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LIVE COVERAGE: minute-by-minute updates from the first test of 2025 at Jerez!

Wednesday, 22 January 2025 08:51 GMT

    • After a well-deserved break, teams and riders are back in action as Jerez hosts a two-day test for almost the entire WorldSBK field

    The 2025 MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship's start is getting closer and closer, with just under a month to go before the season-opening Australian Round. Before that, the Circuito de Jerez - Angel Nieto hosts two days of testing as everyone gets back up to speed, refiners their packages and aim to head 'Down Under' in the best possible shape. You can follow live timing from Jerez HERE while keeping up to date with the action in our live blog.

    16:46 - Danilo Petrucci is back into the top five with a 1'39.548, a lap .313 faster than fellow Independent Ducati rider Scott Redding 

    16:40 - Gerloff breaks into the top three positions in his 60th lap with 1'39.332 to put him .131 ahead of Bassani and .151 behind Iannone in P2

    16:30 - The all-Italian top three features Bulega with an almost half-second lead ahead of Iannone in P2, and .732 of  a second lead ahead of Axel Bassani in P3

    16:09 - Not to be outdone, Garrett Gerloff narrowly beats Vierge's time to claim fourth for himself, just .008 faster for a 1'39.908

    16:06 - Xavi Vierge and his Team HRC bike surpass the neck-and-neck pair of Bautista and Redding to claim fourth with a 1'39.916

    15:59 - Redding is heating up as he moves into fifth place with a 1'40.173, close to matching Bautista's benchmark time, just .026 slower 

    15:47 - still relatively quiet on track with just a handful of riders lapping Jerez. No change in the top three, but Alvaro Bautista has moved into fourth place ahead of Vierge

    15:22 - Bulega's reclaimed top spot from Bassani, going into the 1'38s - his 1'38.731 is just a couple of tenths away from the race lap record

    15:17 - Iannone's moved into third, ahead of Vierge in fourth. Vierge is working with his new crew, Tetsuya Sasaki, at this test. Sam Lowes is fifth, also working with a new crew chief: he's got Gorka Sergua in his box, who was with Vierge previously

    14:50 - it's still fairly quiet on track, so let's bring you some updates from pit lane. Team HRC will run Ohlins suspension again, having switched to Showa in 2022. At Marc VDS Ducati, there's a new exhaust. Yamaha have a new swingarm - first run at Jerez in November

    14:26 - Bassani's gone back to the top of the timesheets! 'El Bocia' posted a 1'39.463s to lead Bulega by almost three tenths. The #47's best lap time was on his 47th lap time

    14:05 - We're back to bring you coverage of the afternoon, and there's been some drama recently. Dominique Aegerter had a tech issue at Turn 13 - he's already completed 36 laps with a best of 1'42.045s. Elsewhere, Bulega still leads with a 1'39.671s and recently Pata Yamaha Team Principal, Paul Denning, discussed the updates and changes at Yamaha - read more HERE

    13:02 - We will be taking a short break in our live coverage, we'll be back soon!

    12:58 - Nicolo Bulega shows a flash of last year's form with a scorching 1'39.761 lap

    12:51 - Bahattin Sofuoglu moves into first place among WorldSBK's rookies

    12:48 - Scott Redding atop his new Ducati sits in 14th with a 1'41.072 personal best

    12:43 - Axel Bassani reclaims the top spot from Iannone with 1'40.178

    12:32 - Things are heating up here in Jerez as 8 riders record times with less than a tenth of a second separating them

    12:30 - Alvaro Bautisa and Garett Gerloff record the same exact lap time down to the thousandth of a second with 1'40.341 laps in their ninth and 26th laps respectively

    12:27 - Andrea Iannone jumps into first place on the day! He sneaks by Axel Bassani by a mere four thousandths of a second to claim first place with a 1'40.272 lap

    12:25 - Nicolo Bulega and Sam Lowes return to the track, joining Andrea Iannone 11th, Remy Gardner, 13th and others 

    12:21 - Ryan Vickers currenly leads WorldSBK's cadre of 2025 rookies, currently in 15th less than a tenth of a second behind veteran Tito Rabat

    12:17 - Tito Rabat, 14th, is currently the rider who has logged the most laps with 35, followed by Sam Lowes and WorldSSP's Kaito Toba tied with 29 

    12:06 - Petrucci again leapfrogging up the rankings! he now sits in sixth behind Sam Lowes after recording a 1'40.500 in his 17th lap

    12:03 - The WorldSBK Championship so far this year looks like it could be anyone's year, 12 riders sit within a second of P1

    12:01 - Petrucci jumps to 11th in his 16th lap, just a thousanth of a second behind Sam Lowes

    11:58 - Danilo Petrucci returns to the track for his 15th lap, currently sat behind Xavi Vierge  in 13th with a .699 gap behind the Honda rider 

    11:54 - Garrett Gerloff and Nicolo Bulega return to the track from the pits, looking to improve on their 1'40.458 and 1'40.793 times, placing them at 3rd and 10th respectively

    11:47 - Xavi Vierge surges into the would-be points positions with a 1'40.943 lap atop his Honda CBR1000RR-R

    11:41 - Axel Bassani claims P1 with a blazing 1'40.285 lap, the top three positions now each a different manufacturer and are separated by less than a 10th of a second

    11:38 - Alex Lowes records his fastest lap on the day in his 16th lap, 1'40.899, placing him in 10th for now

    11:34 - On his 21st lap, Sam Lowes records a 1'40.347 lap, moving him into second on the day so far and is now returning to pit lane

    11:28 - Bautista sits in third with a 1'40.544 time in his 14th lap, now has returned to the pits

    11:10 - Dutchman van der Mark had a crash at Turn 8, but he's okay. Meanwhile, 2024 runner-up Nicolo Bulega has moved into second place, 0.241s slower than the #60

    10:58 - van der Mark still leads, with Rea moving into second place with a 1'40.717. Andrea Iannone is third, two tenths away from the #65

    10:42 - van der Mark's set the first 1'40s lap of the test with a 1'40.285s. Alex Lowes has hit the track, as has six-time Champion Jonathan Rea

    10:37 - the majority of riders have headed out now, including Axel Bassani on the Bimota KB998, Bahattin Sofuoglu and Tito Rabat for their first taste of the Yamaha R1 and Yari Montella for his public debut on the Panigale V4 R

    10:25 - it's now van der Mark at the top with a 1'41.104s. Plenty of riders have ventured out onto the track in the first 25 minutes

    10:15 - Redding's currently top of the times with a 1'43.015s, so times still not represenattive. The #45's time is around six seconds off lap record pace

    10:05 - just an out lap for van der Mark and Redding, but Tetsuta Nagashima - riding in place of Lecuona - sets the first time of the test with a 1'57.624s, before improving by five seconds on his second lap. Expect the times to fall rapidly

    10:00 - the green flag waves and testing at Jerez is underway! Michael van der Mark has headed straight out on track, along with Scott Redding - back on a Panigale V4 R

    09:50 - the test action is due to start at 10:00 Local Time (UTC+1), with the entire WorldSBK field bar two riders on track. Reigning Champion Toprak Razgatlioglu and Team HRC's Iker Lecuona miss out through injury. Weather is better than expected, and the day's action will conclude at 18:00