A fruitful testing session for Team HRC in ideal conditions at Jerez
Team HRC has completed a very productive test session at the Jerez de la Frontera track in Spain. As it continues to prepare for the 2021 Superbike World Championship, the factory squad was out on track with riders Alvaro Bautista and Leon Haslam on Friday 19 and Saturday 20 March.
With progress during the January tests having been hindered by unstable weather conditions, the team was pleased to be able to make the most of this week’s sessions, taking advantage of the almost perfect weather conditions.
The Spaniard completed two full days of testing, while the Brit decided to use only half a day on Saturday, keeping the remaining hours for another occasion, considering that test days are limited. Both Bautista and Haslam are satisfied with what has been accomplished at the Spanish circuit, the pair having tested a number of upgrades across all areas of the CBR1000RR-R FIREBLADE SP.
The development work will now continue back at base, before Team HRC returns to the racetrack for the official Dorna testing session in Catalunya on March 31 and April 1.
Just before that, on March 30 at 10.00 CEST, Team HRC will unveil the 2021 CBR1000RR-R FIREBLADE SP during a virtual presentation to be broadcast on the Honda Racing Corporation Facebook page and YouTube channels.
We have done a lot of work over the last two days, taking advantage of two sunny days with no sign of any fog or rain, which unfortunately prevented us from doing any real work on the bike back in January. It was important to complete the entire testing programme, which concerned bike set-up in general and specifics such as braking and electronics, areas in which we concentrated a little more. The session was very useful in providing the information that the engineers need to continue working on the bike back in Japan. I'm very happy with work we have done and I think we now have a clearer idea as to where to focus during the next test.
It’s been a very positive test, especially because last time out we were only able to make about ten laps with the 2021 bike due to the bad weather. So having this day and a half has been very important. We had a long list of things to try, and we’ve been able to get through almost all of it. We’ve found some more consistency and I’m feeling a lot more confident. Now we head to Barcelona with everyone else, where we will be better able to understand where we are and how the bike is working. We only did a half day today as we need to be careful considering the limited test days we have available.
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