Tom Sykes was relieved to come through the final day of testing without incident, ending Tuesday’s sessions in third place. The Yorkshireman fractured his left wrist on Thursday but nevertheless completed 39 laps and praised his Kawasaki team for their work in preparing the ZX-10R for the new season despite the loss of track time.
“I definitely used my injured arm a lot today because it has been sleeping. My crew chief has been doing a good job of waking it up. I know that the wrist has been knocked about and you can tell there is a crack in it, likewise the ribs are pretty sore, but I have every confidence in Kawasaki and all of the team. Big thanks to my crew chief Marcel and my team manager Guim because they made a very important call to make on Thursday after the accident. We have started to regroup now and be where we need to be. There is still work to be done but with six hours track time the boys have done a fantastic job, one that has made my life easier. I can get on and ride the bike and I am enjoying it. I had been a little bit tense due to the circuit catching me out a few days ago, but I finished well, with a lot of information. I am fortunate to have some clever people working with me and we have made up for lost ground. We did a lot of laps yesterday and felt OK when I woke up this morning.”
Teammate Loris Baz was fifteenth quickest but after a crash of his own late last week, the Frenchman admitted he was taking it easy with one eye on the upcoming race weekend.
“It was not so easy at the beginning of this test because I crashed in the previous one and it was not easy to get my confidence back, so I was riding really under the limit. It is really important to be free with the bike and let it go in the corners. Then we managed to find something, more with me then the bike I think, and we improved a lot. That was really positive. I think we are going to be OK and even improve again on Friday.”
