WorldSSP pre-season testing has officially concluded after another two sessions at Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit led by Randy Krummenacher and Federico Caricasulo, both Bardahl Evan Bros Yamaha riders.
The yellow and black-clad racers were followed in the timesheets by Raffaele De Rosa (MV Agusta Reparto Corse), with the top six seemingly a cut above the rest.
With a lap time of 1’33.111, seven tenths of a second faster than his personal best on Monday, Krummenacher managed to open a gap at the top of the leaderboard over his teammate, who nonetheless also set several faster lap times than the day prior. The pair led or remained near the top of the timesheets in each of the Aussie track's sectors and have emerged as the early frontrunners to win Sunday’s inaugural race.
A crash in yesterday’s opening session conditioned Cluzel and GMT94’s preparations on Monday, as the French squad adapt to their full season return to WorldSSP. Tuesday was smoother for the 30-year-old, as he finished 0.524s off Krummenacher and leapt below 1’34.000 for the first time this week. Fellow Frenchman Corentin Perolari (GMT94 YAMAHA) also continued his adaptation to the Australian track, ending fifth in the standings, a position that the GMT94 squad would deem very satisfactory if it were to be repeated on Sunday.
Meanwhile, MV Agusta Reparto Corse continue moving slowly up to the level of the leading Yamahas, as Raffaele De Rosa moved into third on Tuesday (fastest in the second session). While the bike remains similar, the former STK1000 champion’s crew has moved to the WorldSSP class for the first time after working last season on the WorldSBK side of things. Focus on Tuesday went on engine configurations, while teammate Federico Fuligni (MV Agusta Reparto Corse), eleventh, continued adapting to the WorldSSP bike.
Closing out the top six was Lucas Mahias (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing), focused on finding the right setup for Phillip Island as well as well as learning how to tame the ZX-6R. On the other side of the garage, Hikari Okubo (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) concluded his pre-season testing in seventh position.
Eighth fastest on the day was Hector Barberà (Team Toth by Willirace), who seems to be adapting swiftly to the Yamaha YZF R6. Kallio Racing’s Austrian recruit Thomas Gradinger was the Finnish team’s fastest rider on the day in ninth, just over a second behind the frontrunners, while Isaac Viñales (Kallio Racing) and Loris Cresson (Kallio Racing) ended the day twelfth and fifteenth, respectively. Hannes Soomer (MPM WILSport by Racedays), tenth on Tuesday, was the fastest Honda, while newcomer Jules Danilo (CIA Landlord Insurance Honda), sixteenth, clocked in the most laps of the day at 70.
