Last Thursday, during the MotoGP weekend in Aragon, Loris Capirossi tested the Saroléa SP7 in a private test session under the watchful eyes of Dorna CEO Carmelo Ezpeleta.
Dorna's plans for electric motorcycles envision a real world cup in 2019, in which the Tech3, Pramac, Gresini, LCR, Avintia, Aspar and Marc VDS teams would compete in a dozen European Grands Prix (see here).
After trying the American Lightning, and the Italian Energica, Loris Capirossi was able to take the handlebars of the beautiful Saroléa SP7 last Thursday, as a prelude to the Aragon Grand Prix.
One of the two brothers behind the rebirth of the Belgian brand, Bjorn Robbens, spoke in the columns of the site motograndprix.motorionline : « Loris Capirossi seemed impressed by the character of the engine and the relatively low weight of the bike. He has tried other electric motorcycles before and found them heavier. We are in the running with Lightning, the Italian company Energica, and probably another, between Mahindra or KTM. »
Dorna is expected to announce the partner's decision by the end of next month.
Saroléa is an old brand of motorcycles manufactured in Herstal in Belgium. The company was founded by Matthias Joseph Saroléa in 1850. It first manufactured firearms parts and bicycles before manufacturing motorcycles from 1900 and until 1963.
The company closed its doors in 1973 before being bought by twin brothers, Torsten and Bjorn Robbens, in order to develop and build high-performance, 100% electric motorcycles. A new production facility has been created in Belgium, near Ghent.
In 2010, the first version of the SP7 was built by hand in the Belgian workshop. All components were designed by Torsten Robbens, who has an extensive motorsport background. In the following years, the prototypes were regularly improved and put to the test of competition by participating in the TT Zero on the Isle of Man.
The production model, The Manx 7, now develops 204 horsepower and reaches 240 km/h thanks to a weight of only 195 kg.
Sarolea website
Photo credit: Mirco Lazzari
