Jonathan Rea and Pere Riba from the organizing Kawasaki Racing Team. Much more than discussing and playing cards was not possible in Jerez this time (© WorldSBK).

Jerez Test of WorldSBK finally called off due to rain

As we already reported the day before, only MotoGP test driver Bradl and WSSP rookie Leonardo Taccini had been out for a few laps on the Circuito de Jerez on the first day. Maverick Viñales, who actually wanted to train a little with a Superstock Yamaha R1, hadn’t even come due to the bad weather forecast. However, his colleague Johann Zarco drove here from France and therefore did a few laps on a Ducati Panigale V4 on the second day. But it was for all participants much money for (almost) nothing indeed.

Tito Rabat, the new entry for Barni Ducati Racing in WorldSBK, was also there in Jerez. The Catalan did not let the bad weather spoil his good mood (© WorldSBK).

The waiver made sense – new edition in a week
Honda officially canceled shortly after 3:30 p.m. After the WorldSBK teams from Ducati and Kawasaki were also not on the track, the two useless days in Jerez are now being saved for a new opportunity. In these circumstances, it simply didn’t make sense to uselessly use up the quota of approved test days before the start of the season. It therefore made perfect sense to forego little meaningful test drives on a completely wet track. There will therefore be a new edition on January 27th to 28th, so that at least the material can stay on site.

Michael Ruben Rinaldi – the new addition to the Aruba.it Ducati factory team. The young Italian would have loved to drive in Jerez, too, but unfortunately, given the prevailing conditions, that was out of the question on both days (© WorldSBK).

Particularly annoying for Ducati and everyone who has traveled far

A year ago it was very rainy in Jerez at the same time and for this reason, JR left earlier. Therefore, many observers were amazed when Ducati and BMW decided not to take part in the Jerez tests in mid-November last year. For this reason it is particularly annoying for the now useless Italians and of course all the others who have come here in vain that they had started the trip for nothing. For the Italian participants this meant in many cases a drive of around 2000 km to reach Andalusia. The same route is now back for her.

Chaz Davies (left) in the pit of his new GoEleven Ducati team – like his English colleagues, his flight here was useless in the end (© WorldSBK).

How will the WSBK test drives continue until April

Jerez test: 20th – 21st January (postponed 1 week later)
Jerez test: 27th – 28st January
Portimao test: 4th – 5th March
Jerez test: 9th – 10th March (Honda only)
Misano test: 15th – 16th March
Estoril test: 24th – 25th March
Barcelona test: March 31st – 1st April
MotorLand Aragon test: April 12th – 13th

Jonathan Rea in the pits of the Kawasaki Racing Team. The 6-time record world champion would have liked to ride his new Kawasaki ZX-10RR and he is anything but rain-shy. But this time it was useless because the test days are limited (© WorldSBK).