2013 WSBK Official Phillip Island Test Day 1 Times: Camier Impresses ahead of Haslam

Leon Camier has carried his strong form from last week’s private test at Phillip Island into the official test which started at the circuit on Monday. The FIXI Crescent Suzuki man used a race tire to lap half a second under Max Biaggi’s race lap record, then going on to post a strong race simulation.

The improvements the Crescent Suzuki squad have made, in conjunction with the Japanese Yoshimura company, are clearly paying off, the Suzuki lapping a second quicker than it did at the test last year.

Camier ended the session ahead of Pata Honda’s Leon Haslam, the Ten Kate team well on their way to mastering the new HRC electronics, with still some potential left to come. Haslam was within two tenths of Camier, and just a few thousandths behind Michel Fabrizio, the Italian impressing on the Red Devils Roma Aprilia.

The Italian privateer put his Aprilia RSV4 ahead of the factory machine, Eugene Laverty ending the day as 4th quickest, just two tenths off the time of Camier, and ahead of Marco Melandri, though the BMW GoldBet Italia rider is still struggling with his shoulder.

Melandri complained of a lack of strength in the shoulder after just a few laps on the bike, giving the Italian some concern for Sunday’s two WSBK races. A further operation could be needed to his shoulder once he returns to Europe after this weekend’s races.

Carlos Checa posted the 6th fastest time, the Alstare Ducati man the last of the close group stretching from 2nd to 6th. That the brand new Panigale should end the first test within three tenths of the fastest man is promising, given the fact that both Ducati men missed the private test, Checa due to illness and teammate Ayrton Badovini due to a massive crash. Badovini is also skipping this test, still resting from the huge highside he had at Lukey Heights.

Kawasaki’s Tom Sykes and Fixi Suzuki’s Jules Cluzel also ended last week’s private test badly banged up, Sykes having fractured the radius bone in his left wrist, while Cluzel has a very painful elbow from his crash. Both men got out and lapped, though both were clearly suffering. Sykes ended the day as 10th fastest, while Cluzel was 14th quickest on the first day of testing.

Testing concludes tomorrow, ahead of this weekend’s opening round of World Superbikes as the Australian circuit.

Official Times from the 2013 World Superbike Pre-Season Test at Phillip Island — Day 1:

Pos	No	Rider	Team/Bike	Time	Diff	Prev.
1	2	Leon Camier	Suzuki GSX-R1000	1:31.243	–	–
2	91	Leon Haslam	Honda CBR1000RR	1:31.396	0.153	0.153
3	84	Michel Fabrizio	Aprilia RSV4 1000	1:31.401	0.158	0.005
4	58	Eugene Laverty	Aprilia RSV4 1000	1:31.452	0.209	0.051
5	33	Marco Melandri	BMW S1000 RR	1:31.485	0.242	0.033
6	7	Carlos Checa	Ducati Panigale 1199R	1:31.523	0.280	0.038
7	34	Davide Giugliano	Aprilia RSV4 1000	1:31.701	0.458	0.178
8	50	Sylvain Guintoli	Aprilia RSV4 1000	1:31.966	0.723	0.265
9	65	Jonathan Rea	Honda CBR1000RR	1:31.980	0.737	0.014
10	66	Tom Sykes	Kawasaki ZX-10R	1:32.061	0.818	0.081
11	19	Chaz Davies	BMW S1000 RR	1:32.077	0.834	0.016
12	21	Jamie Stauffer	Honda CBR1000RR	1:32.231	0.988	0.154
13	18	Ivan Clementi	BMW S1000 RR	1:32.789	1.546	0.558
14	16	Jules Cluzel	Suzuki GSX-R1000	1:32.817	1.574	0.028
15	31	Vittorio Iannuzzo	BMW S1000 RR	1:33.162	1.919	0.345
16	27	Max Neukirchner	Ducati Panigale 1199R	1:33.541	2.298	0.379
17	76	Loris Baz	Kawasaki ZX-10R	1:33.628	2.385	0.087
18	14	Glen Allerton	BMW S1000 RR	1:34.009	2.766	0.381
19	23	Federico Sandi	Kawasaki ZX-10R	1:34.094	2.851	0.085
20	5	Alexander Lundh	Kawasaki ZX-10R	1:34.612	3.369	0.518