Source: Supplied.

The 2015 Jerez WorldSBK pole position time was completely obliterated as Tom Sykes and Jonathan Rea fitted Superpole tyres to their 2016 Kawasaki ZX-10R bikes.

On what was the fifth and final day of this week’s test in Jerez, the Kawasaki Racing Team riders both delivered stunning lap times, as a 1m39.313s for Sykes and 1m39.524s for Rea blew this year’s pole position time of 1m40.292s (Sykes) swiftly into the weeds.

Once again, conditions were good in Jerez de la Frontera, confirming just why teams and riders head so frequently to the south of Spain for their off-season running. As is always the case in testing, isolated fastest lap times of each rider can mean little, as each team is running its own program and fuel loads are unknown.

For the record, Xavi Fores (Barni Racing Team, Ducati Panigale R) was third quickest from Nicky Hayden (Honda World Superbike Team, Honda CBR1000RR SP) and Chaz Davies (Aruba.it Ducati-Racing SBK Team, Ducati Panigale R), Davide Giugliano and seventh-placed Leon Camier (MV Agusta Reparto Corse, MV Agusta F4 RR). Sylvain Guintoli was also on-track, but once again his Pata Yamaha World Superbike Team YZF-R1 was not fitted with a transponder.

The analysis of lap times made for interesting reading. It revealed that Sykes was the only Kawasaki rider to submit two 1m39s lap times. Rea appeared to suffer his aforementioned crash six laps into a race simulation, whereas at the same point of the test Sykes put in 15-lap run before pitting.

WorldSBK rookie Hayden was also hard at work. His most consistent run was a 14-lap stint towards the end of the day, consisting one lap time of 1m41s and eleven of 1m42s, plus two of 1m43s before breaking off and entering the pit lane.

P.J. Jacobsen was again the only entry from World Supersport. However, as Michael van der Mark was out of action and being treated in Belgium for an over-stressed muscle, the American tried out the World Superbike machine his run was only interjected by an incident at turn 10, but Jacobsen was able to walk away from the scene of the crash.

The testing ban for the current off-season will run for just under two weeks, from Tuesday, 22 December to Monday, 4 January. During this period, testing is prohibited for any team contracted to compete in either the FIM Superbike World Championship or FIM Supersport World Championship.