Yesterday the Yamaha World Supersport Team completed a two-day test at the Magny-Cours circuit in France. They were the only supersport team to participate in the test, which was largely for endurance teams.

Magny-Cours has featured on the World Supersport calendar since 2003 and is the venue for the last round later this year. Built in 1960, the circuit was promoted to international status in the 1980s and is famous for hosting the Formula 1 Championship as well as the Bol d'Or.

Broc Parkes has a good history at the circuit, having taken a win there in 2005 as well as pole position and fastest lap in 2004. He was joined for the first day's testing by Tommy Hill who partnered him at Brands Hatch earlier this month, finishing fifth while Parkes took his first win of the season. The test was a good opportunity for Hill to familiarise himself with the circuit, which he hadn't previously ridden. He showed impressive form in the wet from the outset on day one. He was unable to ride on the second day because of other commitments related to the British Superbike Championship.

Although both days of testing were blighted by wet weather and blustery wind conditions the Yamaha World Supersport Team made the most of the opportunity to test all their wet weather settings as well as some new wet tyres from Pirelli. Both riders sampled the new tyres and worked on finding a good wet set-up, using the settings from Silverstone earlier this year as a base. Although no official times were recorded for either day, unofficial times showed Parkes made good progress over the duration of the test.

The Yamaha World Supersport Team's next outing will be their home round at Euro Speedway Lausitzring, Germany, in two weeks time.

Broc Parkes (Yamaha World Supersport Team)
"The weather changed the objectives for the test and we focused on our wet settings instead. I got some good time out on the track between rain showers on both days, although there was quite a bit of traffic out there and it was pretty miserable weather. I think we've got a good set-up sorted for the race if it rains here in October. I'm just looking forward to getting back to racing following my win at Brands, especially as the next round is the team's home round."
 
Tommy Hill (Yamaha World Supersport Team)
"It was good to be back on the bike and working with the team again after the summer break. Magny-Cours is a new track for me and I could've done with some dry track time really but I couldn't do much about the weather so had to just get on with the job! The bike felt really good - as I remembered it from Brands. I also got some time to learn how to use the engine management system on the bike. It's the first time I've used it and it felt good, especially in the wet. It was good to be able to work closely with the Pirelli team as well as the Yamaha team again; I feel we made some good progress considering the weather conditions."