Manuel Puccetti (right) with Kenan Sofuoglu on his left and with the number 2 in his hand his protégé Toprak Razgatlioglu, who on September 28, 2019 was the first privateer to win a WorldSBK race again in many years.

Kawasaki Puccetti Racing ahead of the 2021 WorldSBK season

You don’t win races with splendid hospitality. KTM had to experience this painfully in MotoGP, supported by Red Bull. Being the backbencher team for three years was a tough lot for the oranges. At Kawasaki Puccetti Racing, their performance was already more than impressive when Toprak Razgatlioglu competed for Kawasaki’s Italian customer team with a lot of money from Turkey. Many viewers were already confused by this at the time when the works team went to work much more modestly and was still much more successful. This time we saw pictures of a particularly impressive paddock appearance before the start of the season, but Lucas Mahias with his Kawasaki ZX-10RR Ninja was absent from almost every test. This is definitely not a good sign.

Lucas Mahias (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) on the previous year’s ZX-10RR from Xavi Forés – the unfortunate Frenchman has been absent from every official test with his 2021 bike before the new season starts.

After the soaring in 2019, the sporting crash came
With the Spaniard Javier “Xavi” Forés, there were great hopes of seamlessly replacing the Toprak who had switched to Yamaha. But the expectations were not fulfilled. Except for four eighth places, the Spaniard missed the top ten in all other 20 races on the old Kawasaki ZX-10RR. Far too little for a team that is used to success and a driver who was so strong two years earlier. With 12th place in the World Cup for the Spaniard and 9th place in the team ranking, it was a sporting crash like seldom seen before. The fact that so much money has now been invested in a new and very splendid hospitality confuses some viewers. On the one hand, this does not help much in Corona times and on the other hand, the money would have been better used in tests for the drivers.

Lucas Mahias photographed by us at the paddock interview in Italy. We would have wished the Frenchman a more serious commitment from his team for his second attempt in WorldSBK after 2016.

What are the chances of Mahias returning from WSBK on his second attempt?

When we heard that Puccetti rider Philipp Öttl was at his own expense with his father and Moto3 team boss as a supervisor for tests in Navarro, we could hardly believe it. The preparation at Lucas Mahias looked little better than for the German. As preparation, the two contested an out-of-competition run in their classes for the Italian Supersport or Superbike championship. It was not very helpful for the World Cup season that it took place in Mugello because this route is not on the WorldSBK calendar. In the German we are very confident about the coming season in the WSSP 600. But it is more than questionable whether the Frenchman really has a chance of top positions with this simply insufficient preparation.

Andrea Locatelli (Bardahl Evan Bros Yamaha) in front of Lucas Mahias (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) and on the far right his teammate Philipp Öttl, who will be the only one of this trio to continue to compete in the WorldSSP 600 as third in the World Cup. We took this picture at the season opener at Turn 4, called Honda Corner in Phillip Island (Australia) on March 1, 2020.

Lucas Mahias’ opinion before the start of the season: “I think we’re the team that has ridden the least this winter, and I’m one of those who need it the most. Due to the health and safety regulations and restrictions associated with COVID-19, the team decided to stay in Italy. It is mentally difficult to digest not to drive with others. After all, the team is not putting any pressure on me. They will give me time to orient myself and I think it will be a little easier for me in the mid-season.“

>Aragon preview: see separate report on this page.

We keep our fingers crossed for the French that after the season opener and afterwards, despite the lack of preparation for the season, he gets the chance to smile sometimes – not like here on our recording from his Supersport 600 time for Puccetti.

Unless otherwise stated, this applies to all images (© WorldSBK).