The presentations of the factories involved in this WSBK season are taking place or have already taken place but the work on the track is also relevant in this off-season which is entering its final part. It is in fact next month, in Aragon, that hostilities will be launched with Toprak Razgatlioglu who has clearly identified himself as the reigning champion and therefore the target of choice for his opponents by assuming to wear the number 1 on its fairing. In Catalonia, from this Friday and until Saturday, the five manufacturers competing in the discipline reserved for motorcycles derived from the series will be able to directly gauge each other...
Just over two weeks before the launch of the MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship, five factory teams take to the track for a test session at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya: on Friday March 25 and Saturday March 26, Yamaha, Ducati, Kawasaki, BMW and Honda will in fact continue the preparatory work for the first round of the season, scheduled for MotorLand of Aragon.
Yamaha Pata with Brixx WorldSBK will field its number 1, the world champion Toprak Razgatlioglu and his box companion Andrea Locatelli. After the Portimao tests, he will have the opportunity to compete again against the Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK which will return with Jonathan Rhea et Alex Lowes : the goal of the greens this year will be to bring home the world title lost last year after six years of absolute domination.
Team Aruba.it Racing – Ducati will also align the official composition with Álvaro Bautista et Michael Ruben Rinaldi, which aim to further improve the sensations with the bike, especially the Spaniard, who is back after two years at Honda.
Two drivers on track also for the team BMW Motorrad WorldSBK: Scott Redding confirmed while Michael van der Mark, still in difficulty after his broken right leg, will be replaced by Ilya Mikhalchik, BWM endurance driver. Team HRC will not be missed with its explosive rookie duo formed by Iker Lecuona et Xavi Virgo. The first mentioned, however, also has an eye on the news in MotoGP, in case he is called to replace in Argentina a Marc Marquez currently unavailable…
The WSBK makes its big rehearsal in Catalonia
In addition to the officials, some independent teams will also take to the track and continue their work towards the first round of the season? This will be the first test of the 2022 season for the team MIE Racing Honda, who will take the track with Leander Market et Hafiz Syahrin. This is Mercado's second season and for the first time in his WorldSBK career he will have a teammate, Malaysian rookie Hafizh Syahrin who will have the opportunity to test the bike for the first time during this test session. The team BonovoAction BMW with Eugene Laverty et Loris Baz, and the team GRT Yamaha WorldSBK with Garrett gerloff et Kohta Nozane will be keen to measure themselves against the elite.
On the Catalan circuit we will also see four teams with one driver each. We start with the Belgian Loris Cresson (TPR Team Pedercini Racing) for his first outing in 2022 after the injury reported at Portimao at the end of the 2021 season in Misano, the German Philipp Oettl (Team GoEleven) will return for his third try with his new team ahead of his debut season in WorldSBK. Another rookie who stood out at Misano, Luca Bernardi (Barni Spark Racing Team): San Marino to confirm its already good intentions.
Sessions on both days, Friday March 25 and Saturday March 26, will begin at 10:00 a.m. and end at 18:00 p.m.
