The Pata Honda team has completed its riding programme for 2013, concluding with a three-day test at Jerez in Spain which finished yesterday evening.

World Superbike riders Jonathan Rea and Leon Haslam went to Jerez on the back of a successful test at Aragon two weeks ago and concentrated on refining the power delivery of their CBR1000RR Fireblade machines.

They were joined for the first two days at Jerez by Pata Honda’s World Supersport riders Michael van der Mark and Lorenzo Zanetti, who declared themselves satisfied with further developments made to their CBR600RRs.

A World Superbike and World Supersport testing ban comes into effect on 1 December and will remain in place until 14 January 2014, following which the team will test again at Portimao in Portugal.

Jonathan Rea - Pata Honda World Superbike

After a positive test at Aragon, I really struggled here at Jerez. It’s hard to put a finger on our problems but I feel that the character of our engine is quite aggressive and that makes the lap difficult here! We have a few new strategies to implement at our next test in January, which should help. I completed over 200 laps here so now I’m really looking forward to the winter break. I hope to come back in January to make some more progress with the CBR. Happy holidays, folks!!

Leon Haslam - Pata Honda World Superbike

I’m actually quite glad that 2013 is over now and we can look forward to a fresh start in 2014. The last three days have been pretty hard but necessary, and while we haven’t progressed as much as we would have liked, we know what we need to do. I’m confident that when new parts arrive next year we can make the step that’s needed. I’m looking forward to a few weeks off now and getting back to full fitness so that I’m raring to go in January.

Michael van der Mark - Pata Honda World Supersport

We had a positive two days in Jerez and made some good improvements. In fact, we started them in Aragon and were able to continue to make progress here. We made a couple of really fast laps but also had a good race pace. For our next test we need to work on improving rear grip a little but before then I’ll be working on my fitness to be ready for the beginning of next season.

Lorenzo Zanetti - Pata Honda World Supersport

I’m very happy with our test in Jerez. We tried a lot of different settings and in the end I improved my qualifying time from the race here and I improved my rhythm for a good race simulation. For these reasons I’m really looking forward to a positive 2014!

Pieter Breddels – technical co-ordinator

We made some really good progress during our Aragon test recently but I have to say that we weren’t able to continue that here in Jerez. Something about the nature of the circuit – perhaps the fact that the bike is on the side of the tyre for so long – has created some issues with getting the power down. However, this is why we go testing: to test solutions to issues that we may have. Both our Superbike riders lapped in the 41s bracket and we’ve got plenty to work on during the testing ban. On the Supersport side of the garage, things went very well and the guys made a lot of progress with engine braking and suspension settings.