The Castrol Honda World Superbike team regroups for a two-day test at Assen in the Netherlands this morning after a three-week layoff following the last round at Silverstone in the UK.

However, it has not been all vacation for Jonathan Rea and Alex Lowes, the 20-year-old who replaced the Ulsterman at both Brno and Silverstone SBK rounds while Rea has been recovering from a wrist injury.

The Castrol Honda duo spent last week in Mumbai, India, helping Castrol to re-launch its Power 1 brand to a market that is expected to produce 35 million new motorcycle customers over the next five years.

Rea and Lowes are joined at the Assen test by Ruben Xaus, who is also recovering from injuries sustained in a race one crash at Brno last month. The Castrol-supported Hannspree Ten Kate Honda World Supersport team and its riders Fabien Foret and Florian Marino will also test at the Dutch circuit.


“It was amazing to be part of the Castrol India re-launch of Power 1 last week,” said Rea. “We took part in a couple of events with Bollywood star John Abraham, which was great, but seeing parts of Mumbai was also incredibly humbling.”

“Now it’s back to work,” added the 24-year-old, who has been out of action since a crash at Misano in Italy in June, “and I’ve been so excited about getting back on the bike again. My wrist has been feeling really good, but we’ll have to see how it stands up to the forces involved.”