Salom takes advantage of excellent conditions at Jerez to continue testing progress

The three Red Bull KTM Ajo riders enjoyed a day of dry practice in Jerez. The sun came out early at the Spanish track, and allowed for an intense workload of testing different settings on the KTM bikes to be carried out –with one eye on the upcoming Grand Prix of Qatar. Luis Salom, Arthur Sissis and Zulfahmi Khairuddin all improved their best times in each of the sessions.

Fine weather was present from the early morning at the Circuito de Jerez. Nevertheless, the Red Bull KTM Ajo riders preferred to wait until 11.30am to leave the garage, waiting on an increase in track temperature to 27ºC. The first of the trio to go out was Spanish rider Luis Salom, with a run of four laps that put him to the head of the timesheet. Arthur Sissis and Zulfahmi Khairuddin waited an extra half-hour to get on their KTM bikes. The session helped them to regain a feel for dry weather after yesterday’s washout.

In the second session, with track temperatures up by ten degrees, Luis Salom went out on track determined to continue his progression. The Spanish rider put in 10 laps that served to give him the top time of 1’47.792. Zulfahmi Khairuddin and Arthur Sissis also lowered their times from the first session, as all three riders started to prepare settings for the first Grand Prix of the year, in Qatar.

To end the day, the Red Bull KTM Ajo trio continued to improve their one-off lap times. Zulfahmi Khairuddin was the rider to put in the most laps, with 30. Salom rode 18 and Sissis 12. The combined standings for the three sessions had Salom fourth fastest (1’47.094), Sissis tenth quickest (1’47.861) and Zulfahmi Khairuddin sixteenth (1’48.316).

The Red Bull KTM Ajo team will conclude their preseason with a fourth day of testing on Thursday –one which will conclude at midday.

Luis Salom
“It’s been a good day. We had a few problems, but we were able to solve them. I realised today the reasons why I am best off riding with this team; I saw that this is the team that I needed behind me a long time ago. I was surprised at how much work they were able to carry out. They made some changes with the setup in a very short amount of time, so that I could at least put in eight laps. I was left speechless. I want to thank them, because they give 100% every minute so that the bike and I are good together. I have to say that this was a positive day for us.”