Newsletter

The official race report service of Kawasaki Racing Team.

28 januari 2019

Mahias and Okubo Make Testing Progress

Kawasaki Puccetti Racing riders Hikari Okubo and Lucas Mahias have now completed four successful days of winter testing in Europe, first at Jerez and now in Portugal, with both riders finding improvements in their settings and pace.

The Portimao tests were affected by strong winds and even a short fall of rain late in the final afternoon. With all their main development and set-up plans completed the team almost called a halt to their work with two hours to go, after the first spots of rain appeared. On a quickly drying track Mahias got back into action to double check some settings.
 
With a personal best lap time of 1.45.689, Mahias ended up third fastest over one single lap, with Okubo’s 1’45.915 making him fourth fastest of the ten WorldSSP riders who took to the track in Portugal.
 
The next test sessions for the Kawasaki Puccetti Racing WorldSSP team will be the final ones before the season starts for real at Phillip Island in Australia. The test days are scheduled for the 18th and 19th of February, with raceday on Sunday the 24th of February.
 
Hikari Okubo, stated: “I think we had a good test because I got to improve my best lap times and I understood my Kawasaki more. Our settings reached a good level and I had some more ideas about the bike. I am not in the very top lap times here so I am not so happy about that, and I need to think more and push harder in PI. But we can do this because the bike is good and my feeling with it is positive. I need one more step up, which is very important, but we can do it I think. We should be OK and I am happy to have had four days of testing.”
 
Lucas Mahias stated: “In general this test at Portimao was not so bad, but for sure I preferred the test in Jerez. We did not have such good weather today, with a lot of wind and it was not easy to understand the bike. The lap time is not so bad and the race simulation also. I am waiting for Phillip Island for more opportunities to test before the season starts.”
 
 
                                                #NinjaSpirit