Cheshire Mouldings Yamaha’s Danny Kent and Rory Skinner had their first opportunity to test the R1 this week with a two-day programme at Andalucía in Spain, as the new teammates now prepare for the first R&G Official Test at Donington Park ahead of the 2026 ZYN British Superbike Championship.
Kent is already familiar with the R1; having been a race-winner and podium finisher in recent seasons, working again with Crew Chief Chris Anderson, the pair settled in with the new team and got to work on preparations for the new campaign.
For Skinner the test marked the first opportunity to test the R1 after competing on the Ducati with the team last season, and alongside his familiar crew chief Stuart Shenton, the team completed the test feeling happy ahead of the first UK test on April 3/4.
Kent said: “We completed two really good days on track in Andalucía and it was good to be working with the new team. I would say it was a successful test; the second day was a little bit windy but we managed to work through everything we wanted to try here and now we can look forward to the next test at Donington Park.”
Skinner said: “It has been a really good test for us and I have thoroughly enjoyed working with all the team again. Me and Stuart have been working through it day by day, session by session, and really made some good progress. We are really looking forward to the Donington Park test in two weeks’ time now and continue the work ready for round one.”