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On the opening day at Jerez Rea was top of the combined timesheets despite an afternoon crash, with Sykes and Van der Mark also in the top 3

It was an eventful Friday at the Pirelli Spanish Round for Jonathan Rea as he crashed early in FP2, having earlier set the fastest time of the day in the morning practice. Tom Sykes and Michael van der Mark were second and third best respectively, with their best times coming in FP2.

In the first ten minutes of the afternoon session Rea crashed at turn 8, tumbling heavily through the gravel. His team worked hard to repair his machine and before the end of the session he was back on track notching fast laps. Chaz Davies crashed at turn 13, also in the opening ten minutes of FP2 and he did not reappear in the session – ending the day tenth overall.

In fair weather conditions under clear blue and sunny skies in the south of Spain Alex Lowes was fourth fastest overall, just ahead of Marco Melandri. Melandri and Xavi Fores both suffered technical problems at the end of a hectic FP2 run.

Meanwhile, Lowes - who sits fifth in the general standings after a good year so far - undertook a long run in FP2 setting a consistently fast pace on his Yamaha YZF R1.

Eugene Laverty was sixth quickest, just head of his teammate Lorenzo Savadori. In quick succession in FP2 Savadori set his fastest lap of the day, had a big wobble and then crashed at turn 2 towards the end of the afternoon outing. The Italian was soon back on his feet and back out on track after his accident.

Roman Ramos held provisional P1 in FP1 before ending the day eighth. 2014 World Champion Sylvain Guintoli was back in action getting to grips with the Kawasaki ZX-10RR, riding for the Kawasaki Puccetti Racing at the final two rounds of the season, lapping in ninth on the combined timesheets on his return to WorldSBK action.

Takumi Takahashi got a feel for the Jerez track on his Honda CBR1000RR in 20th place after a technical problem early in FP2.

As the riders undertook their first practice earlier in the day at the Pirelli Spanish Round it was Rea who put in the fastest lap of the superb 4.423km Circuito de Jerez with an excellent late 1’40.291 time. The triple World Champion really picked up the pace in the latter stages of FP1 on a resurfaced track and was 0.6s faster than closest challenger Lowes. Melandri was just 0.002s behind Lowes in third in that session.

Also in the morning session Raffaele de Rosa lost the front at turn one in the final minutes of the session but the Italian walked away unhurt. Ayrton Badovini had a copycat spill at the same turn shortly afterwards and was also soon back on his feet.

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Newly crowned 2017 WorldSBK Champion Jonathan Rea  is ready to take on the Circuito de Jerez for the Spanish Round, at a circuit in which he has never won around.

Since landing back on British soil following the Pirelli French Round, the 30 year old has been spending his time celebrating with his thousands of fans and receiving congratulations from all over the world, but now recognises he has a job to do in Spain. Whilst on the other side of the garage, Tom Sykes is ready for battle as he looks at keeping hold of second position in the championship.

2016 was the first year Rea was able to stand on the podium at the track, as he took a third and second position finish around the 4.4km circuit. But this season he is ready to take on the battle and try to take his debut victory, noting how the new surface could have an impact on race pace.

If he is to finish on the podium this season, he can equal Carl Fogarty’s record of 109 podiums in WorldSBK – a feat which could see him become the most successful British podium finisher.

After a crazy few weeks, Rea tries to sum up his feelings ahead of Round 12: “It's been a whirlwind couple of weeks after Magny Cours and winning my third World Championship. Feelings are finally starting to sink in. I'm very much looking forward to getting back to business and although I have never won a WorldSBK race in Jerez, I'm fired up for the challenge."

The circuit has been resurfaced recently so Friday will be very important to understand our base setup. The latest feelings with the ZX-10RR have been great so I expect a strong weekend, where I'm expecting a lot of travelling support from Northern Ireland.”

 Still riding injured, British rider Sykes has a big ask ahead of him this weekend as he is coming head to head to battle with Chaz Davies for the runner up spot in the championship. Holding the record for the most podium finishes around Circuito de Jerez, Sykes has taken six trophies home with him from the circuit and has consistently finished races in the top five.

