Rea picks up where he left off

No fewer than 21 riders set times in the one-day test at Imola, which were held in dry conditions after the dry race weekend.

To no-one’s surprise Jonathan Rea (Pata Honda) was fastest, using some new electronics strategies to set a 1’47.225.

Only just behind, Chaz Davies (Ducati World Superbike) put himself 0.085 seconds from a morale boosting top spot, as he strove to get rid of high frequency vibration from his Ducati Panigale machine. He partially succeeded and went for a fast time late in the two-part track session.

Rea, flushed from his success in both Imola races, said of the tests, ”We changed the balance of the bike a little bit and we had some test items, electronically, to help maintain the lap times at the end. We had a good day. The bike is working really well now in the wet or the dry and I am excited about Donington.”

The testing order mirrored the race result from the weekend in each of the top two positions, but things changed behind the leading British duo.

A great day’s effort from Toni Elias put him third after what he said was his first proper test this season, when he could try out new things on the Red Devils Roma lease Aprilia. He did 99 laps, more than any other rider.

Finding a positive in his machine’s ability to keep its balance entering corners allowed Eugene Laverty (Voltcom Crescent Suzuki) to jump up to fourth fastest right at the end.

Davide Giugliano (Ducati World Superbike) slotted in fifth, while Alex Lowes (Voltcom Crescent Suzuki) made more progress as he completed a final swap to the FTR rear swingarm that Laverty has used for some time. He found no chatter with it this time around and should continue to use it.

Marco Melandri (Aprilia Racing) was depressed by his performances on the weekend but found something in his set-up to improve his mood and performance on used tyres, as did his team-mate Sylvain Guintoli. They finished seventh and eighth respectively.

Leon Haslam tried to break into the 12’47s on his Pata Honda and eventually succeeded with ease. He saw out the top nine riders and ended up only 0.497 seconds from his team-mate and fastest tester Rea.

The Evo bike competitors were headed by Niccolo Canepa (Ducati Althea) in tenth. He was still more than a second from the fastest Superbike rider.

Leon Camier, in his first real test for the BMW Motorrad Italia team, was 11th, Ayrton Badovini (Alstare Bimota) was his shadow in 12th.

The full Superbike MV Agusta RC Yakhnich Motorsport F4 of Claudio Corti took him to a lap time that was only 1.6 from Rea, and was good enough for 13th place.

Regular Superstock 1000 rider Lorenzo Savadori rode a Superbike level Pedercini Kawasaki to 14th and the last rider inside the top 15 was Christian Iddon (Alstare Bimota BB3). There was no Kawasaki Racing Team presence at these tests, so no Tom Sykes, Loris Baz or David Salom.
 
1 65 J. REA GBR PATA Honda World Superbike Honda CBR1000RR 1’47.419 1’47.225 1’47.225 165,723 48
2 7 C. DAVIES GBR Ducati Superbike Team Ducati 1199 Panigale R 1’48.441 1’47.310 1’47.310 0.085 0.085 165,591 55
3 24 T. ELIAS ESP Red Devils Roma Aprilia RSV4 Factory 1’47.961 1’47.383 1’47.383 0.158 0.073 165,479 99
4 58 E. LAVERTY IRL Voltcom Crescent Suzuki Suzuki GSX-R1000 1’48.318 1’47.550 1’47.550 0.325 0.167 165,222 73
5 34 D. GIUGLIANO ITA Ducati Superbike Team Ducati 1199 Panigale R 1’47.589 1’47.782 1’47.589 0.364 0.039 165,162 39
6 22 A. LOWES GBR Voltcom Crescent Suzuki Suzuki GSX-R1000 1’47.628 1’48.606 1’47.628 0.403 0.039 165,102 72
7 33 M. MELANDRI ITA Aprilia Racing Team Aprilia RSV4 Factory 1’47.636 1’48.073 1’47.636 0.411 0.008 165,090 63
8 50 S. GUINTOLI FRA Aprilia Racing Team Aprilia RSV4 Factory 1’47.849 1’47.650 1’47.650 0.425 0.014 165,068 52
9 91 L. HASLAM GBR PATA Honda World Superbike Honda CBR1000RR 1’48.058 1’47.722 1’47.722 0.497 0.072 164,958 80
10 59 N. CANEPA ITA Althea Racing Ducati 1199 Panigale R EVO 1’48.756 1’48.323 1’48.323 1.098 0.601 164,043 51
11 19 L. CAMIER GBR BMW Motorrad Italia SBK BMW S1000 RR EVO 1’48.755 1’48.439 1’48.439 1.214 0.116 163,867 70
12 86 A. BADOVINI ITA Team Bimota Alstare Bimota BB3 EVO 1’49.440 1’48.671 1’48.671 1.446 0.232 163,517 47
13 71 C. CORTI ITA MV Agusta RC-Yakhnich M. MV Agusta F4 RR 1’49.670 1’48.851 1’48.851 1.626 0.180 163,247 45
14 132 L. SAVADORI ITA Team Pedercini Kawasaki ZX-10R 1’49.467 1’51.002 1’49.467 2.242 0.616 162,328 41
15 2 C. IDDON GBR Team Bimota Alstare Bimota BB3 EVO 1’50.248 1’49.820 1’49.820 2.595 0.353 161,807 55
16 23 L. SCASSA ITA Team Pedercini Kawasaki ZX-10R EVO 1’49.948 1’50.661 1’49.948 2.723 0.128 161,618 56
17 11 J. GUARNONI FRA MRS Kawasaki Kawasaki ZX-10R EVO 1’50.583 1’50.516 1’50.516 3.291 0.568 160,788 57
18 9 F. FORET FRA MAHI Racing Team India Kawasaki ZX-10R EVO 1’50.801 1’51.812 1’50.801 3.576 0.285 160,374 37
19 21 A. ANDREOZZI ITA Team Pedercini Kawasaki ZX-10R EVO 1’50.962 1’50.815 1’50.815 3.590 0.014 160,354 59
20 10 I. TOTH HUN BMW Team Toth BMW S1000 RR 1’51.086 1’51.086 3.861 0.271 159,963 36
21 99 G. MAY USA Team Hero EBR EBR 1190 RX 1’52.433 1’52.433 5.208 1.347 158,046 29