2006 World Superbike Championship
Winter Test, Valencia, Spain – January 6 2006
FINE WEATHER MIRRORED IN WINSTON TEN KATE HONDA TEAM’S
TEST RESULTS
Having completed only one day of testing in warm and sunny
conditions at Valencia all elements of the Winston Ten Kate
squad have declared themselves happy with their early progress.
Lap times have already been trimmed when compared to 2005
qualifying performances, with both Superbike and Supersport
teams working through a host of possible set-ups on the dry
track. For 2004 World Champion James Toseland, a break into
the 1’35 bracket was a dream start too his latest test
session in his new team, and he concentrated on getting to
know the 2006 Honda CBR1000RR Fireblade. His team-mate Karl
Muggeridge working through an extensive list of set-up options,
accumulating data on suspension and chassis settings. In the
Supersport division, Sebastien Charpentier was on the same
kind of sparkling form that gave him the 2005 Championship.
His new team-mate, Kenan Sofuoglu, spent his first day focussed
on learning his machine fully, having unavoidably lost out
on track time in previous tests.
Ronald Ten Kate – Team Manager
“The first day has been great, especially after the
weather wasn’t so good at our previous Almeria three-day
test. We tried out some new parts there, which seemed to work
well despite the poor conditions, and we knew that those parts
would also work around here. That has certainly proved to
be the case. The bike is the same spec that James rode at
Almeria and from mid-morning onwards things have been going
very well. The times he has been clocking on race tyres are
particularly good, and he managed to get into the 1’35s
by three PM. With Karl we are doing a lot of back-to-back
tests, again on things we worked on in Almeria, but now through
the full range. Karl has put in a lot of testing work for
us, but as James in new to both the team and the machine we
kept him out for a lot of laps. There will be more opportunities
and more to come from Karl tomorrow. On the Supersport side
of things, we are still puzzling out what Kenan likes on the
machine, how he likes to make changes, and we are now very
close to the settings that Sebastien uses. But we are just
playing around with the settings to familiarise Kenan with
the machine. He was already into the 1’39s today, quite
easy, so there is still more to come from him. Sebastien is
really back on the ball; he did a 1’37.6, which was
his quickest lap time so far. He just has new settings for
the new rear shocks and he is using the 2006 engine, which
is also a definite step forward. We are all happy after one
day.”
James Toseland – SBK Winston Ten Kate Honda
Rider
(82 Laps – Fastest lap time 1’35.8)
“I’m very satisfied with today. We had a good
setting at Almeria, and about the same settings here - we
have only had to make one or two clicks on the suspension.
I also tried different front and rear tyres. I have never
been in the 1’35s here, not ever, and to be in the 1’35s
already on race tyres is great. The last time I was here I
was in the 1’37s, so to go into the 1’35s, and
see so much progress, is really good. We will try some different
front forks and shocks but at the moment everything seems
to be going really well.”
Karl Muggeridge – SBK Winston Ten Kate Honda
Rider
(63 Laps – Fastest lap time 1’36.1)
“So far today we have been successful in trying out
new stuff on the bikes. I tested out some new forks and shocks,
finding better suspension settings, things like that. As far
as lap times are concerned, we haven’t really tried
yet; we are just concentrating on the bike. We’re just
using standard tyres and working on the rest. Tomorrow we
have one more set of forks to try and then we can start working
with the new tyres, to get the whole thing to mesh better.
But today has been pretty successful.”
Sébastien Charpentier – SS Winston Ten
Kate Honda Rider
(52 Laps – Fastest lap time 1’37.6)
“It has been a good day of testing because the weather
is perfect, if a little bit cold in the mornings, which makes
it not so easy. The best time of day is between one and three
o’clock. We worked very well in those two hours. My
best lap today was a 1’37.6 on a race tyre, when the
pole time last year was 1’38.3. I’m happy with
the new front tyre and I am confident for Qatar. It is very
close now for everyone but our work is good, so it is OK.
I think there is a good possibility to improve again in 2006,
even if some new machines are coming. For me the Honda is
perfect and I hope for more good weather tomorrow. If we got
another good day then our preparations will be ideal for Qatar.”
Kenan Sofuoglu – SS Winston Ten Kate Honda
Rider
(82 Laps – Fastest lap time 1’39.5)
“Now we have everything here and I am really very happy.
In this test we have tried everything, with the bike in different
positions, and every outing we have tried different settings
to find my ideal ones. We did not really try for the lap times,
and even tomorrow we will continue concentrating on set-up.
I am not worried about lap times just yet, I’m just
getting ready for the first round.”
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