The Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK riders recently concluded a track test session with the new 2021 Kawasaki Ninja ZX-10RR. Despite mixed weather conditions, both Jonathan Rea and Alex Lowes threw down some incredible lap times during the two-day test period.
Looking at the lap times, we could see that both riders were not that far off from each other. Both Lowes and Rea completed a total of 66 and 57 laps respectively around the iconic 5.3km Spanish track and their best times were 1’49.716 for Rea and 1’49.832 for Lowes.
Even with poor track conditions and tricky weather, the KRT riders were only a second away from the track’s lap record which was set by Rea during the Aragon round qualifying session back in September. And that was with the previous-gen Kawasaki Ninja ZX-10RR with the super light qualifying setup and an overall machine that they’ve ridden all season long.
The lap times would’ve been more incredible if the track was at optimum conditions considering the fact that the 2021 Kawasaki Ninja ZX-10RR comes with a host of updates, particularly its internal front winglet design (which offers 17% more downforce) and a lighter engine with higher rev-count.
According to the 2020 WorldSBK world champion, Jonathan Rea, “The first day was positive because we kept working with the items we had from the recent Jerez test. We really worked step-by-step on the engine side to understand all the feelings I have and all the different parameters we can explore with the new bike. We drew some really good conclusions. The lap time was very fast and I feel good on the bike – but I feel the potential is much better.”
As for Alex Lowes, he stated, “Day one was pretty good for me. Of course, the temperatures in Aragon are a little bit cold, so it took a while for the track to warm up so that we could get into some proper testing. With new parts to try we wanted to take the opportunity to confirm some of the things that we tried that were positive in Jerez. A couple of things that worked well last week have worked well this week, so from my side we are really happy.”
