Shakey gets first taste of BSB Panigale

Author: Oli Rushby Posted: 22 Jan 2016

Pic: British Superbikes

Shane ‘Shakey’ Byrne took to the track on his brand new British Superbike-spec Ducati Panigale for the first time today.

Testing at the Portimao circuit alongside the Ducati World Superbike team, Byrne, plus team-mate Glenn Irwin, got a first taste of his freshly built Panigale R. 

With the BeWiser-backed PBM team switching from Kawasaki to Ducati this season, Byrne headed out to Spain last October to test a WSB development bike before his team set off to Bologna to collect the factory-prepared bikes from Ducati’s Borgo Panigale HQ.

The test marks the first time he has ridden the Panigale in BSB trim, including the spec-Motec ECU.

“It’s obviously early days but the team have done a fantastic job so far and I am so keen and curious to see what she is like on track in BSB spec compared to the previous Ducatis that I have ridden,” said Byrne before the test.

“We can then start working on making the package the best we can during testing so we are ready for the first round.

“It’s really cool for me to be going back to Portimao as that is a track I know. I have had some good results and tests there when I was in the world championship so we can concentrate on learning the new bike and then move to the new Almeria circuit. We can then take what we have learnt and get ready for the next tests when we can then get a direct comparison.”

Young pretender Danny Buchan was also present at the test with the Lloyds British MotoRapido Ducati squad, as are the PATA Yamaha WSB outfit with Alex Lowes taking to the track for the first time since injuring himself last year.

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