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Rain forced the WorldSBK teams assembled at Jerez to abandon the test planned for the past two days. Though the weather was better on Thursday than it had been on Wednesday, the track took a long time to dry out, and with only 8 days of testing for the season, the teams decided to call off the test instead.

Honda and Kawasaki will return to Jerez next week, with Honda testing for two days, on January 27th and 28th, and Kawasaki to test on 28th. The forecast for that period is currently for good weather, which promises a dry track.

Though the official teams skipped the test, there were riders out on track. Stefan Bradl continued work on the 2021 Honda RC213V MotoGP machine, which features a new frame and swingarm. The frame is much beefier around the swingarm mount, a sign that Honda is playing with stiffness in search of rideability. A full gallery of photos can be found over on the Italian GPOne.com website.

Johann Zarco also took to the track on a Ducati Panigale street bike to get accustomed to speed again, and the Frenchman put in a total of 37 laps. Ducati test rider Michele Pirro was also at the circuit, testing Ducati's WorldSBK machinery, rather than the MotoGP bike. Pirro and Zarco lapped in the mid to high 1'45s, nearly 7 seconds off lap record pace, a sign that the track was too wet to produce too much useful data.

Press releases from some of the teams present appear below:

Superbike test scheduled to take place this week has now been cancelled due to wet weather.

Team HRC was looking forward to testing at the Jerez de la Frontera circuit in Spain yesterday and today, but the weather conditions have unfortunately put paid to its plans. Rain and a constantly wet track meant that there was little point in sending Alvaro Bautista and Leon Haslam out with their CBR1000RR-R Fireblade SP.

Team HRC waited until lunchtime today to see if conditions might improve enough to make testing worthwhile, but although it eventually stopped raining, the track remained wet, temperatures not particularly cold but also not warm enough to allow the surface to dry quickly.

In an attempt to fully exploit the annual allocation of test days, the session has therefore been rescheduled and Team HRC will return to the Andalusian circuit on 27-28 January, ready to complete the work it had planned for this week.

WEATHER CONDITIONS CANCEL KRT TEST

Kawasaki Racing Team riders Alex Lowes and Jonathan Rea were unable to take to the track for a planned two-day test at Jerez on 20-21 January, due to wet weather.

Needing a dry track surface to confirm the development programme of the exciting new Ninja ZX-10RR in WorldSBK specification, a completely wet first day - and no prospect of a truly dry track surface on day two - led the team to call an end to their immediate test plans.

New rules that limit the number of available private test days in 2021 to a total of ten also contributed to the final decision not to take the track in wet conditions.

Much of the pre-season evaluation and data-gathering has was done at the end of the 2020 season, during tests at Jerez and Motorland Aragon in November, but to re-confirm some items and try new elements of the performance package KRT is now aiming to schedule another test day at Jerez, on 28 January.

STATEMENTS:

Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team Rider): “It is a great shame not to test but the track is not going to be perfect today, so we decided to call it early. The guys can pack up and everyone can go home a little bit earlier. With the new regulations in place for limited test days, we need to be clever and use these days when they are most important. Right now we need to confirm some important items in dry conditions, that we already tested at Jerez the end of last season.”

Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team Rider): “This is typical English weather - so I must have brought it with me! It is a shame but the first thing to say is that there has been so much effort from the guys, especially with the Corona virus restrictions, to put everything in place to get us down here to test. So thank you to them. It is a shame the weather did not cooperate this time but it has been nice to see everyone – and see my bike again.”

Pere Riba (Crew Chief for Jonathan Rea): “We were here for a two day test but still the track is wet and it is raining. With the new rules we have, for a limited number of testing days through the year, we decided to cancel. It is a shame because we had some engine items to test, but this is life; something we cannot control.”

Marcel Duinker (Crew Chief for Alex Lowes): “After the November test, where we did 95% of the job we normally do in a winter test, we were very confident here to re-start the 2021 schedule. Unfortunately, we have had some wet conditions but on the other side we are confident of the job we have done so far. We already said to each other that if we had to race tomorrow, we would be ready. Next week we have the opportunity to test for one day at a sunny Jerez, so we will return and continue our plan.”

