Alex Lowes in the stands in Barcelona – after the test in Catalonia, it’s off to Aragon for the Kawasaki factory team (© Kawasaki Racing Team).

Yamaha and Kawasaki on April 21 for 2 days in Aragon

Again without Toprak Razgatlioglu, Yamaha and Kawasaki will be visiting Motorland Aragon for two days. The Turk flew back to his homeland to mentally recover from his Covid-19 infection and the long quarantine in Barcelona. At least that is Yamaha’s explanation of his absence. If you look at his previous results on this route, it is a very brave decision. Last year, some scribes were amazed at how badly he was supposed to do on the Yamaha. He was much more successful in 2020 than on the Kawasaki the year before, but of all things journalists apparently have particularly poor long-term memories. In any case, Kawasaki is now on the very special course with the 3 Yamaha Musketeers for the first time and unfortunately the weather report still doesn’t look really refreshing.

The rear drivers of the starting grid of Aragon 2019 photographed by us in Aragon – with front left Michael van der Mark, Alex Lowes (both Yamaha), front right Leon Haslam (Kawasaki) and behind with the number 2 Leon Camier (Honda, today team principal of HRC Honda) ahead of Toprak Razgatlioglu (Kawasaki). Eight points for an 8th place in the first race were the only gain back then in April at the European opener on the track near the small town of Alcaniz.
Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki ZX-10RR) on his new weapon for the coming season in the now traditional winter test look. Two years ago he had no chance against the new Panigale V4R from Ducati in Aragon, but this year his bike should also be on par on the straight (© Kawasaki Racing Team).

A rain test or a postponement?
If the current forecast is correct, it should be much friendlier and a good deal warmer from April 23rd than at the planned time. If Kawasaki and Yamaha cannot postpone their appointment by two days, there is a risk of a rain test or an at least partial waiver. According to the current regulations, the teams have a total of 10 test days available until the end of the season, which they can also use as half a day per driver. In order not to waste this limited contingent, it is generally used very sparingly by everyone. The Bavarians have generally been the most economical so far, at least in terms of the test days so far. But not in terms of the financial outlay, because they purposely only tested privately in Jerez once before Barcelona. Of course, it is clear that this costs significantly more than, for example, just before sharing the costs with HRC Honda. We will only know in a month whether their strategy will pay off, when everyone will be on the track in Aragon for the first race of the season.

View from the old town of Alcaniz to the sky and in the direction of the landmark photographed by us on site – the Parador in the upper right corner of the picture is enthroned on a hill above the small Spanish town. Despite a racetrack in the immediate vicinity, on which MotoGP and WorldSBK have been guests for years, there are only a handful of hotels and guest houses here. The next larger town is more than an hour’s drive away.

Jonathan Rea before the test: “I’m really excited to get back on the Ninja ZX-10RR, and we will continue to work on what we had in the Barcelona test. I felt excellent there on the bike. From a technical point of view, I know that we still have to test some elements in the electronic area. The main thing is to put all the pieces of the puzzle together. We will collect all the things that we learned together on the last test to reach our full potential. It is currently planned to carry out racing simulations in order to prepare the opening race of the Motorland Aragon as well as possible. I think it’s very good that we can test there before the race. It’s exciting to be back on the team and to continue the work we have done. “

Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki) in front of Alvaro Bautista (Honda) in the previous year in Aragon – on the left in the picture the falling Scott Redding (Ducati), who had won the first race of the double weekend and then became a bit cheeky. Instead of winning the remaining 5 races as announced afterwards, he lost important points in the fight for the title with his crash (© WorldSBK).

Alex Lowes: “I’m looking forward to getting back on the bike and to the test this week in Aragon. We will simply continue the work program that we started in Jerez and continued in Barcelona. I feel good physically and absolutely fit. Hopefully we have a good test with a lot of laps. We’re starting to do everything a little better, now we’re approaching the season. I’m looking forward to being with the guys on the team again, and I know what to work with after our last tests. Especially when exiting bends with the bike and a little more on my riding style. We are already close to our goal at the moment. Now it’s about getting out there and enjoying the Ninja ZX-10RR again.“

Alex Lowes on the 2021 Kawasaki Ninja ZX-10RR during the winter test. In his second year for the works team, the Englishman now has an even stronger weapon in the fight for the top spots than with the model he drove for the Greens in his first season (© Kawasaki Racing Team).

WSSP co-favorite Dominique Aegerter with Ten Kate Yamaha in Assen

At the beginning of the week, the Swiss reported from Assen, where he and his Dutch team competed in the “Cathedral of Speed” for the first time with the WSSP 600 Yamaha R6 and drove impressive lap times. Aegerter had already set the benchmark for the drivers present in Aragon, although Philipp Öttl, among others, was not present at the Kawasaki at the time. Last weekend he won a run for the Italian Supersport 600 championship out of competition, which he contested as training. His teammate Lucas Mahias did the same in the WorldSBK category.

Domi Aegerter to the test in the Netherlands: “The test on April 19 in Assen was something very special for me. I can’t remember having had a Grand Prix circuit to myself before, after my team-mate Galang Hendra Patrama wasn’t there either this time. He had to go back to Indonesia to take care of all visas and travel formalities for the next few months. We were also lucky with the weather. It was partly very sunny, which is why the track conditions allowed us to work sensibly. Unfortunately it got a bit windy from noon. That was a bit annoying at times, as the wind was constantly coming from a different direction. In the end, it was still a very positive test day for us. My best lap time was a little faster than the current WSSP 600 lap record. “(Editor: Set up by Sandro Cortese on a Yamaha in 2018, this is 1’37.799 min)” That is definitely very gratifying and encouraging. On the other hand, our pace was not as consistent as in the last tests. I think that could have been due to the wind conditions and also because we used two different rear tire options due to different asphalt temperatures.”

Dominique Aegerter when signing the contract with Ten Kate Racing – the Dutch have secured one of the top favorites for the coming season. The Moto2 Sachsenring winner from 2014 almost became MotoE Champion last year, but was innocently brought down on the last race weekend. The title went to “the Spanish Elvis” Jordi Torres, an old acquaintance from WorldSBK in earlier years.

The “Domi-Fighter” to the test in Aragon: “Our last test before the first race of the season on May 23rd in Aragón was consistently successful. So we will get there well-prepared, as we already have valuable data from a test on this track. We are ready for the championship, although there is still room for improvement in some areas. But overall, we had a very good preparation on four different tracks. We still have a month until the start in which we can analyze the collected data again in more detail. I’m sure that my team will work hard in the workshop during this time to make my racing machine a bit faster. But so far everything is working very well, and we are at a high level. So I can hardly wait for the first race of the season. A big thank you to the whole team for their hard work. My thanks also go to the operators of the TT Circuit in Assen for making the track available to us for this day.” (the editors: Now we only hope that the date in July for the popular event in Assen can be maintained!).

WorldSBK’s current provisional calendar for 2021

As of April 16, the new date for Estoril made the last change so far. Nobody seriously believes in the overseas races at the moment, but because contracts exist, Dorna has to keep these dates until the official cancellation. But there could still be some wobbly candidates in the European races, at least at the moment this is the provisional plan.