"I felt really good at this test and overall I am quite pleased with how things went," Sykes said.
"We did well in the first couple of days and reached a high level, but even on the final day we made a big step and picked up more momentum. The step came from the geometry and chassis side, and we have such a good balance on the bike now for my riding style. This good direction should take us through to the start of the season. We did not have the chance to try and get a real fast lap but our pace was good and it was a really positive test. I'm looking forward to the Portimao sessions now, and we will have completed a lot of testing by the time the season starts."
Joan Lascorz: added, "It was a very positive test for me. Even though I am not yet 100% recovered in terms of fitness on the racebike, I set good lap times, close to Tom's best. I just need to keep working hard to recover my full strength. I learned a lot more things about the Ninja ZX-10R over these days, all good things. I am also happy with the way we are working in the team. I look forward to Portimao now, and riding the bike at another circuit before we go to Australia for the final test and then the first race."
Paul Risbridger, Team Manager concluded by saying,: "We had a good final day and ran from around 9am to 2pm. Tom did a good race run and we got the other things we wanted to try completed too. We made good progress with set-up today and both riders went into the 2'04s, with a consistent race pace in the 2.05s. We had no qualifying tyres with us, only race tyres. Joan is still not fully fit and we limited his runs, but he was lapping at a good pace. We did all the testing we wanted to do and we worked through all the important areas. Opting to do four days on track was the right thing, because at this time of year you always lose a little bit of time each day because of the rain."
A further two official IMS test sessions, at Portimao and then Phillip Island, will take place before the season itself starts at Phillip Island on Sunday February 27
Main Photo: Tom Sykes chases Joan Lascorz
Credit: Kawaskai Racing
