Double WorldSBK Champion Jonathan Rea has warned his 2017 rivals that there is more to come from the new Kawasaki ZX-10RR even after demolishing the lap record in testing at Jerez and outpacing MotoGP riders,
Rea set a best lap of 1’38.721 to finish yesterday on top and rain has put paid to any meaningful work today. He was four-tenths faster than Chaz Davies on the works Ducati but, where btragging rights are concerned, Rea ended a quarter of a second up on the works Aprilia MotoGP bike of Alvaro Bautista.
Hector Barbera was fastest on Wednesday with a 1’39.614, said he had to end early yesterday with some technical problems on the Avintia Ducati.
“The test at Aragon was good, so we carried on the work from there. There have been two big steps forward, the engine on the new ZX-10RR and the other is Showa having brought a new shock which gives me more traction and edge grip, and forks which work better on the side of the tyre. The bike is turning more easily at full lean and I have more confidence,” Rea told BSN from his hotel room this morning.
“Tuesday we had some niggling problems but the next day we got into our test plan and a lot of that was gearbox and transmission-related. I’ve actually gone back to the first spec of gearbox I used in my first test at the end of 2014. I complained about it at the time but we put that back in at Aragon and it was better than what I had, and it is the spec that Tom runs.”
The new bike, says Rea, isn’t a massive step away from his 2016 model, it has some different engine interals which give more rpm.
“The new engine has a similar character to the 2016 bike but the RR version has been strengthened so we can use more revs and different ratios but we are still waiting on an engine upgrade, so there is more stuff in the pipeline.
“The bike itself isn’t a revolution, it’s very similar but it’s one we have a season’s worth of knowledge on, so we know what to do, what it likes and doesn’t like. Knowing that, we were able to come up with things to try in winter testing.
“Last year we had a massive list and didn’t get through it all, so we were testing over race weekends. Now we have an understanding, the winter tests are less stress. Yesterday, for instance, we went straight into a 20-lap run on the hard tyre, then a 20-lap run on the soft, so we have ticked everything off.”
Rea’s fastest lap was quarter of a second faster than anything the MotoGP men could offer and he hopes it will mean WorldSBK riders will garner more respect from the blue riband paddock.
“I rode at a consistent level all three days and it was easy to draw conclusions as my laptimes were similar. The fastest lap was on a qualifying tyre but it wasn’t a bite-the-screen lap, it was very clean with no big mistakes or moments. The bike was under control but that was what we expected from it. You can throw grip at the bike now and it just works,” he said.
“I was only thinking of my laps really but it has created quite a stir, which is cool. There is not so much talk from the Superbike side, more from the MotoGP side and defending why they weren’t so fast. It was very easy to compare as were on the same track, on the same day, at the same temperature.
“It wasn’t just me, Chaz and Tom both did very fast laps. To do a 1’38 around Jerez on road bikes is incredible and the biggest credit has to go to Pirelli. When I was following the GP bikes, the Pirellis are so constant and at a high level, we can do things the GP riders can’t.
“The biggest difference is horsepower. They probably have an extra 25km/h on the little straight. Coming out of the corner, we are pretty similar but when they hook the next gear they take off. But when they arrive at the first corner, they are travelling faster so probably brake at the same place as us or maybe a little bit before.
“It’s probably given them something to think about and we’ve earned a little bit of respect as there were MotoGP guys behind other Superbike guys and it kind of reinforces my point it is more important to be here with a team, winning races instead of running around over there.”
