With just ten days to go until the winter test ban comes in to force, on December 1st, teams in both world championships are busy doing their last tests and collecting as much data as possible to take into the winter break.
Testing is already happening on Monday, with some of the World Superbike teams gathering in Jerez. Kawasaki, the SMR Aprilia squad, Althea BMW, and Ten Kate (soon to be Red Bull) Honda are at the Jerez circuit, though the wet weather means there is little going on on track.
Ten Kate are without Nicky Hayden, who has twisted his knee while practice dirt track. The WorldSBK teams are due to stay for a couple more days, and will hope that the better weather forecast for later in the week arrives sooner rather than later.
Some of the MotoGP teams will also be heading to Jerez to take part in testing from Wednesday. KTM will be there with Bradley Smith, though Yamaha has vetoed Pol Espargaro, who was riding for Tech 3 on a Yamaha factory contract.
Suzuki will also be present, though only with Andrea Iannone and test rider Takuya Tsuda. The test teams from Ducati and Honda will also be present, though not the Repsol Honda riders.
Dani Pedrosa and Marc Marquez had been due to test at Jerez this week, but decided against it. The official reason given was that they had gotten through their test program at Valencia.
While Ducati, Suzuki and KTM will be hoping for good weather at Jerez, Yamaha are almost certain of it at Sepang. Maverick Viñales and Valentino Rossi head to the Malaysian circuit this week for a private test, along with the Tech 3 rookies of Johann Zarco and Jonas Folger.
The test at Jerez will be open to the media, but the Sepang test will take place completely behind closed doors, with no media allowed. Enquiries to the circuit revealed that no media would be admitted to the circuit.
With the premier class dispersed across the globe, Moto2 and Moto3 are in Valencia. At the end of the first day of testing for the two classes, Enea Bastianini topped the Moto3 timesheets, five hundredths of a second faster than Bo Bendsneyder, now the leading rider in the KTM Red Bull Ajo team.
For the Moto2 class, it was Taka Nakagami who was once again fastest, just a fraction quicker than Xavi Vierge. Best of the Moto2 rookies was Pecco Bagnaia, who was just three tenths off the pace of Nakagami.
Photo: © 2016 Scott Jones / Photo.GP – All Rights Reserved
This article was originally published on MotoMatters, and is republished here on Asphalt & Rubber with permission by the author.
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