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The 2021 MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship may well be underway but crucial testing has been undertaken at the Circuito Navarra, a new venue on the calendar for this season. In the north of Spain in Los Arcos, the all-new venue for WorldSBK welcomed day two testing action and it was once again a Yamaha on top with Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha with BRIXX WorldSBK) blasting to the top, whilst Garrett Gerloff (GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) made it a Yamaha 1-2.

YAMAHA DOMINANCE

Toprak Razgatlioglu was able to strike back in the afternoon running as he took his Yamaha YZF-R1 to top spot, having worked tirelessly over the two days on rider specific internals, with some items on his machine. A small bit of drama in the morning when he ran out of fuel but that didn't dampen the Turk's spirits as he completed an astonishing 190 laps. He wasn’t the only one to suffer from running out of fuel as teammate Andrea Locatelli also suffered a similar fate. Locatelli did briefly top the timesheets just before lunch but finished the test early after a positive two-day test where the bike kept getting better and better. Toprak topped the timesheets whilst Locatelli concluded running in fourth.

Making it a Yamaha 1-2 in the test was American Garrett Gerloff (GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team), with Yamaha dominant at Circuito Navarra. Gerloff was working across the two days on an array of things, from set-up to configuration, aiming to refine the set-up on the 2021 motorcycle. It was difficult test on the other side of the garage for Kohta Nozane (GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team), who after a crash on day one – which left him with a micro-fracture to his middle finger on his right hand – sat out day two and was replaced by substitute Niccolo Canepa. Canepa was developing some parts and concluded the test in ninth place overall.

KAWASAKI IN TOUCH

Further down the pitlane and it was an early end to proceedings for Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) and teammate Alex Lowes, making their debut at Navarra. They packed up at midday to save their remaining testing for other times. Rea was working on improving the base-setting of the bike at the Los Arcos venue, whilst Lowes was working more for Donington Park set-up. Rea led the way periodically and finished up in third, whilst Lowes overcame three crashes – Turn 13, Turn 9 and ferociously fast at Turn 1 – to complete the top five on the end of day times.

BMW and the rest of the field

Also finishing up at midday was the BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team, as Tom Sykes and Michael van der Mark continued to work on a variety of areas of the new BMW M 1000 RR. The team worked on suspension settings across the day and focused on getting the bike set up as it would happen in a race weekend. However, they were left wanting more after day one when their chassis solutions didn’t give the expected results. For van der Mark, he finished sixth and said his side of the garage is still aiming to make the bike stop and turn better, whilst Sykes was seventh and pretty pleased with a productive test in northern Spain. For the Independent BMW of Jonas Folger (Bonovo MGM Racing), he was eighth and found the new chassis to offer better braking stability, whilst he was left wanting more grip. Overall, he commented on the new chassis have more good points than bad.

Finishing on day one, Team HRC weren’t present at Navarra on day two, but they had plenty to test as both Alvaro Bautista and Leon Haslam worked on electronic solutions, whilst also waiting for feedback from Japan about the base set-up of a bike. Combined, the riders completed over 150 laps, crucial data for WorldSBK’s first ever visit to Navarra in August.

WorldSSP: AEGERTER ON A MISSION

In World Supersport, it was Dominique Aegerter (Ten Kate Racing Yamaha) who once more showed his strength and prowess, completing a stunning 93 laps on his way to the top of the WorldSSP times. The Swiss rider tested suspension, clutch, and electronic set-ups, as well as different gearings on day one and refined small details on day two. Teammate Galang Hendra Pratama completed 69 and the Indonesian built on his feeling at the track across the two days.

Day 2 results with total number of laps across the two days (each day separated in brackets):

1 Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha with BRIXX WorldSBK) 1’36.877 – 190 laps (Day 1: 97, Day 2: 93)

2. Garrett Gerloff (GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) +0.048s – 140 laps (Day 1: 74, Day 2: 66)

3. Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) +0.093s – 112 laps (Day 1: 67, Day 2: 45)

4. Andrea Locatelli (Pata Yamaha with BRIXX WorldSBK +0.174s – 138 laps (Day 1: 85, Day 2: 53)

5. Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) +0.486s – 110 laps (Day 1: 63, Day 2: 47)

6. Michael van der Mark (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) +0.710s – 138 laps (Day 1: 78, Day 2: 60)

7. Tom Sykes (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) +1.023s – 128 laps (Day 1: 85, Day 2: 43)

8. Jonas Folger (Bonovo MGM Racing) +2.153s – 106 laps (Day 1: 52, Day 2: 54)

9. Niccolo Canepa (GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) +3.883s – 47 laps (Day 2 only)

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