Private test at Jerez de la Frontera (Spain) cancelled due to rain

After the heavy rain that cancelled the first day of the private test at Jerez de la Frontera (Spain), the Angel Nieto Circuit was still very wet today, partly due to sporadic showers that prevented Scott Redding and Michael Rinaldi from getting on track to do some solid work with their Ducati Panigale V4 R.

Due to the restrictions on testing days introduced by Dorna this season, the Aruba.it Racing - Ducati Team preferred not to take to the track, working immediately to find a new date and circuit as soon as possible.

Rain prevents Pedercini Racing from making their 2021 on-track debut with Loris Cresson

The planned two-day test at the Jerez Circuit in Southern Spain which should have seen OUTDO TPR Team Pedercini back on-track for the first of several pre-season tests has unfortunately been cancelled due to bad weather.

Whilst naturally disappointed to postpone their first 2021 outing, the squad made the decision to avoid wasting one of their limited test days and will now focus on a revised test schedule ahead of the FIM Superbike World Championship season opener at the TT Circuit Assen in the Netherlands in April.

Lucio Pedercini – Team Manager: “It’s been frustrating for everyone over the last two days and I know Loris was keen to ride again but in the end the weather stopped us. We waited until the final moment, hoping the weather would improve enough for Loris to ride but in the end, it was not possible. The track was damp and not fully dry so what would Loris benefit from riding in less than perfect conditions? With Johan Zarco and Michele Pirro several seconds off the pace we saw no point in losing two test days from our allocation. We now need to evaluate when and where we will test before what already had planned at the beginning of March, but we need to time to see when and where it could be possible.”

Loris Cresson: “It’s not great to start the year like this but it is how it is and was the same for everyone. On Tuesday when it was clear we couldn’t ride I went back to the hotel and to the gym. I was hoping to ride on Wednesday but unfortunately the weather was still against us. Nevertheless, it was great to meet the team again and I am even more excited to get back on track as soon as we can!”

Despite the best efforts of the coronavirus, the winter break is nearly over, for the WorldSBK series at least. On Wednesday, half of the WorldSBK grid take to the track at Jerez for the first major test of the 2021 season. They will be working on their preparations for the season opener, not at Phillip Island, due to the travel restrictions still in place for Australia due to the pandemic, but at the Assen circuit in The Netherlands on April 23rd.

The weather does not look like playing ball for the first full test of the season. The forecast is currently for rain on both days of the test, heaviest on Wednesday but easing off on Thursday. Wednesday may see a dry spell in the afternoon, but whether that means the track will dry enough to produce usable data is open to question.

Kawasaki have perhaps the most to learn, as they KRT team of reigning champion Jonathan Rea and Alex Lowes get to grips with the brand new ZX-10RR. The bike has had several major updates, including a new engine with lighter internals, to allow it to rev higher, and a new aerodynamic package with internal winglets, along the lines of the Honda CBR1000RR-R.

Both Rea and Lowes will be hoping for dry track time so they can get a better understanding of the character and power delivery of the new engine. The team will be working on the electronics package in search of the optimum setup for the opening round in April.

The Team HRC Honda WorldSBK team will also be present, Alvaro Bautista and Leon Haslam continuing the development of the CBR1000RR-R. The bike got off to a difficult start in 2020, though progress became apparent as the season went on. Bautista and Haslam will be working to build on that ahead of the start of 2021.

There will be two Leons in the Team HRC garage, as Leon Camier switches from rider to team manager of the Honda WorldSBK team. Camier's last couple of years was plagued by injury, forcing him into retirement. But a switch to a role as team manager should suit the Englishman, now resident in Andorra. Camier is well-spoken, thoughtful, intelligent, and analytical, and has the right mindset for management.

There are plenty of precedents for success. Camier's counterpart at HRC's MotoGP project, Alberto Puig, is also an ex-rider. Indeed, the MotoGP paddock is full of riders-turned-manager: Lucio Cecchinello, Sito Pons, Fausto Gresini, Pit Beirer, Davide Tardozzi, Pablo Nieto, Wilco Zeelenberg, Jorge 'Aspar' Martinez, and many, many more.

There will be a bevy of Ducati riders present at Jerez as well. 2020 WorldSBK runner-up Scott Redding will be joined by Michael Ruben Rinaldi, the Italian getting promotion to the factory-backed Aruba.it team after a strong showing at the end of last year.

