Parkalgar WSB test: Byrne stays top with fastest ever lap of Parkalgar circuit

Shane Byrne fired yet another warning shot to his rivals on day two of the Parkalgar WSB test in Portugal by posting the fastest ever lap of the circuit to stay at the very top of the leader board.

Byrne, riding the Sterilgarda Ducati incredibly set the best time using a hard race tyre, not a soft qualifier leaving the rest of the field stunned at the pace of the reigning BSB champion.  

Shakey also spent some time lapping with new Xerox Ducati recruit Noriyuki Haga with the two men swapping positions at the top of the leader board in the final 40 minutes of the session.

Speaking to MCN he said: “Every time I have a problem and I speak to Alberto my engineer, he looks at the data and we try something. We had a few things to work with today and we have boxed of two or three of them.

“I think there is more to come tomorrow if we have good conditions. I was happy with today’s lap time and to be honest I didn’t know I had gone that fast, or know the session had finished either!

“I came round the second turn and into the third, ready to push really hard and there were people doing practice starts. I suddenly thought, “the session must be finished!”

The Yamaha duo of Ben Spies and Tom Sykes had an impressive day illustrating both speed and consistency on the fast developing Yamaha Italia R1. Spies finished the day second with Sykes upping his pace dramatically to go fourth fastest. The Yamaha pairing were split by Xerox Ducati man Noriyuki Haga.

Carlos Checa showed the pace that was expected of him to take fifth with Alstare Suzuki man, Max Neukirchner looking both consistent and comfortable in sixth.

Jonathan Rea was disappointed to be down in ninth and is still working hard to get the most out of the powerful Ten Kate Honda driving from the apex on the exit of the corner. Leon Haslam claimed tenth and remained justifiably upbeat given the amount of new parts he still has to test on-board the Stiggy Honda.

Tommy Hill finished in 23rd spot 2.4 seconds off the pace.

1 67 Byrne S. (GBR) Ducati 1098R 1’43.294
2 19 Spies B. (USA) Yamaha YZF R1 1’43.484
3 41 Haga N. (JPN) Ducati 1098R 1’43.487
4 66 Sykes T. (GBR) Yamaha YZF R1 1’43.546
5 7 Checa C. (ESP) Honda CBR1000RR 1’43.657
6 76 Neukirchner M. (GER) Suzuki GSX-R 1000 K9 1’43.674
7 96 Smrz J. (CZE) Ducati 1098R 1’43.767
8 84 Fabrizio M. (ITA) Ducati 1098R 1’43.951
9 65 Rea J. (GBR) Honda CBR1000RR 1’44.115
10 91 Haslam L. (GBR) Honda CBR1000RR 1’44.170
11 71 Kagayama Y. (JPN) Suzuki GSX-R 1000 K9 1’44.425
12 11 Corser T. (AUS) BMW S1000 RR 1’44.479
13 55 Laconi R. (FRA) Ducati 1098R 1’44.546
14 9 Kiyonari R. (JPN) Honda CBR1000RR 1’44.610
15 23 Parkes B. (AUS) Kawasaki ZX 10R 1’44.704
16 53 Polita A. (ITA) Ducati 1098R 1’45.108
17 56 Nakano S. (JPN) Aprilia RSV4 1’45.179
18 3 Biaggi M. (ITA) Aprilia RSV4 1’45.260
19 24 Roberts B. (AUS) Ducati 1098R 1’45.278
20 25 Salom D. (ESP) Kawasaki ZX 10R 1’45.393
21 100 Tamada M. (JPN) Kawasaki ZX 10R 1’45.446
22 36 Lavilla G. (ESP) Honda CBR1000RR 1’45.672
23 33 Hill T. (GBR) Honda CBR1000RR 1’45.679
24 99 Scassa L. (ITA) Kawasaki ZX 10R 1’45.820
25 111 Xaus R. (ESP) BMW S1000 RR 1’46.128
26 44 Rolfo R. (ITA) Honda CBR1000RR 1’46.916
27 77 Iannuzzo V. (ITA) Honda CBR1000RR 1’46.971