Hannspree Ten Kate Honda’s two French riders, Fabien Foret and Florian Marino, have both set impressively fast times during an official two-day World Supersport test at Phillip Island.
Foret, who returns to the Ten Kate fold for the first time since winning the World Supersport championship with the team in 2002, set the fastest overall time of the test, with his young team-mate, Marino, running fourth quickest. Foret’s best lap of 1m33.904s was less than 0.1s off the fastest ever World Supersport lap at Phillip Island.
It is the 17-year-old Marino’s first visit to the fast 4.5km circuit which lies 150km south of Melbourne, and he has continued to improve his lap times following a private two-day test at the circuit last week.
Phillip Island will host this weekend’s opening round of the World Supersport championship, with the Ten Kate team aiming for its ninth title in 10 years.Fabien Foret – best lap 1m33.904s
I felt a bit tired this afternoon – mentally more than physically, as I was trying to give good information to the team. The two tests here have been very positive, not just because of the quickest lap but because the race pace is quite good, too. And, most important for me, I have a good feeling on the bike and I’m having fun. I think we are working very well together and we’re are quite close to being ready for the race. We’ll adjust a few things if conditions change, but it’s nice for everybody to be able to prepare like this.
Florian Marino – best lap 1m34.726s
I like this track very much – I’ve learned it quite fast and everything was good at the test last week, except I had a fast, fifth gear crash and hurt my shoulder a bit. We changed a few things to start this second test but I couldn&rsquo ;t get the right feeling so we decided to make two different settings and found something I liked this morning. I went half a second faster without pushing too much and then followed Fabien with a new tyre and was able to do a quick lap, again without pushing so hard. I found it hard to get into a rhythm by myself and go any faster, so there is still some work for me to do at the weekend.
Ronald ten Kate – team manager
It’s been a really good test with both boys up at the front. Florian has been quite impressive in his first visit to the island. Of course, he’s getting some tricks and tips from Fabien, but a young man like him has to learn to master the bike himself around here and he’s doing that very well. We mustn’t forget to take it step-by-step with him but it’s developing well and he’s giving good feedback to the team. Fabien has been flying ever since he put his leg back o ver the Honda and I’ve only seen him with big smiles on his face. On long runs, he’s been fast – as in faster than last year’s race – and he can put in the quick laps, too. We’ve ticked a lot of boxes and hope to be ready for the weekend when we still have a bit of work to do to improve things more, but team and riders are prepared to do the job.
