'It feels like my bike' - successful first test for Kent and McAMS Racing
2024 got underway early for the McAMS Racing team as Danny Kent took to the track for a four-day winter test at Almeria.
With testing banned from January 1st until the first official test in April, the team set off for sunnier climes to give the 2015 Moto3 World Champion a first real taste of the R1 ahead of the 2024 Bennetts British Superbike season.
New to the R1, the test provided Kent with an opportunity to understand the different parts available as he looks to mount a challenge in 2024. The first day was spent riding the bike for familiarisation purposes, before the team introduced various parts over the following three days.
The test also proved useful as a team bonding exercise, with several new members joining the Mar-Train effort for 2024 including new technical boss Chris Anderson, who joins from the championship-winning Raceways Motorcycles run McAMS Yamaha team.
Achieving a positive feeling with the R1 over the four days, Kent leaves the test happy and feeling like the R1 is his own bike with the team heading into the winter break with strong aspirations for the 2024 season.
No testing will now take place until the first official test at Donington Park in early April, ahead of further testing and the first round of the championship at Navarra between 20-21 April.
Danny Kent
Rider
“It’s been a great four days’ testing here in Spain, I’ve loved riding the McAMS Racing R1. It’s been good to spend four days building relationships with the team, a strong relationship with a team is always positive and I feel like we’ve got off to a strong start there. I’ve done lots of laps on the bike this week and I’m really starting to gel with the R1; it’s starting to feel like my bike now. Overall, it’s been a very good test and I’m very happy so a huge thanks to Mar-Train for organising the test this winter as we’ve really benefitted from doing this.”
Chris Anderson
Crew Chief
“It’s been a good four days in Spain, it’s been nice to get Danny on the bike again after Bishopscourt as there wasn’t a huge amount to learn there as the conditions weren’t great and we’ve built a whole new bike for this test. We got through a lot of test parts to give us a bit of a direction for 2024 and learned what Danny likes, what he doesn’t like etc and how he works as a rider. Now we’ll head back to the workshop where we’ve a few things to work on as we get ready for 2024.”
