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With just two race events left, the season is almost complete for Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK riders Alex Lowes and Sylvain Guintoli. October 14th to 16th sees the MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship head to its final European destination of 2016, the Circuito de Jerez in southern Spain, for the Gaerne Spanish Round.

Jerez is possibly the most travelled of the WorldSBK circuits, playing host to a number of test outings throughout the winter season as the teams prepare to do battle each year. Alex Lowes is no stranger to the technical and demanding layout, having succumbed to its unforgiving curves last November before returning to bury his demons the following January. Despite his turbulent history there, Jerez remains one of the British rider's favourite tracks and one he aims to tame this weekend. Utilising the past week to recover from his demanding five back-to-back race events, the 26-year-old is eager to get up to speed quickly as the team returns to Spain.

"Jerez is a track we probably ride the most because it gets used a lot for preseason testing,” said Lowes. “There are no long straights here so it doesn't give you much rest but it has a flowing feel to it and some really fast corners near the end of the lap. My best corner is turn five, leading on to the back straight, it's a long corner where you can nick a bit of inside kerb then slide the bike on the exit, I smile every time through here. We've had a rollercoaster few rounds recently so I'm really looking to go out strong this weekend and have two good races as the season nears its conclusion.”

Sylvain Guintoli has a high success rate at the Andalusían circuit, having achieved three podiums from his past six appearances in WorldSBK. Last year Jerez gave the Frenchman his first taste of the Yamaha Superbike and now he is eager to return to the track to put the year’s hard work into practice ahead of the two 20-lap races this weekend.

"Jerez is a twisty and challenging track,” explained Guintoli. “It's very physical, but very enjoyable. It was our first experience of the YZF-R1 during winter testing so it will be good to see how it compares during the racing season temperatures. Magny-Cours was a confirmation of our form this year, good qualifying performance but lots of work to do on our race pace. We will continue the development as we head to Spain."

The Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team will be back in action on Friday the 14th of October at 10:15 am local time (GMT+2) for the day’s first free practice session.