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The official race report service of Kawasaki Racing Team.

14 Novembro 2019

Rea And Lowes Complete First Joint Test Sessions

Jonathan Rea and Alex Lowes have completed successful tests at Motorland Aragon in Spain, in changeable track conditions, as the new KRT pairing took their first steps toward the 2020 FIM Superbike World Championship season.

Five-time World Champion Rea set a best lap time of 1’50.416 on day one of the test before opting to sit-out the wet start to day two, and ultimately the entire second day itself.
 
Rea had already tried some new set-up ideas and components on his championship-winning machine, and now looks forward to the next tests in Spain at the end of this month.
 
Lowes, taking part in his first tests on the official KRT Ninja ZX-10RR, took to the circuit each day and eventually reduced his best lap time to 1’50.653 when the weather improved this afternoon.
 
The 5.077km long Aragon circuit, in the north of Spain, provided a wide variety of different track conditions for the riders and the team’s technical staff to deal with over these first two days of winter testing, accelerating Lowes’ familiarity with his new machine.
 
After the completion of the Motorland Aragon tests the next track outing for Rea and Lowes will be another two-day test session, to be held at the Jerez de la Frontera circuit between 28 and 29 November.
 
Jonathan Rea, stated: “We have been a bit unlucky with the weather and the only track time we could use was in the afternoons. Even in windy and cold conditions we were able to be fast and we have a consistent understanding of some new components in our test plan. While we have nothing revolutionary to try we will continue to evaluate some ideas that we have to improve our ZX-10RR in the next tests at Jerez, where we hope to find consistent conditions to complete our test plan.”
 
Alex Lowes, stated: “It was a good test and great to get out on the bike. With the weather conditions we got one full day out of two days on track, but today was good. I am adapting to the bike really well and, more importantly, adapting to the team really well. They understand my comments and going forward that will be a big help to improve the bike set-up. I really enjoyed the bike and I feel that is a more natural way to ride for me. It was really positive and I am really happy to have started the next chapter with the KRT team. I am really happy and a big thank you to all the team for welcoming me at the first test.”
 
Pere Riba, Crew Chief for Jonathan Rea, stated: “We had a good test in general. The first day it started out wet, and then it was cold and very windy. In the end we put in some real priority items into the schedule yesterday because I knew it was going to rain again today and our time was going to be limited. We tried the biggest items and we will try them again in Jerez. The results were positive and Jonathan was fastest yesterday - and the most consistent - because he did many laps inside the 1’50s. He has a good feeling with the bike the way it is now. At Jerez we will have another two days to work with and I hope it will be dry to continue working for the new season.”
 
Marcel Duinker, Crew Chief for Alex Lowes, stated: “This test was a very nice experience. Of course the weather took away 50% of our track time but everybody is smiling, so this shows that everything was positive. I am impressed by the way Alex is building up his speed. He is able to give us very clear and to the point feedback. This is the way we need to work so that was very nice. He was able to go into the 1’50s fairly easily today. We are fully in schedule. He used a Q tyre to give Alex the first impression of what it does with this bike, just for information for the future. He understands how to extract more from it already. I am a happy man and that was a very pleasant first test with Alex.”
 
2019 KRT Rider WorldSBK Statistics
 
Jonathan Rea: World Champion 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 & 2019
2019: Races 37, Wins 18, Podiums 34, Superpoles 7
Career Race Wins: 88 (73 for Kawasaki)
Career Podiums: 168 (126 for Kawasaki)
Career Poles: 23 (19 for Kawasaki)
 
Alex Lowes:
2019: Races: 37, Wins 0, Podiums 9, Superpoles 0
Career Race Wins: 1 (0 for Kawasaki)
Career Podiums: 20 (0 for Kawasaki)
Career Poles: 1 (0 for Kawasaki)
 
7 x Riders’ Championships (Scott Russell 1993, Tom Sykes 2013, Rea 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 & 2019), 1 x EVO Riders’ Championship (David Salom 2014)
5 x Manufacturers’ Championships (Ninja ZX-10R 2015 & 2016, Ninja ZX-10RR 2017, 2018 & 2019)
5 x Teams’ Championships (KRT/Provec Racing 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 & 2019)
 
Kawasaki FIM Superbike World Championship Statistics
Total Kawasaki Race Wins: 146 – second overall
Total Kawasaki Podiums: 433 – second overall
Total Kawasaki Poles: 88 – second overall
 
                                #NinjaSpirit
 
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