Red Bull Honda World Superbike Team completes constructive test at Portimão

The one-day official test for the 2017 FIM Superbike World Championship has drawn to a close at Portimão’s Autodromo do Algarve. The Red Bull Honda World Superbike team worked hard with Davide Giugliano, who jumped back on the Honda CBR1000RR Fireblade SP2 after making his debut with the team last month at Lausitzring.

Blessed by yet another perfect day of late summer in the southern coast of Portugal – which was only slightly let down during the last hour by some drizzle – the team progressed the work made with Stefan Bradl last Friday and Saturday at the same track, while evaluating a slightly revised version of the engine, along with some updates to the electronics and a new suspension link. 27-year-old Italian Giugliano completed a good amount of laps around the fast-flowing and undulating Portimão circuit and he is now looking forward to his on-track return in a fortnight’s time at Magny-Cours.

Davide Giugliano

Davide Giugliano 34

It’s been a very busy day for us because, unlike in our original plans, I was obviously the only one on hand for the team for this test. I have raced here before but never with the Fireblade, so I had to spend the first part of the test getting used to riding this bike around the circuit and checking that everything was working well. We then tried several things – mostly with electronics – with some interesting results. It’s good to be back on the bike and this has definitely been a good way to get ready for Magny-Cours.

Red Bull Honda World Superbike Team

Ronald ten Kate

Ronald ten Kate

Team Manager

Davide had a lot of work to do today. We started with some functional tests to check that everything was ok, then we started implementing some new bits and pieces step by step, because he had to carry out all the work on his own due to Stefan’s absence. We are happy with most of the components we have tested here, but too bad that it started raining towards the end because that’s when we were planning to put everything together and go for a quick lap. It’s been a good test for us and we got some valuable information ahead of the next round.

Red Bull Honda World Superbike Team

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