In order to prepare for the next races of the MotoGP World Championships (July 19 in Jerez) and Superbike (August 2 in Jerez), the organizer of these tests managed to get local political leaders to accept the arrival of these Barcelona tests for 15 media representatives (written text and photos, excluding TV) as well as the presence of Toprak Razgatlioglu and Garrett gerloff, while neither Turks nor Americans are normally allowed to enter Spain due to Covid-19.
Garrett Gerloff's point of view:
It took us 4 months but we are finally back on a race track! We are at @Circuitcat_eng this week for a two-day test 😄 Do you think @garrettgerloff is excited? 🤔
Action starts tomorrow at 9am (CEST) 🕘#YamahaRacing | #WeR1 | #RevsYourHeart | #WorldSBK pic.twitter.com/VTHpIXjkrV
— GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team (@GRTYamahaWSBK) July 7, 2020
The arrival of these two pilots was a relief for Andrea Dosoli, WSBK Racing Director for Yamaha Motor Europe, who declared “It’s been a long time since the last race, with the world in an unprecedented situation since we left Phillip Island last March. In many countries, many people have suffered from the consequences of the coronavirus pandemic, which is still far from over. The situation has improved to the point where we can return to racing, but we must make this return responsibly. »
“We have a strict safety protocol in place for this week's testing and rescheduled races, to ensure we minimize the risk of infection for our drivers, team personnel and those we are in contact with. contact. We have a lot to test during these two days in Barcelona if we want to be ready to restart the season in Jerez. We have seen in Australia that our drivers and our R1 are capable of fighting to win races and I am confident that we can maintain this momentum during what promises, with six races confirmed in just 10 weeks, to be an intense season . »
On the side of the Greens, after the statements of Johnny Rea and team boss Guim Roda, Alex Lowes explained to us “I stayed near Misano, with my brother. His fiancée is Italian, so we spent time as a family and trained, which was nice. I spent a few days on my new KX250 motocross machine and did some nice ATV rides in the San Marino area. At the moment I am in Barcelona, near the team workshop and we will stay here until the end of the Portimão race. When we tested in Montmeló in January we didn't have great weather, so although I knew the track a little, I wasn't able to fully get into it. »
“Now that I have a better understanding of the bike, it's going to be great to ride the circuit in full on mode because my first impressions of Montmeló were really good. I need to work on a couple of things on my bike, which my team leader Marcel and I identified during the recent Misano test. We are also looking to improve the rear of the bike, from a tuning point of view. Although I've been with the team for about eight months, I'm still learning the ZX-10RR. »
The only World Superbike team to have previously tested in Barcelona was Kawasaki, with Jonathan Rea and Alex Lowes, who came at the end of January and were then penalized by unfavorable weather.
Participants in the Barcelona tests:
Superbike:
Kawasaki: Jonathan Rea, Alex Lowes
Outdo Pedercini Kawasaki: Sandro Cortese
Orelac Kawasaki: Maximilian Scheib
Aruba.it Ducati: Scott Redding, Chaz Davies, Michael Rinaldi
Brixx Ducati: Sylvain Barrier
Motocorsa Ducati: Leandro Mercado
Honda: Alvaro Bautista, Leon Haslam
Pata Yamaha: Michael van der Mark, Toprak Razgatlioglu
GRT Yamaha: Garrett Gerloff, Federico Caricasulo
Ten Kate Yamaha: Loris Baz
BMW: Tom Sykes, Eugene Laverty
Supersport:
GMT94 Yamaha: Jules Cluzel, Corentin Perolari
EAB Ten Kate Yamaha: Steven Odendaal
Other:
Marc VDS:
Yamaha R1 for Sam Lowes (for rolling)
Yamaha R6 for Augusto Fernández (for driving)
The weather forecast predicted dry weather of 21° to 29° during these two days of closed-door testing. The green light was on at 9am.
Goooood morning @WorldSBK!
