WSB: Rea fastest of all at Jerez

Jonathan Rea ended what is likely to be the final dry day of track action at Jerez with the best time of all thanks to a 1’38.721 on his Ninja ZX-10RR. He used a qualifying rear tyre to go that fast but he still set a 1’39.5 on a race tyre, as he once again went head-to-head with some of the top MotoGP runners.

He said of his test so far, “We worked through the plan and I felt really good with the bike. Everything we tested was really good and we did two long runs, one just before lunch and one after. The second one I did with a race tyre we had been using at the end of the season and the pace was incredible. We have confirmed a lot of things.”

The next best WorldSBK rider was Chaz Davies (Aruba.it Racing Ducati) who was third fastest of all and feeling there was still some half a second or so of lap time to come from him if he could find the perfect set-up.

Tom Sykes (KRT) fell just as he was trying out new material on his second, and less favoured, bike he went fifth fastest of all with a 1’39.461. Like Rea and Davies he used a Q rear tyre for his best lap.

Marco Melandri’s return to WorldSBK continued well, as he finished eighth overall on his Aruba.it Ducati, ahead of most of the MotoGP runners.

Alex Lowes (Pata Yamaha) used a combination of his existing bike and an updated one, today and set his best lap on his older version. He ended up 13th overall.

Leon Camier (MV Agusta Reparto Corse) had a difficult day in making progress again under the 2017 technical rules, but was 16th from 22 riders, as he continued work on his single throttle MV Agusta F4.

Michael van der Mark, still in stealth leathers on the other R1, placed 20th.

One more day remains on track, but wet weather is predicted for the final session before the winter break begins.