Smrz remains on the top at Portimao

Article from http://www.worldsbk.com/en/news/latest-news/5004-smrz-remains-on-the-top-at-portimao.html

Jakub Smrz proved to be the fastest rider in official Infront Motor Sports pre-season testing at Portimao. After three days of changeable weather conditions, the Effenbert-Liberty man's time of 1'43.503 remained unbeaten throughout, giving the Czech-based Ducati team a great start to life in WSBK racing.

Jakub Smrz: "We brought two bikes here, one with almost the set-up as the one I used for a while last year and one set up like the factory team of last year. That had some different things with geometry, gearing, swingarm and so on and I was fastest on that one on the first day. The other two days there was not so much do, because the conditions were not fully dry, not fully wet, most of the time. The team worked perfectly and it is great for them to start the season being fastest in this test."

In the overall three day rankings, Jonathan Rea (Castrol Honda) is second, and WSBK rookie Eugene Laverty (Yamaha World Superbike Team) third, with Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team Superbike) a confident fourth. Carlos Checa (Althea Racing) filled the top five places, with World Champion Max Biaggi (Aprilia Alitalia Racing Team) sixth, despite only taking to the track on the dry first day.

Michel Fabrizio (Team Suzuki Alstare) headed off Smrz's team-mate Sylvain Guintoli for seventh, despite crashing twice in the middle day. Leon Camier (Aprilia Alitalia Racing Team) was ninth and new WSBK rider Joan Lascorz (Kawasaki Racing Team) beat some established names to go tenth quickest.