After the summer break and the important tests at Motorland Aragon, the Kawasaki WorldSBK Team and Kawasaki WorldSSP Team are ready for round nine of the championship, at the Never Magny-Cours circuit in France.
Before the break, both teams and their riders showed an increasing level of competitiveness. At Balaton Park Circuit Garrett Gerloff completed the first Superbike race with an incredible ninth-place finish despite an injury that forced him to sit out Sunday’s races. During the Spanish test, the Texan looked to be fully recovered, and he hopes to resume the positive trend that has seen him complete races inside the top ten.
The Hungarian round brought a few problems for Jeremy Alcoba, who was forced to retire from Sunday’s race due to a blameless fall. The Spanish continues to adapt to the new ZX-6R 636, demonstrating that he can aim for the podium, which is his main goal again in France.
The Magny-Cours track measures 4411 metres in length and comprises some very tricky turns, from slow to medium and fast. There are also two high-speed chicanes, the second of which leads onto the final straight and is particularly challenging, very slow and with high kerbs. The Magny-Cours track has 17 turns in all, nine of which right-hand and eight left-hand.
The full schedule for the French round is available at this link:
Manuel Puccetti – Team Principal
“The positive tests completed last week at Motorland Aragon confirmed all the progress we’ve made at recent rounds, in both Superbike and Supersport, and also allowed us to test a series of new solutions that we’ll use in France. I’m sure that Magny Cours will be another positive round, especially in Superbike where our rider is particularly motivated. This will be yet another new track for Alcoba, but the Spaniard has shown that he knows how to adapt fast to new tracks and so we’re optimistic about the results we can achieve this coming weekend.”
Garrett Gerloff
“The Magny-Cours track is one of my favourites and we’re also coming off the back of a very positive test at Motorland Aragon, which was very useful. Thanks to my team’s great work we were able to test some components that worked well and that altered the performance of my Ninja. I’m keen to use them this coming weekend, in practice and in the races. We have everything we need to put together a good weekend.”
Jeremy Alcoba
“I never stopped training during the summer break and the testing at Motorland Aragon gave me another push. We tried some new solutions that could be very useful for the rest of the season and that allowed me to find feeling with my bike again. The Magny Cours track is new to me, so I’ll need to learn it fast – for now I’m studying it with the PlayStation and videos on YouTube.”
