SUZUKI ALSTARE CONCENTRATE ON BIKE SETTINGS
Team Suzuki Alstare riders Leon Haslam and Sylvain Guintoli continued to work on finding the best set-up for their GSX-R1000 K10 Suzukis instead of chasing lap times today and ended the two-day World Superbike test at Phillip Island in Australia in 7th and 15th respectively.
Strong winds buffeted the 4.445 kilometre circuit and most riders took things cautiously, especially in the afternoon. Ducatis filled the top four places at the finish with Michel Fabrizio the fastest, with a time of 1:31.650. Second was Shane Byrne, with Jakub Smrz third and Carlos Checa fourth.
Leon Haslam: 142 laps (two days) 7th - 1:32.279:
“I am not so happy with the final result, regarding lap times, but overall I am happy with all the work we’ve done and the things we found out and this will help us go in the right direction.
“Today we started with the two bikes set up differently and I preferred some things on one bike and some things on the other bike, so the mechanics will now try and put the best bits of both on one bike and that’s what I will start with during first practice next Friday. We spent quite a lot of time today trying out race tyres, so that we will be in a good position next week, but that meant that we didn’t really go for a very quick lap time.
“I am not worried about the guys ahead of me today, because I know that things will be very different come the race next weekend. That’s more important than lap times today. I feel good about our prospects - and that’s the main thing.”
Sylvain Guintoli: 147 laps (two days) 15th - 1:32.869:
“Today we did a lot of work on getting the bike working well with race rubber and didn’t concentrate of chasing lap times. I had a small get-off at the tight hairpin after Lukey Heights, but there was no damage to me or the bike. It happened when I lost the front end when I pushed a bit too hard on a tyre that I didn’t really like - and now I like it less!
“I have had no problems with jet-lag or tiredness today, but I felt that I just couldn’t find my good rhythm. This sometimes happens to me when we test for a lot of time, like today when the two sessions lasted two and a half hours each. In a normal race weekend, practice lasts an hour and race is about 45 minutes and I always manage to find a good rhythm without a problem, so maybe the sessions today were a bit too long for me. But, we’ve done a lot of good work and now I am looking forward to next Friday and the start of the race weekend.”
Overall results (two days): 1 Fabrizio (ITA-Ducati) 1:31.650, 2 Byrne (GBR-Ducati) 1:31.652, 3 Smrz (CZE-Ducati) 1:31.680, 4 Checa (ESP-Ducati) 1:31.959, 5 Rea (GBR-Honda) 1:32.175, 6 Haga (JPN-Ducati) 1:32.247, 7 Leon Haslam (GBR-Suzuki Alstare) 1:32.279. 15 Sylvain Guintoli (FRA-Suzuki Alstare) 1:32.869.
