IN
THE
WIND
P38
HASLAM FASTEST IN FINAL DAY RUSH
T
he weather was unkind at the
well-attended two-day Porti-
mao tests in Portugal, but there
was enough time on the track
later in the final dry afternoon to
allow Red Devils Aprilia's Leon
Haslam to go half a second fast-
er than the next best rider and
recorded a 1:43.5 lap.
Second quickest overall was
Crescent Suzuki's Alex Lowes
tied with another British rider
Chaz Davies on the Aruba.
it Ducati World Superbike. Al-
though the all-new Ducati tran-
sponders and the circuit lap tim-
er proved incompatible, meaning
all Panigale times were made by
hand.
Davies' teammate David Giug-
liano, who like all his peers was
robbed of good track conditions
too often at this test, ended the
test with a 1:44.5, just ahead of
the ever-charging BMW Motor-
rad Italia rideR Sylvain Barrier
with his 1:44.8.
New World Superbike recruit
Matteo Baiocco on the Althea
Ducati tied with the lone MV
Agusta of Leon Camier, each
putting in a 1:45.6.
Suzuki's Randy De Puniet
lodged a 1:45.7 and new Aprilia
Red Devils rider Jordi Torres
had to work hard for his 1:45.9
at such a tricky circuit as Porti-
mao—especially on a windy sec-
ond afternoon.
This 1:45.9 was the same
pace set by Hero EBR's Niccolo
Canepa in what was a largely
positive first European outing for
the new-look American squad.
Returning two-time World Su-
perbike Champion Max Biaggi
carried on for the second day
after falling on the first, fighting
against a painful left shoulder
and some still relatively new Mo-
toGP electronics (fitted to the
full power 2014 season RSV-4
engine, in an RSV-4 Superbike
chassis) to record a 1:46.4.
Larry Pegram, the rider/man-
ager of the Hero EBR team had
his first taste of Portimao and
declared it a very hard circuit to
learn. He still set a 1:47.1 on his
first visit.
Althea Racing Ducati's Lean-
dro Mercado clocked in with a
1:47.4, a time matched by team-
mate Nico Terol.
Most, but not all of the teams
at Portimao, will head to Jerez for
more testing, next Monday and
Tuesday.
Gordon Ritchie
PHOTOGRAPHY
BY
GOLD
AND
GOOSE
Leon Haslam
topped the time
sheets at the
end of the two-
day Portimao
test.
