Tom Sykes has completed the first wave of World Superbike Championship testing with the fastest lap time as he once again edged out
Max Biaggi for honours at Motorland Aragon.
Continuing to evaluate the forthcoming 17-inch Pirelli tyres on the 2013-specification Kawasaki ZX-10R, Sykes ended the test with a best lap of 1min 57.6secs, around two tenths faster than recently crowned champion Biaggi on the Aprilia.
The third day of testing was disrupted when Carlos Checa's new Ducati 1199 Panigale locked up on the home straight and dropped a significant amount of oil. Necessitating a lengthy clean-up operation, few riders improved when the session was restarted due to a headwind on the long back straight.
As such, Leon Camier, Eugene Laverty and
Michel Fabrizio – getting his first taste of Aprilia machinery following his switch to Red Devils Roma – completed the top five, ahead of Loris Baz, while Checa and Davide Giugliano had reason to be encouraged by the Panigale's first group outing in seventh and eighth.
The winter testing programme will move to
Jerez next month.