Tom Sykes next to his BMW and before that Eugene Laverty, then still on Ducati, photographed by us in 2019 before the start in Aragon. The Northern Irishman has so far been absent from all tests and is likely to be lost from the start with his BMW private team at the season opener in Aragon from May 21 this year. This is in the event that they appear at all, which was not the case at the Barcelona Test and caused a lot of head shaking among the fans and in the paddock.

Yamaha without Toprak and only Ducati in Motorland Aragon

While most eyes are already on the expected Marquez comeback in Portugal, WorldSBK is celebrating another hull test in Aragon. With temperatures between 10 and 13 degrees Celsius, we are reminded of 2019 when we were able to witness the WSBK at the European kick-off here. As the photos from back then show, not only did the fans freeze, but the drivers too had to struggle with the horrific conditions. Toprak Razgatlioglu is spared this, although he would definitely have liked to have been there. On Tuesday it should be a few degrees less cold, but you can’t talk about warmth. Another hull test will take place at Motorland Aragon with 3 Yamaha riders and a handful of Ducatis.

We photographed some Toprak fans in Aragon in April 2019 – but he was missing from the test on this route two years later. The Turk had again given a positive Covid-19 test in Barcelona, which, contrary to the wording, is very negative for him because he is still infected.

The reason for the lack of many teams
The main reason for this is the fact that the teams have a maximum of 10 test days per driver until autumn. Because Jonathan Rea had already emphasized before the big test in Barcelona that he and his team had done around 90 percent of the work for the preparation of the season, the absence of Kawasaki Racing is not surprising. Before that, they even drove to Jerez for his team-mate Alex Lowes so that he could have an extra test there. One day’s journey there and back by truck, chapeau! But of course, like Honda, they now forego the “waste” of further test days in the horrible temperatures. In May, it should be much warmer and shortly before the race there is another chance. Originally KRT wanted to go to Aragon for another two days on April 21st to 22nd, but currently the weather forecast for then is evil. The forecast is currently for a maximum temperature of 9 to 11 degrees and light rain.

Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki ZX-10RR) is one of the best rain riders of all time and often even better in dry conditions. With currently 99 wins in the account, everyone is waiting for the magic number and when it will be reached. Will the Northern Irishman possibly make the 100 on the penultimate weekend in May? (© WorldSBK).

Double trouble for Razgatlioglu

When he won the first race of the season last year, many scribes prematurely stylized him as a supposed favorite for the title. For someone like us, who we were already on site in Aragon in April 2019, his supposedly poor performance in the following year was not surprising. Others almost wrote of a debacle for the young Turk after his allegedly bad result in the 2020 double race. He was in the top ten in all 6 races and had thus fared much better than in 2019 with an 8th place as the only one countable result in 3 runs. However, because Motorland Aragon is still not one of Toprak’s favorite tracks, its absence means double trouble for him. Still having to sit in quarantine in Barcelona would have been bad enough for Razgatlioglu.

Toprak Razgatlioglu (Puccetti Kawasaki) photographed by us after his second podium in 2019 in Misano on the way to the podium. Even if he could not fully meet the expectations placed in him at Yamaha last year, he remains a hot candidate this season as well. For the fight for the title, however, he needs even more consistency than before.

The first 6 after the first test morning in MotorLand Aragon:

  1. Scott Redding (Aruba.It Racing – Ducati) 1’50.995, 22 laps
  2. Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Aruba.It Racing – Ducati) 1’51.424, 27 laps
  3. Chaz Davies (Team GoEleven) 1’51.502, 17 laps
  4. Tito Rabat (Barni Racing Team) 1’51.840, 29 laps
  5. Axel Bassani (Motocorsa Racing) 1’53.549, 26 laps
  6. Kohta Nozane (GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) 1’54.671, 18 laps
BSB-Start in Assen with Scott Redding in the front, photographed by us on site in 2019 – the Englishman also impressed across the board in WorldSBK the year after. In the end, he was the only rider on the Ducati who could seriously challenge the defending champion.

A little comparison with the times of 2020
To evaluate these times, a comparison should be made with the Superpole Race last year, when Jonathan Rea drove a 1’49.62 in the 10-lap sprint race. Mind you, on the old Kawasaki ZX-10RR, on which it was worlds inferior to the Hondas and Ducatis in top speed and acceleration. This year’s weapon is of a completely different caliber. Even if a layman, who as an author has often exposed himself to ridicule in recent years, recently wrote of only 0.1 seconds, which the 2021 Kawasaki should bring per lap. Kawasaki is unlikely to have launched a completely new model for such a minimum of time improvement. In this respect, the fans of the 6-time world champion can rest assured. Incidentally, the Northern Irishman even drove a 1’48.767 in the Superpole at the time, so there is still plenty of room for improvement for the competition at the moment.