The 2021 MotoGP season ended last Sunday in Valencia, but the time to rest has not yet come for some protagonists who are already thinking about 2022. For the first time, it is not the Ricardo Tormo Circuit that is in charge of opening the preseason, but rather in Jerez de la Frontera with two days in which the manufacturers will have to deliberate on the basis of next year’s bikes, as they finally come out of the freeze imposed by COVID-19, mainly in engines and aerodynamics.
This Tuesday and Wednesday there have already been private tests at the Jerez Circuit with the test drivers of all brands, but the official test with all the officials will be on Thursday and Friday. The activity will begin at 10:00 a.m. and end at 6:00 p.m., with a break from 1:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. It will not be broadcast live, although Motorsport.com will be present and on our website you will be able to find out everything that happens.
5 rookies on track
Remy Gardner, KTM Tech3
The main focus will be on technical innovations, as the main drivers will remain with their current teams. From a market standpoint, if anything, all eyes will be on the rookies. It will not be an absolute debut for the Moto2 world champion, Remy Gardner, nor for his teammate, Raúl Fernández, who already had the opportunity to test the Tech3 KTM during the test after the Misano Grand Prix.
The two new Ducati riders, Fabio Di Giannantonio and Marco Bezzecchi, will make their debut in the premier class, with Gresini Racing –which debuts as an independent team after its long association with Aprilia–, and Team VR46 –which will also make its debut in MotoGP –. In the box of the Valentino Rossi team, Luca Marini will drive the GP21, waiting for the GP22 that he will take next year.
Continuing with the debutantes, the most striking of all is probably Darryn Binder. After the great controversy after his accident with Dennis Foggia in Portimao, the newcomer to the WithU RNF Yamaha team will have to prove that he deserves to be in MotoGP, since he will make the direct jump from Moto3, a feat that in recent times he had only attempted Jack Miller in 2015.
Yamaha and Suzuki look for more horses
Fabio Quartararo, Yamaha Factory Racing
Moving on to the technical news, at Yamaha there is great anticipation for the new engine, given that in the last two years it has been the Achilles heel of the M1 between reliability problems in 2020 and the chronic lack of horsepower and top speed. The world champion Fabio Quartararo is very confident in the version that will debut in Andalusia to recover the competitiveness of the first part of 2021, since after the summer break he only added one of his five victories. The brand’s tester, Cal Crutchlow, rolled in Jerez on Tuesday and Wednesday, but he will not do it in the official test.
It will also be an important test for Suzuki. Defending champion Joan Mir called for a performance increase and the Hamamatsu company has prepared a new engine specification, although the GSX-RR should also feature aerodynamic updates.
Many unknowns in Honda without Márquez
Marc Marquez, Repsol Honda Team
Honda, for its part, will be without its star rider, Marc Márquez, who has been forced to miss the last two races of 2021 due to a training accident that caused diplopia (double vision). He already had this same problem in 2011, which has no cure and the only thing that can be done is to wait for the situation to evolve, so he will not be in Jerez and it is not yet known when he will be able to get back on the RC213V.
An unfortunate setback for the Japanese manufacturer, which seems determined to make a major change to its design for next year, according to the first innovations seen in the Misano tests, and which needed the eight-time world champion to guide its development. The weight will now fall on Pol Espargaró, who will not be 100% either: he missed the Valencia race after a bad crash in FP3, which caused painful bruises on his ribs and right wrist.
Ducati, the benchmark
Francesco Bagnaia, Ducati Team
Probably the bike that needs the fewest changes is Ducati, which has literally dominated the final phase of the season, with 5 pole positions and 4 wins in the last six races and the hat-trick in Valencia as icing on the cake. The Desmosedici at the moment seems to be the reference, but surely there will be something new in Jerez, as something was already seen in the Misano tests. We must not forget, however, that as they are usually the ones who set the tone, and that Gigi Dall’Igna and his technicians usually prefer to wait for the tests at the beginning of the year to uncover their cards.
Aprilia and KTM are still in search
Lorenzo Savadori, Aprilia Racing Team Gresini
Moving on to Aprilia, the Noale manufacturer will continue to be the only one with concessions, despite having managed to get on the podium with Aleix Espargaró at Silverstone. The base of the RS-GP 2022 has already been tested by the tester Lorenzo Savadori, but what we will see in Jerez should not yet be the final version, but a hybrid that will serve to evaluate some important novelties from the tested base.
Jerez will also be a good opportunity for Maverick Viñales to continue his adaptation to the V4 engine, after driving an in-line four-cylinder for so many years.
Finally, it will also be a crucial two days for KTM, which in recent times seems to have taken a step back from what it achieved in 2020 and in the middle part of the season, in which it took two wins. The Austrian manufacturer needs to shake things up to return to the front positions more regularly.
(Click on the link or on the image to see the photos of the last MotoGP test in Misano)
