Rea outpaces MotoGP riders as Jerez test ends
World Superbike champion Jonathan Rea outpaced the depleted contingent of MotoGP riders on the third and final day of Jerez testing.
Jonathan Rea, Kawasaki Racing
Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
Only nine MotoGP riders were in action on Friday, as the works Ducati team along with the LCR, Marc VDS and Avintia squads all wrapped up their test programmes on Thursday.
That left only Pramac Ducati, Suzuki, Aprilia and KTM in action alongside the WSBK teams, which have been testing since the start of the week.
Kawasaki riders Rea and Tom Sykes sat out Thursday's action, but were back on Friday and set the early pace, trading fastest times before Rea established himself in the top spot with a 1m37.986s early in the second hour.
That remained the fastest time for the rest of the day, although it fell some way short of the record-shattering pace set by Ducati rider Andrea Dovizioso on Thursday.
Leading the MotoGP riders was Wednesday pacesetter Andrea Iannone, who was just 0.044s shy of Rea when he set his best time of 1m38.030s in the fourth hour.
Pol Espargaro was third-quickest on the KTM, exactly two tenths slower, while the second Suzuki of Alex Rins jumped Sykes for fourth with a little over an hour left to run.
Danilo Petrucci was best of the Pramac riders in sixth, four tenths quicker than new teammate Jack Miller - who was behind Bradley Smith's KTM, Scott Redding's Aprilia and Alex Lowes' Yamaha WSBK machine in 10th.
Completing the MotoGP contingent were Sylvain Guintoli on the Suzuki and Eugene Laverty on the Aprilia. They were 13th and 14th-fastest respectively.
The end of the Jerez test marks the end of 2017's on-track running for the majority of teams.
Yamaha will spend two days testing privately at Sepang at the start of next week before the winter test ban comes into force at the start of December.
Testing times (top 10):
Pos. | Rider | Bike | Time | Gap |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Jonathan Rea | Kawasaki* | 1m37.986s | |
2 | Andrea Iannone | Suzuki | 1m38.030s | 0.044s |
3 | Pol Espargaro | KTM | 1m38.230s | 0.244s |
4 | Alex Rins | Suzuki | 1m38.307s | 0.321s |
5 | Tom Sykes | Kawasaki* | 1m38.326s | 0.340s |
6 | Danilo Petrucci | Ducati | 1m38.607s | 0.621s |
7 | Alex Lowes | Yamaha* | 1m38.622s | 0.636s |
8 | Bradley Smith | KTM | 1m38.688s | 0.702s |
9 | Scott Redding | Aprilia | 1m38.778s | 0.792s |
10 | Jack Miller | Ducati | 1m38.998s | 1.012s |
* denotes WSBK competitor
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