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Johnny Rea had already made the promise, after last year's third place finish: “This year I'll be closer to the front at Laguna Seca”. And indeed, the Kawasaki rider came extremely close to the front in both of the timed practices, with just 0.074 of a second separating him from leader Chaz Davies in FP2.
You've immediately proved to be competitive.
“We've worked on the set-up, but we've also focused on balancing the bike. There was also time to test the new rear tyre brought by Pirelli’. In the end it was useful, to have more info about the tyre, but we've reconfirmed the usual SC0 rear”.
As Friday concludes, you're very close to the front.
"At the end of the day we'll need to take stock and see exactly where we are. I feel good with the bike, like at Misano, but the level of grip is not so high here. I need to improve the bike's stability on corner entry. Unfortunately, having made many laps, we're suffering with a lack of traction and need to make a step in that respect."
What's changed compared to last year?
“It's day one so we're working to understand and find out more. Perhaps it's a bit bumpier than last time, but despite that I'm feeling good with the bike".
While Rea has immediately been able to make his presence felt, the same can't quite be said for Tom Sykes. After finishing tenth in the morning, the Englishman moved up the timesheets in session two, closing in fourth behind Hayden.
“I decided to focus on the hard tyre for the whole session and am quite pleased. We've collected a lot of information during the two sessions, which will be useful in terms of putting together the best package for Saturday. This gives me confidence for qualifying and the race."
Have you used the work done during the Misano test as a reference here?
“Yes. We've based things around the Monday test, though some aspects are not yet totally clear as they were during testing. Compared to Misano, the surface here is more disjointed so there's less grip. We need to work on set-up and take another step. I'll sit down with the team to work out which direction to take”.
