 13, Superpoles 3
Career Race Wins: 33 (33 for Kawasaki)
Career Podiums: 97 (96 For Kawasaki)
Career Poles: 41 (41 For Kawasaki)
 
Kawasaki FIM Superbike World Championship Statistics
4 x Riders’ Championships (Scott Russell 1993, Sykes 2013, Rea 2015 & 2016), 1 x EVO Riders’ Championship (David Salom 2014)
2 x Manufacturers’ Championships (Ninja ZX-10R 2015 & 2016)
2 x Teams’ Championships (KRT/Provec Racing 2015 & 2016)
 
Kawasaki FIM Superbike World Championship Statistics
Total Kawasaki Race Wins: 102 – third overall
Total Kawasaki Podiums: 336 – third overall
Total Kawasaki Poles: 69 – second overall