The 32 year old is another rider with a milestone in sight, for Sykes he could be set to achieving his 100th podium finish and 99th for Kawasaki – a podium finish in both could see him take his 100th podium with the Japanese manufacturer.

 “We still have things to do before the end of the season,” begins Sykes. “And I am looking forward to riding again at Jerez."

"We have won there before and done a lot of testing there. I am definitely looking forward to getting on the bike again, even though I am not 100% yet with my hand injury. In my eyes, I am considerably better than I was at Magny Cours, which gives me extra confidence and motivation."

"In the approach to Jerez we need to do what we did in France again because I was pleasantly surprised in our pace there, it worked out nicely for me."

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The opening WorldSBK session at Jerez saw a series of fast laps in the final minutes and ended with Rea on top, as Lowes and Melandri were also in top 3

As the riders undertook their first practice at the Pirelli Spanish Round it was Jonathan Rea who registered the fastest lap of the superb 4.423km Circuito de Jerez with an excellent late 1’40.291 time.

The triple World Champion really picked up the pace in the latter stages of FP1 on a resurfaced track and was 0.6s faster than closest challenger Alex Lowes (Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team). Marco Melandri (Aruba.it Racing - Ducati) was just 0.002s behind Lowes in third.

Eugene Laverty was fourth best, with Michael van der Mark and Roman Ramos both provisionally leading before ending up fifth and sixth respectively.

Chaz Davies, Jordi Torres, Tom Sykes and Lorenzo Savadori completed the top ten.

2014 World Champion Sylvain Guintoli was back in action getting to grips with the Kawasaki ZX-10RR, riding for Kawasaki Puccetti Racing at the final two rounds of the season, lapping 13th quickest in FP1 on his return to WorldSBK action.

Takumi Takahashi got a feel for the Jerez track on his Honda CBR1000RR in 19th place.

Raffaele de Rosa lost the front at turn one in the final minutes of the session but the Italian walked away unhurt. Ayrton Badovini had a copycat spill at the same turn shortly afterwards and was also soon back on his feet.

The action continues at the penultimate round of the 2017 WorldSBK Championship in the south of Spain on Friday afternoon with the WorldSBK riders returning to the track for FP2 at 2.30pm local time.

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Heading to a circuit which has proven to be a strong one for the Aruba.it Racing – Ducati team in the past, team-mates Chaz Davies and Marco Melandri are looking ahead to the Pirelli Spanish Round hoping to impress out on track.

Both riders have a strong level of experience around the circuit, and are hoping this will pay off despite the track resurfacing.

Taking a stunning double victory in Spain last season, Davies is hoping he can quickly adapt his Panigale R to the new surface of the 4.4km layout, and continue with his strong pace from race two at Magny-Cours

. With a simple goal of having a strong weekend, the pressure is off for Davies, but he will have one eye on second position in the championship as he currently sits nine points off his main rival Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team).

As the 30 year old is seemingly the man to beat at Jerez, he will put up a hard battle in Spain.

“We had good results at Jerez,” begins Davies. “I feel our package has worked quite well there in the past couple of years, especially in terms of tyre wear. In the past, it was tricky to preserve the rear and get the best feeling with the front, especially in the heat."

"The track has been resurfaced anyway, so that will be the first thing to understand. Usually this changes things quite a lot, so that shall be interesting because we spent so many years riding the same tarmac and basically getting used to it."

"We’ll start from the setup we used in the last races, and adapt it to what we find out about Jerez. The goal is to have another solid weekend and come home with as many points as possible”.

Italian team-mate Melandri returns to a track he enjoys and has a big level of experience around, and will be hoping to repeat his results from Jerez in 2014, where he recorded the double victory.

The 35 year old will be keeping a keen eye on the weather, as he explains track temperature and grip levels will be key this weekend. 

 

         

 

 

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