Four CRT MotoGPs plus the Ducati Test Team back in action at Jerez this week.
A private
MotoGP test session kicks off at
Jerez on Monday, with four of the new Claiming Rule Teams, plus the Ducati Test Team expected to be present.
According to Twitter reports by Azi Farni (@AziFarni) the Aspar and Speed Master CRTs will again be on track, having previously tested at Valencia in late-January, but this time be joined by two other CRTs making their debut - PBM and Ioda.
PBM, like Aspar and Speed Master, will run the full Aprilia (ART) motorcycle. Ioda is also using Aprilia RSV4 power, but plans to use its own tubular steel frame.
James Ellison will be PBM's sole rider, with Danilo Petrucci signed-up for the Ioda project.
Randy de Puniet and Alex Espargaro should both be present for the Power Electronics Aspar Team, with Mattia Pasini due to start his second test for Speed Master, having been named as a late replacement for Anthony West.
The three-day test will be significant because it will allow the ART bike - currently considered to be the most competitive of the new CRT entries - to be compared directly with a manufacturer 1000cc
MotoGP machine for the first time.
Ducati test rider Franco Battaini is expected to steer the GP12 on day one, with Cardion AB's Karel Abraham and then Pramac's Hector Barbera reported to be riding their satellite bikes on days two and three respectively.
Factory racer Nicky Hayden, who had been pencilled in for the test to make up for lost time at Valencia and Sepang I, will not be riding due to recent shoulder surgery. The American is aiming to be back on track at the next official
MotoGP test, which starts at Sepang on February 28.
Only the Forward Racing and Avintia Racing CRTs chose to attend the first official test at Sepang, alongside the twelve manufacturer bikes entered for this year's championship.
Forward's
Colin Edwards (Suter-BMW) was quickest of the CRTs, but 5.1sec from Honda's world champion Casey Stoner. At January's private Valencia CRT test, de Puniet was quickest by 0.7sec from Espargaro with a best lap time within 2.5sec of the official race lap record.
The full 2012
MotoGP line-up will not be on track together until the third and final official pre-season test, at
Jerez from March 23-25.