Chaz Davies, the man Rinaldi replaced, takes Rinaldi's seat on the Team GOELEVEN Ducati Panigale V4R, shod with Ohlins suspension again, as used by Rinaldi last year. It will be the first time Davies gets to work with the GOELEVEN team, so there is much work to do.

Tito Rabat will be making his debut in the WorldSBK paddock, riding a Ducati Panigale V4R with the Barni Racing Team. Rabat has already spent time riding a Panigale for training during his time in MotoGP, and his main objective will be to learn the quirks of the WorldSBK Pirelli tires, after spending so much time on the MotoGP Michelins.

Rabat is not the only rookie on the track at Jerez. He will be joined by two Kawasaki riders: Isaac Viñales on the Orelac Kawasaki, and Loris Cresson on the OUTDO ZX-10RR. Both Viñales and Cresson are moving up from WorldSSP.

Isaac will not be the only Viñales present: cousin Maverick, Monster Energy MotoGP Yamaha rider will also be present, though he will be riding a Yamaha R1 superbike to prepare for the start of MotoGP testing in Qatar in March. Maverick Viñales will be joined by Johann Zarco in Jerez, also on a superbike, though this time a Ducati Panigale, as the Frenchman gets ready for his first test with the Pramac Ducati team in Qatar.

There will be test riders present as well. HRC test rider Stefan Bradl will be riding the Honda RC213V MotoGP machine at the Jerez circuit, working on developments for the start of the 2021 season. Ducati test rider Michele Pirro will also be present, though Pirro will be working on Ducati's superbikes, rather than their MotoGP machines.

The Jerez circuit will have live timing of the WorldSBK test. It can be found on the live timing page at http://live.crono-jerez.com/livetiming/#/livetiming

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The MotoGP Test At Sepang, due to be held from 19th - 21st of February, has been canceled, Dorna announced today. The King of Malaysia, at the request of the Malaysian government, has declared a state of emergency in Malaysia which is due to last until August 1st. The state of emergency has been declared in an attempt to stem the Covid-19 pandemic which continues to spread around the world.

The cancellation comes despite the best efforts of Dorna, IRTA, and the circuit to make the Sepang test as self-contained as possible. Dorna and IRTA had put forward a proposal to house everyone involved in the test at the Sama Sama hotel, located next to Kuala Lumpur International Airport, to the exclusion of other guests. Everyone - riders, teams, officials - would travel between the hotel and the circuit only, with no time outside of the MotoGP bubble. As the Sama Sama hotel is where most teams and riders involved stay during the test anyway, very little would change.

This proposal had a great deal of support, but in the end, the Malaysian government declaring a state of emergency made it impossible.

At the moment, the Qatar test, set to take place from 10th - 12th March, will still go ahead. This, of course, is still subject to how the Covid-19 pandemic develops over the next two months. The situation in Qatar is relatively stable, with case numbers and deaths still very low and showing only a small rise over the winter. Qatar may not want to allow a large group of people to enter from a region where the pandemic is still not under control. However, Qatar's vaccination program is already underway, with everyone over 65 years of age and with certain chronic illnesses currently being given the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine and the Moderna vaccine expected to come on stream very soon.

If the Qatar test has to be canceled, then the fallback position would be a test at either Jerez or Portimao, with Jerez being the most likely option. The Moto2 and Moto3 classes are currently scheduled to test at Jerez from March 16th-18th, though that, too, is far from certain.

At the current moment, the start of the season is far from clear. Although no announcement beyond the cancelling of the Sepang test has been made - and no further announcements can be made, given the uncertainty of the current situation - MotoMatters.com understands that the opening races of the season are far from certain to go ahead. Most at threat are the overseas rounds at Termas de Rio Hondo in Argentina, and the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas, as a result of the restrictions currently in place and expected developments.

Should Argentina and Austin be dropped, then that would leave room for Qatar to be rescheduled later in the year, or for one of the reserve circuits, such as Portimao, to be inserted between Qatar and Jerez. With the race at Jerez due to happen on May 2nd, that leaves a lot of time for the pandemic to be contained - either through better weather, as was the case in 2020, or as a result of vaccination. However, the first few races, at least, are still expected to happen without fans present, or at least with only limited numbers allowed in.

