Next Tuesday and Wednesday after the Grand Prix will take place two days of testing which will allow several riders to discover their new mounts, as well as manufacturers to finalize the 2017 machines before launching production.
At Ducati, the event will be the arrival of Jorge Lorenzo, exceptionally authorized by Yamaha to participate in these tests, but only in these until the end of the contract which will end on December 31. This will be the opportunity for the Spaniard to begin his collaboration with his new chief technician Cristian Gabarrini, who formerly worked with Casey Stoner. The Australian will also be present (but without driving, only as an observer) as will Michele Pirro and of course Andrea Dovizioso. Each driver will have a single Desmosedici type 2017, the second being a 2016.
On the side of Yamaha , Maverick Vinales will make his debut on the M1 alongside Valentino Rossi. His technical team will essentially be the one working with Lorenzo this year. Johann Zarco, like his new teammate Jonas Folger, will debut his Yamaha within the Tech 3 team.
Honda plays continuity with the same drivers Marc Marquez and Dani Pedrosa for the official team and Cal Crutchlow at LCR. There is talk of a big bang engine and we will soon know more in this area. At Marc VDS Racing, Jack Miller's chief technician Cristian Gabarrini is leaving for Ducati to work with Jorge Lorenzo, and Ramon Aurin, Dani Pedrosa's current chief technician, will replace him, while Giacomo Guidotti (currently with Scott Redding at Pramac) will assist Pedrosa.
On the side of Suzuki, two new drivers appear, Andrea Iannone and Alex Rins replacing Maverick Vinales and Aleix Espargaro. Iannone will be assisted by his current chief technician Marco Rigamonti who, like him, is leaving Ducati. Andrea should quickly get into a good rhythm, while Rins will need time to adapt.
Aprilia also renews its two drivers, Aleix Espargaro and Sam Lowes replacing Alvaro Bautista and Stefan Bradl. They will have the 2016 Aprilia RS-GP, as the 2017 is not yet finalized.
KTM will arouse a lot of curiosity, after the Grand Prix that Mika Kallio will perform as a wild card. Bradley Smith and Pol Espargaro will certainly need a more or less long period to adapt to the specifics of the multitubular framework and to be able to provide relevant comments to the technicians of the Austrian team.
At Avintia, Hector Barbera will have a Ducati Desmosedici GP16, while Loris Baz will have a GP15 at his disposal. Same case with Asparagus, where Alvaro Bautista will have a GP16 and Karel Abraham a GP15. At the house of Pramac, the one of Scott Redding or Danilo Petrucci who finishes best placed in the championship will receive a GP17, while the other will have to settle for a GP16, which is already not so bad.
Photo of Mika Kallio during the previous Valencia tests (credit KTM)
