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Paul Bird Motorsport rider Gregorio Lavilla
concluded a successful three day test at
Jerez by racking up close on
200 laps despite varying weather conditions at the Spanish
track.
The 34 year old from
Tarragona quickly adapted to
his first ride on the Honda CBR1000RR
Fireblade as the team worked on all aspects of the machine throughout the
test and despite no official timing being recorded, telemetry showed that
Lavilla was on the pace of World Superbike regular, Lorenzo Lanzi aboard
the SBK-spec 1098 Ducati.
Lavilla, the 2005 British Superbike Champion, is
making a return to the World Superbike Championship with the team that won
BSB in 2002 and 2003 and was delighted
with his progress so far:
Gregorio Lavilla
“This was a very good test to do as it is over
two months since I last raced and I am very happy with the way things
went. The team, as I expected, is very professional and there is already a
great atmosphere so the transition is working well. On the first day, the
conditions were OK but it was wet on the second day and very windy on the
third day but we worked on a number of areas as well as using Pirelli
tyres. We concentrated on set up rather than outright speed and although
we still have a lot of work to do, I’m very happy with the progress we
have made and to be on the pace of someone like Lanzi already is very
encouraging.”
Paul Bird, Team Owner:
“I knew it wouldn’t take Greg long to get up to
speed and being the world class rider that he is, it’s showing already. He
was under no pressure from us to go fast but he’s so hungry having been
away for World Superbikes for four years, he really is fired up. He needed
time on the bike and that’s what this test gave him and I was particularly
impressed with how he adapted to the Pirelli tyres. It’s only two months
to the first race so we aim to fit in a lot more testing between now and
then.”
The next test is scheduled for January at
Valencia
before the team heads out to the Middle East for a
final test prior to the first round of the revised 2008 World Superbike
Championship which gets underway at
Qatarrd.
on
February 23
The revised calendar is as follows:
23 February
Losail,
Qatar
2 March
Phillip
Island,
Australia
6 April
Valencia,
Spain
27 April
Assen,
Netherlands
11 May
Monza,
Italy
(subject to contract)
1 June
Miller, Utah,
USA
15 June
Nurburgring,
Germany
29 June
Misano,
Italy
20 July
Brno, Czech
Republic
3 August
Brands Hatch, GB
7 September
Donington
Park, GB
21 September
Vallelunga,
Italy
5 October
Magny Cours,
France
12 October
Sentul,
Indonesia (subject to
contract)
2 November
Portimao,
Portugal
Picture courtesy of
Pablo Gutierrez
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