Britain’s Jonathan Rea has topped the timing sheets during pre-season testing at Aragon, in Spain, ahead of the start of the 2022 World Superbike Championships (WSBK) season.
But it was also interesting to note that all five bike manufacturers finished inside the top 10 at the two-day test session at Motorland Aragon.
The official pre-season test saw Rea, Kawasaki team-mate Alex Lowes and all the other factory riders make their final on-track preparations for the opening round of the 2022 FIM Superbike World Championships, set to kick off at the same Spanish track this weekend, April 8-10.
On the first day the dry but extremely cold morning conditions kept most of the riders in the pit garages until the track temperatures improved all around the 5.077km long Motorland Aragon circuit.
Ninja ZX-10RR rider Rea then joined the full WSBK line-up of riders on track, circulating in what were increasingly good conditions.
Day two was also cool in the morning but consistently dry weather allowed the WSBK riders to work through their final test plans and make meaningful preparations for the first points scoring races of the 2022 season.
Rea, a six-time WSBK champion (in 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019 & 2020), set his best single lap time of 1’48.714 on the final minutes of the tests and was the only rider to get into the 1’48 bracket. He was 0.354 seconds faster than the next best rider, Yamaha’s Toprak Razgatlioglu.
Meanwhile, Aruba.it Racing Ducati team rider Alvaro Bautista completed 48 laps, setting a best time of 1’49.094 to eventually finish third fastest, three tenths behind Rea and just 26 thousandths of a second behind Razgatlioglu.
With the pre-season action now complete the 2022 WorldSBK campaign will begin in earnest at Motorland Aragon this weekend. Once again there will be three races on the weekend schedule, with the first on Saturday (April 9).
“Step-by-step we have built the package at this test,” said Rea.
“The afternoon sessions were much better than the first morning. We got meaningful work done and we confirmed our bike set-up. On the last runs I was really able to clarify the package we will start the race weekend with. We also ticked a lot of boxes with tyres.
“We used the SCQ qualifying tyre, which is new for us. We had to understand it before we use it in Superpole qualifying on Saturday.
“I enjoyed riding the bike; I had a lot of fun and got a lot of feedback. When that happens we are able to go quite fast. I am as ready as I will ever be to start racing.
“You can always do more, but you have to start somewhere and if we were to go racing tomorrow I am happy enough to start. We will have the usual ‘class of 2022’ photos on Thursday and then go racing on Friday.”
Photo courtesy Kawasaki Europe
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LEADING BEST TIMES:
- REA Jonathan. GBR, Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK Kawasaki, 1:48.714
- RAZGATLIOGLU Toprak, TUR, PATA YAMAHA with BRIXX WorldSBK, Yamaha, 1:49.068
- BAUTISTA Alvaro, SPA, ARUBA Racing – Ducati Ducati, 1:49.094
- GERLOFF Garrett, USA, GRT Yamaha WorldSBK, Yamaha, 1:49.235
- BAZ Loris, FRA, Bonovo Action BMW, BMW, 1:49.235
- LOCATELLI Andrea, ITA, PATA YAMAHA with BRIXX WorldSBK, Yamaha, 1:49.831
- RINALDI Michael Ruben, ITA, ARUBA Racing – Ducati, Ducati, 1:49.863
- LECUONA Iker, SPA, Team HRC, Honda, 1:49.971
- VIERGE Xavi, SPA, Team HRC, Honda, 1:50.010
- ÖTTL Philipp, GER, Team GOELEVEN, Ducati, 1:50.086
- REDDING Scott, GBR, BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team, BMW, 1:50.104
- LOWES Alex, GBR, Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK, Kawasaki, 1:50.112
- LAVERTY Eugene, IRE, Bonovo Action BMW, BMW, 1:50.446
- MYKHALCHYK Illia, UKR, BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team, BMW, 1:50.498
- TAMBURINI Roberto, ITA, Yamaha MotoxRacing WorldSBK Team, Yamaha, 1:50.656
- NOZANE Kohta, JPN, GRT Yamaha WorldSBK, Yamaha, 1:50.683
- BASSANI Alex, ITA, Motocorsa Racing, Ducati, 1:50.856
- MAHIAS Lucas, FRA, Kawasaki Puccetti Racing, Kawasaki, 1:51.038
- LUCA Bernardi, ITA, BARNI Spark Racing Team, Ducati, 1:51.738
- RUIU Gabriele, ITA, B-Max Racing Team, BMW, 1:52.003