Gain in Spain for FPR

Gain in Spain for FPR
The second day of the Superbike World Championship official test at Valencia, Spain, today brought further encouragement for Foggy PETRONAS Racing.

Both Steve Martin and Craig Jones were able to make in-roads into their best laps of yesterday, while also testing new engine specifications.

Steve finished the morning session in 10th place, having shaved more than half a second off yesterday’s best lap. However, an afternoon of frustrating technical hitches prevented further progress for the Australian and he slipped to 13th in the standings.

Superbike debutant Craig sliced more than 1.5 seconds off his best lap around the tight and twisty circuit, while also experimenting with new stages of engine development.

Steve said: “The morning session was pretty positive and I managed to lap a lot quicker than last year. Tomorrow I need to improve the handling of the bike with the new specification camshaft, as I am having problems wheelying out of the corners, so we will change the weight distribution and ride heights. I want to do a long run on race tyres tomorrow and then put some qualifiers in, as some of the other riders have done today. But when it comes to the race we already know that it is going to be so tight as not to be funny!”

Craig said: “We made a lot of progress today and I was able to take a big chunk out of my time. If I can keep on doing that tomorrow I will end up with a decent time. A lot of the improvement is coming from just riding the bike and learning the track but I think I can still find a lot of time in the set-up of the bike. I am looking forward to going out in the morning and using the experience I have gained today to go quicker straight away.”

Second day times, Superbike World Championship official test, Valencia, Spain: 1 Bayliss 1:34.987; 2 Corser 1:35.571; 3 Haga 1:35.618; 4 Walker 1:35.827; 5 Kagayama 1:35.899; 6 Nieto 1:35.974; 7 Lanzi 1:36.009; 8 Muggeridge 1:36.034; 9 Xaus 1:36.175; 10 Pitt 1:36.215; 13 Martin (Foggy PETRONAS Racing) 1:36.413; 28 Jones (Foggy PETRONAS Racing) 1:38.759