With this two-day session at Portimao in Portugal, Kawasaki Puccetti Racing concludes its winter tests. Just like the recent tests at Jerez, this week’s sessions were intense but significant, allowing Manuel Puccetti’s technical staff to work on the bikes of Can Oncu and Tom Sykes and continue with work that it had begun at the Reggio Emilia racing department HQ and developed at the Spanish track.
Warm temperatures and a dry track on both days facilitated the work for the riders and technicians. Yesterday in Superbike Tom Sykes set a time of 1’41”578, while in Supersport Can Oncu recorded a time of 1’44”300. Today saw both Kawasaki Puccetti Racing riders improve on their previous references, the Englishman setting a best of 1’40”586 and the young Turk stopping the clock on 1’43”583.
Now that the European winter tests have concluded, it is time to pack the bikes in the crates and ship them to Australia. The technicians and riders will return to the track on 20-21 February for official testing at Phillip Island, Australia, which will take place immediately prior to the opening WorldSBK and WorldSSP rounds.
Manuel Puccetti
“We conclude our winter tests with this two-day session at Portimao. Like the December and January tests at Jerez, these sessions have been both significant and positive, for Supersport and Superbike. In Portugal, we continued with the work conducted back at back at our racing department and during previous tests, and we can say that we’re very close to the goals we set ourselves. In Superbike, we focused on bike set-up, while in Supersport we continued to develop the ride by wire. We’re ready for the Phillip Island tests and first round of the season.”
Tom Sykes
“As we conclude our winter tests, I have to say that the atmosphere in the garage is very positive. We’re all getting on well and this has allowed us to get through a lot of work. We’ve tried various settings and I felt increasingly comfortable on the bike. We continued with the work begun at Jerez and this made for two very constructive days in which we collected a lot of important data that’s going to be very useful.”
Can Oncu
“Here in Portugal, we’ve once again taken some significant steps forward and can say that we’re ready for the start of the season. We’ve tested many things and have continued to develop the ride by wire. I’m really pleased with what we’ve got done this week and the progress made with my bike. Now we’ll have two more days of testing at Phillip Island and then we can finally get out on track and race. I’m sure we’re going to have a great season!”
