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It is already 2017 for SBK too. On the Spanish track in Aragón, the teams that will doubtless be the protagonists of the next championship season took to the track. Kawasaki KRT, Ducati Aruba, Yamaha Pata and Honda Ten Kate conducted the first of two days of scheduled tests, taking the new riders out on the track and putting some new technical solutions to the test on the bikes.
Brits Johnny Rea and Tom Sykes lapped with their factory ZX10R Ninjas, testing new parts inherent to the electronics segment, as well as a few small changes to the throttle bodies on the in-line four-cylinders mounted in the green machines from Akashi. Rumour has it that Tom Sykes was faster and in better form, putting the best time of the day on the sheets. We should also point out that Aragón is the KRT team’s test circuit, so they know every minimum characteristic and peculiarity that the Spanish track demands. World Champion, Johnny Rea lagged a bit behind, doing very few laps.
For team Aruba Ducati, besides the ultra-confirmed Chaz Davies, had the rider from Ravenna, Marco Melandri on his first outing wearing the Bolognese team’s official colours and this test was truly demonstrative for the former 250 World Champion as it was conducted in the midst of the riders who will be his rivals in the upcoming season. In the end, Davies exploited his superior knowledge of the Panigale and his official time of 1’50”7 places him ahead of the number 33 rider from Ravenna, who stopped the clock at 1’51”4. Making a few considerations, Melandri was fast. For Marco, this was the first real test of any substance and, still not knowing how the bike would react at the limit, nor knowing how to “fiddle with it” to obtain the desired results, seven tenths of a second is not a very worrisome gap.
Other big news comes from the Honda camp: alongside Nicky Hayden was new arrival, Stefan Bradl, after many years in the Grand Prix Motorcycle Racing World Championship with a title won in Moto2 and several seasons in MotoGP astride the team Cecchinello Honda and the factory Aprilia. The German and the Kentucky Kid, however, lapped with the old Fireblade SP, since the new model will arrive in January. Bradl therefore focused on getting to know the new team and figuring out the differences between a MotoGP bike and a SBK. Hayden lapped mainly to stay in form and to continue working closely with the team.
There were also changes in the Pata Yamaha camp, not so much in technical terms as in terms of riders. Sharing the garage with English rider, Alex Lowes is now Dutchman, Michael Van Der Mark, in his first test with the factory R1. It would seem that the two Yamaha standard-bearers used the first day of tests at Aragón mainly to provide useful information to the mechanics. Specifically, Van Der Mark worked on understanding the characteristics of his new bike, much different from the Honda CBR he had ridden until recently.
