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The official race report service of Kawasaki Racing Team.

29 Juillet 2022

Rea Fifth Fastest On Day One

After the first two free practice sessions at a dry and warm Autodrom Most in the Czech Republic, KRT’s WorldSBK riders Jonathan Rea and Alex Lowes finished fifth and eighth respectively in the combined lap times.

It was a day of preparation for the races for Rea, after some tough experiences at Most last season. He set his best lap time in the morning session and continued working with the same tyre in the afternoon, as other set-up changes were evaluated.

Lowes’ Friday potential was limited by a small non-Covid fever which drained him of some energy, but he still improved his best lap time in the second free practice session. Lowes is now focusing his attention on his own physical condition to face the first Raceday of the weekend, on Saturday 30 July.

The 4.212km long Most circuit has been partially resurfaced since the 2021 WorldSBK Race weekend, with the improvements in sector one providing a more consistent level of grip over an entire lap, and immediately faster lap times compared to 2021.

One final FP3 session, Superpole Qualifying and then a full distance 22-lap Race One are scheduled for Saturday at Most. Thunderstorms and heavy rains are predicted to arrive overnight and remain in the area for much of the day. Sunday is predicted to be once more warm and sunny, and more similar to the opening day in general.

Jonathan Rea, stated: “We had a really positive day, to be honest. I feel much better with the bike set-up here compared to last year. I am much less on the limit and everything feels under control. We worked in the afternoon just on understanding how the tyre was going to drop over distance. We took the same tyre as the morning and kept riding. When we put a new tyre in nearer the end we were testing a new item on the bike as well. This time here, it wasn’t working, but the pace we had this morning was OK. Even this afternoon, on a used tyre, I was there or thereabouts. I think it was a good day one and I feel much better with the track than I did last year. They did a pretty good job with resurfacing in Sector One.”

Alex Lowes, stated: “Today has been unfortunate as I haven’t been feeling 100%, physically. It is not Covid. I just have a lack of energy and a small fever. This limited the laps I could do but I don’t feel like the bike set-up is too far away from where we want it. I was able to ride pretty fast and consistently, all things considered. Right now it’s time to rest up and improve my condition for tomorrow. They’ve done a good job with the track re-surfacing in Sector One of the lap, so it’s a lot nicer to ride this section compared to 2021.”

Independent rider Lucas Mahias (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) was 14th after two practice sessions.

At home, running a special paint scheme in his Ninja ZX-10RR, Oliver König (Orelac Racing VerdNatura) was 21st of the 25 riders at Most. Ryan Vickers (TPR Pedercini Kawasaki) was 24th in his first ever day of WorldSBK track action.

2022 KRT Rider WorldSBK Statistics

Jonathan Rea: World Champion 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019 & 2020
2022: Races 15, Wins 5, Podiums 13, Superpoles 2
Career Race Wins: 117 (102 for Kawasaki)
Career Podiums: 228 (186 for Kawasaki)
Career Poles: 37 (33 for Kawasaki)

Alex Lowes:
2022: Races: 15, Wins 0, Podiums 1, Superpoles 0
Career Race Wins: 2 (1 for Kawasaki)
Career Podiums: 30 (10 for Kawasaki)
Career Poles: 1 (0 for Kawasaki)

8 x Riders’ Championships (Scott Russell 1993, Tom Sykes 2013, Rea 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019 & 2020), 1 x EVO Riders’ Championship (David Salom 2014)
6 x Manufacturers’ Championships (Ninja ZX-10R 2015 & 2016, Ninja ZX-10RR 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020)
5 x Teams’ Championships (KRT/Provec Racing 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 & 2019)

Kawasaki FIM Superbike World Championship Statistics
Total Kawasaki Race Wins: 176 – second overall
Total Kawasaki Podiums: 503 – second overall
Total Kawasaki Poles: 102 – second overall

                                                 #NinjaSpirit