Despite the official calendar which indicates January 28 as the official start of the 2018 MotoGP season, it will actually take place four days earlier, or in exactly three weeks.
Not because of the presentation of the new Yamaha colors in Madrid (see here), but good because the Sepang circuit in Malaysia will resonate for three days with the sound of MotoGP engines smoothly driven by their test riders.
Here is the provisional information that we have managed to gather about this first ride of the 2018 season :
- Ducati will line up two motorcycles there for Casey Stoner et Michele Pirro,
- Yamaha will line up two motorcycles there for
Katsuyuki Nakasuga et
Kohta Nozane (plus Keisuke Madea, Takuya Fujita and Masahiko Itawa according to Speedweek).
- Honda will line up two motorcycles there, to Takumi Takahashi, Hiroshi Aoyama et
Stefan bradl,
- KTM will line up a single motorcycle for Mika Kallio,
- Suzuki will line up a single motorcycle for
Sylvain Guintoli,
- Aprilia will line up a single motorcycle for Matthew Baiocco.
Some of these manufacturers will ride all 3 days (Ducati, Honda, Suzuki, etc.), others only during the last two (Yamaha, KTM, etc.).
Private tests required, no times expected and very little information will leak…
For the rest, here is MotoGP official testing schedule :
– January 28, 29 & 30 in Sepang (Malaysia)
– February 16, 17 & 18 in Buriram (Thailand)
– March 1, 2 & 3 in Losail (Qatar)
– May 7 in Jerez (Spain)
– May 22 & 23 in Barcelona (Spain)
– June 18 in Barcelona (Spain)
– August 6 in Brno (Czech Republic)
– November 20 & 21 in Valencia (Spain)