The current understanding of the 2021 season is that it will go ahead, and there will be more races than there were in 2020. But as was the case early in 2020, the coronavirus is in charge, as French Grand Prix organizer Claude Michy put it.

The press release from Dorna appears below:

Sepang Tests cancelled
Tuesday, 12 January 2021

The FIM, IRTA and Dorna Sports regret to announce the cancellation of both the Shakedown Test and the Official Sepang Test.

The ongoing Covid-19 pandemic and the resulting lockdowns and complications have obliged the cancellation of both events, which were set to take place at Sepang International Circuit in Malaysia in February.

The Qatar Test, currently set to take place at Losail International Circuit from the 10th to the 12th of March, continues to be confirmed and any further updates or changes will be provided as soon as available. 

Dani Pedrosa and Mika Kallio are to continue as test riders for KTM's MotoGP project throughout 2021. The two test riders, who have played a fundamental role in the success of the Austrian factory's MotoGP project, will carry on in their respective roles for another season.

The two riders have had a huge impact on the development of the KTM RC16, and their division of labor has been key in fast-tracking the project through 2020. Kallio continues his role as workhorse, doing preliminary testing of parts and testing durability, while Pedrosa works on preselecting packages of parts which work together to produce the best performance. Those packages are then passed to the factory riders for final approval before being used in a race.

The role of the test riders will be even more important in 2021, as KTM have lost concessions for next season after their astounding success in 2020, racking up three wins and five other podiums. As a result, Miguel Oliveira, Brad Binder, Danilo Petrucci, and Iker Lecuona will only be able to test at officially sanctioned test, putting more of the burden of testing on the shoulders of Pedrosa and Kallio.

Losing concessions also means that KTM will only be allowed three wildcards in 2021, as opposed to 6 for factories with concessions. Mika Kallio will continue to appear as a wildcard, Dani Pedrosa having made it abundantly clear that he has no interest in racing any longer.

The press release from KTM appears below:

Pedrosa and Kallio to continue as Red Bull KTM test riders for 2021
MotoGP 2020

Red Bull KTM have renewed contracts with former Grand Prix winners Dani Pedrosa and Mika Kallio to form the backbone of the MotoGP™ testing team for 2021 and continue work evolving the promising KTM RC16.

38-year old Kallio has been a key part of the MotoGP development crew for half a decade. The Fin debuted the KTM RC16 at the 2016 Gran Premio de la Comunitat Valenciana and has completed wild-card appearances and substitute racing duties since 2017; notably contesting six rounds with Red Bull KTM Factory Racing in 2019 and the final round of the 2020 campaign for Red Bull KTM Tech3.

35-year old Pedrosa joined the KTM team upon his retirement in 2018 and as one of the most decorated MotoGP racers of the modern era. The Spaniard brought 13 years of top-flight experience in the premier class to the KTM MotoGP project.

The work of both Kallio and Pedrosa and the testing squad helped KTM to win three Grands Prix with two different riders in 2020 and register eight podium finishes thanks to the advancement and potential of the KTM RC16.

Mika Kallio: “It is great to continue this project. Five years have passed already with this crew and I cannot believe time has gone so fast. It has been rewarding to see the development of the bike and all the phases which have got us here. Especially in 2020 with victories and podiums; it has been amazing. It is good to see all the hard work and dedication paying off for everyone involved in the project. I have worked with KTM for eleven years now during my career, which is basically half of my whole time in racing. KTM is my second family and I am proud and privileged to continue being with this company. I think the results of this year motivate both the crew and riders towards an even better 2021, so I am already looking forward to the upcoming season. I think we have now what it takes to fight at the top.”

Dani Pedrosa: “KTM is very keen to keep improving and I’m only too happy to keep working with them and helping their riders onto bigger goals. I want to thank Pit Beirer, Stefan Pierer and Red Bull for all their trust in me.”

Pit Beirer, KTM Motorsports Director: “We’re pleased to be able to keep the stability and all the knowledge we have with our current testing team. In 2020 we could show how well and how fast we are working behind-the-scenes for our MotoGP programme and both Mika and Dani’s input were important in the progress we have made. It’s only been four years but it gives the whole company a lot of pride and excitement to be able to set new targets and to make more memories in MotoGP.”