Day one of the private test at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya came to an end with all five riders from the three MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship factory teams looking to make improvements to their bikes and improve certain aspects of rider and machine as the second half of the 2021 campaign approaches, with Leon Haslam (Team HRC) topping the timesheets after the opening day of action.

HRC, the team were testing parts to find a direction on where to go for development as they test for a day and a half at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya with riders Haslam and Alvaro Bautista. Haslam put in a best time of 1’41.627s, coming in the morning session in cooler conditions, with Bautista around one second behind; the pair completing over 170 laps between them with Honda using a day-and-a-half of the two days. Haslam’s time was enough to top the timesheets after day one, finishing two-tenths clear of the field.

Reigning Champion Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) and teammate Alex Lowes were on track as they looked to work on their bike during hot temperatures, with the temperature of the asphalt reaching more than 50 degrees Celsius during day one; giving KRT an opportunity to use their new bike in testing during hot conditions without the constraints of a race weekend.

KRT will use a day-and-a-half of their allotted ten days for private testing throughout the two days, only taking to the track in the afternoon session at Montmelo. Rea posted a best lap time of 1’41.861s on his Kawasaki ZX-10RR machine after completing 51 laps in the afternoon session, with Lowes exactly four tenths back with 46 laps under his belt.

The BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team were present with only one rider on track with Tom Sykes testing new parts on his BMW M 1000 RR machine, including a new specification wheel. Sykes was also testing the 2021 swingarm as he had been running with the 2020 version, while teammate Michael van der Mark had been using the updated version. The team also have some electronic upgrades for Sykes to test throughout the two-day test as well as chassis improvements. The team were able to take advantage of the scorching conditions in Spain to test a new radiator and oil cooler arrangement.

BMW are the only factory team present at the test planning to use both days in full as they continue to bring upgrades to their machine, with Sykes completing around 90 laps with a best time of 1’42.510s throughout the opening day of action at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.

Ana Carrasco (Kawasaki Provec WorldSSP300) also took to the Barcelona circuit coming off the back of a tricky weekend at the Autodrom Most. Carrasco was testing to get back on the bike as she looked to re-gain a good feeling on her Kawasaki Ninja 400 again, especially with the gap between races in WorldSSP300. Her best time was a 1’57.132s with 39 laps completed for the Spanish rider.

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