MotoGP: Teams get Catalunya test date

The MotoGP World Championship will host a test in Barcelona two days prior to the first Grand Prix of the premier class season, it has been confirmed by KTM MotoGP boss Pitt Beirer.

On 15 June, the riders of the MotoGP World Championship will head to Andalucia for a pre-race test in Jerez, as the riders and teams look to re-acquaint themselves with their prototype machinery.

This will be the first time MotoGP bikes have been on a race track in four months, since the final preseason test in Qatar at the end of February, and will be the end to the longest drought of MotoGP on-track action in well over a decade, and certainly since restrictions surrounding testing time became tighter.

Speaking about the test to Autosport, Beirer said;

The test will be an important one, as both the riders and their teams look to get back up to speed with working together and with their bikes, all whilst adhering to the social distancing rules that will be set in place. For the rookies, this time to re-acquaint themselves with MotoGP machinery, with such a large gap since the last test, will be crucial.

Additionally, the test will be important for riders to be able to understand Jerez in June, something which will be quite foreign to them, since the Andalucian track usually hosts the Spanish GP at the beginning of May. The temperatures are likely to be higher than usual, and so getting on top of that early will be key to success on this opening race of the season.

All of this means that we are just over two weeks away from seeing MotoGP bikes on track once again, which seemed at times impossible over the last few months, and the way in which the individual riders come back from this extended break in comparison to each other will be fascinating.