Scott Redding (Ducati) in front of Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki), Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Ducati), Alvaro Bautista (Honda) and Chaz Davies (Ducati) in turn 9 at the 2020 race in Motorland Aragon. Each of the three drivers in front won a race in the first Corona year and the Spaniard won his first podium for HRC Honda on the brand new CBR-1000RR-R.

Preview of the WorldSBK season opener in Aragon

The Motorland Aragon is a route on which a lot is different from on most of the other courses in the WSBK calendar. Together with San Juan in Argentina, it is the only course that is used in a counterclockwise direction. In addition, there is currently a record holder here who has never been world champion. Ducati ace Chaz Davies celebrated his first double victory of his career here in the 2013 season on a BMW. Before that, the Welshman had only won once on Aprilia, it was the second round at the Nürburgring in 2012 when he was on the top of the podium for the first time. The long-time arch rival of record world champion Jonathan Rea is currently leading the statistics with 7 wins.

A freezing Chaz Davies photographed by us before the start in Aragon in April 2019 at just over 10 degrees Celsius – it was his first podium on the new Panigale V4R. However, team-mate Alvaro Bautista snatched the victories from under his nose.

The best driver of all time is just missing one more win
With the new Kawasaki Ninja ZX-10RR, the reigning world champion is finally at eye level with his opponents in Aragon. Since Ducati broke a taboo with the MotoGP Replica Panigale V4R, according to a statement by former WSBK driver Marco Melandri, the Northern Irishman had had virtually no chance on the long straight of Motorland. Alvaro Bautista’s top speed advantage on the Ducati was around 15 to 25 km / h in 2019 and in the following year the Spaniard was again as fast as an arrow with the new Honda CBR-1000RR-R Fireblade. Jonathan Rea finally has a bike that no longer needs to hide on the straights. The best rider of all time is only missing one victory before he catches up with the GoEleven Ducati rider if he doesn’t polish up his statistics himself.

Smiling Alvaro Bautista (left) photographed by us in an interview with the winner in early April 2019 after his victory – in his first races the fast Spaniard was simply unbeatable on the Panigale V4R. In the middle Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki) and next to him the current Aragon record winner Chaz Davies, before the 2021 season starts in Aragon.

Which are the favorites for the season opener in Aragon?

If you look at the successes of the drivers in their careers, the picture is very interesting. Either way, Jonathan Rea is the reigning and six-time world champion. For him, the next victory is worth a long entry in the history book because it will be number 100. It is quite conceivable that we will see this number already at the season opener in Aragon and if not, he still has an invoice from the previous year in Estoril. After the Kawasaki driver, BMW ace Tom Sykes would come with 34 victories, ahead of Ducati Hope Chaz Davies (32), Alvaro Bautista (16) and his HRC team-mate Leon Haslam as a five-time winner only after Eugene Laverty with their 13th Toprak and Redding are also there 5 wins and BMW newcomer van der Mark currently has 4, ahead of Alex Lowes with two. But of course this approach doesn’t help, because the balance of power also depends heavily on the bike and Aragon is a very special route.

Jonas Folger (BMW M-1000RR) during his test in Motorland Aragon – the former top MotoGP rider is about to start his first season in the Superbike World Championship. Many have great confidence in the German, but does the new BMW keep what it promises?

The balance of power with some imponderables
What is certain at the moment is that Kawasaki has apparently done its homework together with Ducati and Honda the best. The drivers of the three top teams, as well as Yamaha and, of course, Chaz Davies should be the most frequently mentioned favorites before the FP1 race for the first time in two weeks. BMW, on the other hand, did not seem to be quite at the level of the competition with the M-1000RR in terms of their impression in Aragon. Above all, Jonas Folger clearly stated in the interview that he expected a very tough weekend there. Sykes, van der Mark and Laverty were also rather cautiously optimistic after the tests a few days ago. We took the trouble and compiled the results of the most important drivers from 2015, as far as they had already competed in Aragon. Below is the result for Aragon.

The numbers apply per season, which included three races from 2019 and only two before that. The average shows that Jonathan Rea has been significantly more successful in the last 6 years than record holder Davies with 7 wins in Aragon ahead of the reigning world champion with six. Davies won in Aragon for the first time in 2013 and scored a one-two for BMW. Rea celebrated his first triumph in Motorland in 2015, his first season for Kawasaki, before he had never had a chance with the Honda.

The overview of the Aragon tests until May 7th, excluding the HRC Honda times (as not disclosed):

  1. Jonathan Rea (GB), Kawasaki, 1,48,528 (absolute lap record from 2020: 1,48,860 by J. Rea)
  2. Scott Redding (GB), Ducati, 1,48,780
  3. Alex Lowes (GB), Kawasaki, 1,49,182
  4. Michael Ruben Rinaldi (I), Ducati, 1,49,205
  5. Garrett Gerloff (GRT Yamaha), 1,49,439
  6. Chaz Davies (GB), Ducati, 1,49,610 min
  7. Toprak Razgatlioglu (TR), Yamaha, 1,49,763
  8. Tom Sykes (GB), BMW, 1,49,857
  9. Andrea Locatelli (I), Yamaha, 1,50,257
  10. Eugene Laverty (IRL), BMW, 1,50,604
  11. Michael van der Mark (NL), BMW, 1,50,781
  12. Jonas Folger (D), BMW, 1,50,815
  13. Axel Bassani (I), Ducati, 1,51,146
  14. Kohta Nozane (JAP), Yamaha, 1,51,277
  15. Isaac Vinales (E), Kawasaki, 1,51,724
  16. Chris Ponsson (Alstare Yamaha), 1,52,269
Chaz Davies (GoEleven Ducati Racing) with the Parador in the background, the landmark of Alcaniz, which towers far above the small town. Despite the fact that the Welshman no longer drives for the Aruba.it Ducati factory team, he is one of the podium favorites due to his many strong races on this track.

Schedule for the first race weekend (local time CET)

Motorland Aragon route map

WorldSBK has been racing in Aragon since 2011 and the first win was won by Marco Melandri on a Yamaha, while Aprilia ace Max Biaggi won the second run. The following year, the two Italians won again, but in reverse order and Biaggi’s little compatriot on a BMW. In the following two years it was first Davies and then Sykes on Kawasaki, which each took a double victory.

The provisional calendar for the 2021 season

Only one week after Aragon, the Autodromo do Estoril in Portugal will continue. After that, some teams have planned a test in Navarra before heading to the Adriatic Sea in Misano for the third round. There it is currently planned to allow a presumably limited number of visitors on the route. Below is the provisional calendar in its last edition, whereby the overseas races in italics are still considered very questionable.

May 22nd – MotorLand Aragón, Spain
May 29 – Circuito do Estoril, Portugal
June 12th – Misano World Circuit, Italy
July 3rd – Donington Park, England
July 24th – TT Circuit Assen, Netherlands
August 7th – Autodrom Most, Czech Republic
August 21 – Circuito de Navarra, Spain
September 4th – Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours, France
September 18th – Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, Spain
September 25th – Circuito de Jerez-Ángel Nieto, Spain
October 2nd – Autodromo Internacional do Algarve, Portugal
October 16 – Circuito San Juan Villicum, Argentina
November 13 – Mandalika International Street Circuit, Indonesia

Aerial view of the Aragon route, the 180 degree curve at the bottom right is not driven by MotoGP and WorldSBK, but instead the double curve after one of the longest straights on the calendar.

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