MotoGP had ended its year on track with two days of testing in Jerez sketching out the 2022 grid, and it is now the turn of WSBK to do the same from the 15th to the 17th of December. Except that the series which is played with motorcycles taken out of dealerships will only offer a very partial sketch, since we will only see Honda, Kawasaki and BMW on the Spanish track. But it's already not bad since the CBR triple R will launch two young new drivers from the Grands Prix, that BMW and Scott Redding will continue to get to know each other and that Kawasaki will prepare the reconquest...
On this last point, it is not certain that the situation with the ZX-10R either to the taste of Jonathan Rhea which required an effort from Akashi's engineers. The six-time World Champion who was stripped of his crown this year by the Yamaha rider Razgatlioglu will only find the Kawasaki with which he will try to aim for the seventh world title. The bike will in fact have the same engine revs with which it closed the season, i.e. 14, given that the regulations do not provide for the return of these 600 revs deleted at the start of the last championship.
As stated several times by Johnny during the season and repeated at the same time by Riba pears, the working window on which to act is very narrow, considering that the Kawasaki launch at the end of 2020 is certainly not a revolutionized motorcycle, which everyone was waiting for in WSBK. Jerez, there will be several proposals, particularly in terms of the chassis and electronics, as well as some updates related to the chassis and the engine.
Jerez: no big changes expected at Kawasaki which “ fine-tune«
Guim Roda, Team Manager of KRT, declined the expected work plan with alex lowes returning from injury, and we see that there will be nothing transcendent… “ The plan for this test is to ride with the inertia of the 2021 season and then start to check out some of the ideas that we have to improve next year. It is mainly a new check of certain points what KMC has been working on with the bike, and some tuning directions to improve what we've seen this season ».
« We will use the three days in Jerez to try to improve our competitiveness. We cannot use all the available track time, due to the limitations of the drivers' test days, so we will manage things in the best possible way to draw good conclusions. Otherwise, we will continue to work in the best directions that we have used this season. We came very close to achieving our goals this year, so it's not about making big changes but about tweaking the areas in which we know we are a little weak ».
The big change is not for now at Kawasaki and to experience such an event, you will have to go to the box Honda. The upheaval will not concern the bike but the crew with the installation of the pair Iker Lecuona - Xavi Verge which brings down the average age which was current last season. Will the times drop so significantly? We'll know in a few hours... Weather permitting.