Ready for #CATtest at @Circuitcat_eng@chazdavies7 I @reddingpower@ArubaRacing I @ducaticorse pic.twitter.com/uXZSP7ZEoH- Aruba.it Racing - Ducati (@ArubaRacing) July 8, 2020
En marche les entrenos del @WorldSBK on the Circuit!! 😋😋#WorldSBK@CAT_WorldSBK pic.twitter.com/Y1i6cCZWof
— Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya (@Circuitcat_es) July 8, 2020
Let's go, @chazdavies7 ✊🏼✊🏼✊🏼#ForzaDucati@ArubaRacing | @WorldSBK | @DucatiMotor pic.twitter.com/OfSb9aEjP8
- Ducati Corse (@ducaticorse) July 8, 2020
Scott Redding completed the first hour in 1'42.179, 0.3 ahead of Alex Lowes, 0.8 ahead of Johnny Rea, 1.2 ahead of Sandro Cortese and 1.3 ahead of Álvaro Bautista. Jules Cluzel dominated the Supersport in 1'46.971.
A technical problem caused Garrett Gerloff to fall, at low speed and without consequence, in Turn 4.
First-hour ranking:
During the second hour of riding, Scott Redding improved his best performance to 1'41.985, ahead of Johnny Rea in 1'42.017, with a gap of only 0.03 between the Ducati and the Kawasaki. The other ZX-10RR, driven by Alex Lowes, was in third position, 0.5 behind Redding, ahead of the two Yamahas of Toprak Razgatlioglu and Michael van der Mark, 0.9 behind the leader's Panigale V4 R.
Ranking at the second hour:
At 11:30 a.m., Johnny Rea picked up his pace and took first place in 1'41.910, 0.075 ahead of his compatriot Scott Redding. Alex Lowes was third in 1'42.527, ahead of Chaz Davies at 0.8, then two very compact groups: we found Razgatlioglu and van der Mark at 1.0, then Laverty, Sykes and Baz at 1.1. The Hondas of Haslam and Bautista were in eleventh and twelfth positions, while Sylvain Barrier was sixteenth.
Ranking at the third hour:
Shortly after midday, the session was stopped at the red flag due to a fall by Leon Haslam, without serious consequences (he left the scene of his fall alone while walking). The competitors came out of the boxes around ten minutes later. The air temperature had risen from 23° at the start of the morning to now 25°, with a maximum of 30° (in the shade) expected for the afternoon. Tati Mercado fell around 12:35 p.m., without seriousness.
The session stopped for the lunch break. After an hour of modest libations, the track will be available again from 14 p.m. to 18 p.m.
Results from day one to midday:
Some numerical benchmarks:
Track length: 4,627 km. Width: 12 m. Straight line: 1 m.
MotoGP test record: 1'38.680 by Jorge Lorenzo on Ducati in 2018
MotoGP race record: 1'40.021 by Jorge Lorenzo on Ducati in 2018
On the Supersport side, Jules cluzel believed that “With the GMT, I'm lucky because I have more test sessions than in the past. It happened to me in the past that I never rode before the start of a season. I sometimes even arrived at the first race without having ridden a single time and discovered the bike once on the circuit. This was the case in 2018, when I could have been titled. It's not the main thing because I got used to it and I developed certain qualities in relation to it. So it doesn't bother me. »
The first hour was favorable to Jules Cluzel who dominated the Supersport in 1'46.971, before Steven Odendaal took the advantage during the second lap of the dial in 1'46.866.
As midday approached, the South African improved his best time to 1'46.576. He was then ahead of the two Frenchmen by a little less than half a second.
Results from day one to midday in Supersport:
Some numerical benchmarks:
Track length: 4,627 km. Width: 12 m. Straight line: 1 m.
Moto2 test record: 1'43.474 by Fabio Quartararo on Speed Up in 2018
Moto2 race record: 1'43.871 by Alex Marquez on Kalex Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS in 2019
Corentin Perolari and Jules Cluzel
On the right, Alberto Puig, Repsol Honda Team Manager
Michael van der Mark
Loris Baz
On the left, Pere Riba, technical manager of Johnny Rea's ZX-10RR (and replacement for Álex Crivillé at Luis d'Antin in 500 on Yamaha in 2002)
Photos © Aruba-Ducati, Kawasaki, Honda, Yamaha, Worldsbk.com / Dorna, GMT 94 Yamaha
