Source: Supplied.

Kawasaki Racing Team’s Tom Sykes has been forced to sit out this week’s Superbike World Championship (WorldSBK) test at Portimao in Portugal due to an ankle injury.

The team has remained vague on how the British ace sustained the injury, labelling it as sports related while reigning champion Jonathan Rea will solely fly the flag in the two-day test.

Sykes expressed his disappointment in sitting on the sidelines, highlighting it was crucial to gain seat time after a lengthy layoff in the championship’s European summer break.

“It is a shame to miss this test because we have had a big gap in the season,” Sykes commented. “I have been doing a lot of fitness training during the break and the results were very good. I was feeling very strong. But with this injury I am going to have to sit out the test, as I do now want to push it.

“It is a shame because Marcel and the boys had a good programme for the tests, so that we could finish the season strongly. We were going to play with the package because we would have a lot of track time to do so. The focus now is to try and be fit for the next race.”

Sitting fourth in the standings, Sykes is anticipated to be on-track for the 10th round of the series at Portimao on 14-16 September. The number 66 is also due to depart the factory Kawasaki squad at the conclusion of the season.