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Three factory teams from the MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship took to the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya circuit for day one of a two-day test with plenty of items to try, setups to work on and machines to refine. Team HRC, Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK and BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team were all on track on Thursday as they look towards the second half of the 2021 campaign.

HASLAM AND HONDA QUICKEST AFTER “MOST POSITIVE DAY OF THE YEAR”

It was a strong day for Leon Haslam (Team HRC) after he ended the day quickest by two tenths. Reacting to this, Haslam said: “Today, for me, has been the most positive day of the year for things we have to try, things that have improved the bike and my feeling with the bike. Very, very positive. The track was very warm today. Normally in these conditions is the worst situation for us, so to have this positive feedback in these conditions… I can say I’m very happy right now!”

Teammate Alvaro Bautista had similar thoughts to his teammate after day one. He said: “I think today has been a positive day even if the conditions were tough, especially in the morning because it was very slippery. The temperatures were really high, but we did the whole plan that we had. We tried many interesting things, especially on the frame setup, to get more information and to give the engineers my opinion of the new items that they bring to the test. We found many positive things.

“THE LIST GOES ON” FOR SYKES AND BMW

Tom Sykes (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) was the sole BMW rider on track with the British rider able to get through ‘a number of chassis components’ in testing. He said: “We’ve got a lot of items to get through. We started working away today, we started the test steadily to understand a few items. We’ve been going through a number of chassis components. Whether that’s chassis parts, swingarm parts, also geometry and some electronics stuff. The list goes on. It’s been a very busy day. I feel like we’re making progress and really understanding of the new M 1000 RR.”

KAWASAKI TRYING SOME ‘VERY SECRET’ ITEMS

Six-time Champion Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) was another rider who was happy with day one at Barcelona. He said: “It’s been a really positive test because outside of a race weekend we can be more relaxed, we can try some different items we have in mind during a season. Conditions were perfect, the track was very hot. That let us understand the bike setup for these summer races. We had some specific test items to try and also from all different aspects of the bike. Very secret! At the end of the day, I worked on my starts; some different ideas about starts.”

Teammate Alex Lowes was another who got the best out of Thursday’s scorching conditions. Lowes said: “It was nice to be riding in these really hot conditions. It’s conditions I struggled in a bit last year. I was happy to have the chance to test a bit today. We had four or five things on the list, so we managed to finish all our work. It was quite a good test this afternoon. My feeling on the bike wasn’t too bad. It was a positive day for me.”

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