Honda joins Yamaha in testing, Aleix Espargaró back on track

KTM, Aprilia and Ducati conducted two days of private tests in Misano last week, just before the Qatar Grand Prix. It is now Yamaha and Honda’s turn to take time to work with their respective test and development team. The Japanese MotoGP manufacturers meet in Valence for a test scheduled for Tuesday and on Wednesday.

This session is the last consequence of the postponement of the test initially planned in common in Jerez. The bad weather that struck Andalusia in March led to damage to the circuit and restoration work which forced this test. Honda and Yamaha would have simply wanted to shift it but the deadlines are now too short since the regulations prohibit any test on a circuit within 14 days preceding the Grand Prix organized on site, or Jerez will host the fifth round of the MotoGP season next week.

This is what prompted European brands to refer to Misano and Japanese manufacturers to choose Valence. They needed track time in order to be able to assess the parts that will be made available to their pilots in a few days. The Spanish Grand Prix will indeed be followed by an important meeting, the first post-course test of the season in which the holders are authorized to participate, whatever the brands.

Aleix Espargaró de Casteur

This date of April 28 is particularly important for Honda as part of its development plans. It is therefore essential for the brand to carry out careful preparation with its development team.

“There are a lot of important things”, told Dazn Alberto Puig, team manager of the official Honda team during the Losail weekend. “I’m not going to say anything, but there are quite a few things that can help us improve the motorcycle if they work as we hope. The Jerez test will be very important for us.”

To carry out this preparation, Honda has dispatched its longtime essay pilot, Stefan Bradl, but also Aleix Espargaró, which has become this year the development iron. Its mission is to test the efficiency and reliability of the parts provided by the factory.

Also present on the Ricardo Tormo Ramón Aurín circuit, head of the Honda Team Test, Antonio Jiménez, the Espargaró track engineer, but also Romano Albesiano, the new technical director of the brand, and the staff arrived from Tokyo with the pieces.

Yamaha Teste Son Moteur V4

As Motorsport.com The revealed on Monday, this test is also very important for Yamaha, who called on his test and reserve pilot Augusto Fernández as well as in Cal Crutchlow. The Englishman, who has not driven for over a year because of an injury, is still part of the Iwata brand test team. Andrea Dovizioso is however absent, the fault of a recent shoulder injury.

If the weather, and in particular the wind, allows, Yamaha will therefore take advantage of this session scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday to roll a motorcycle equipped with a V4 engine, a first in Europe while the brand has been working for more than a year on this project. If it represents a real improvement, this engine could replace the current four -cylinder online that Yamaha is the only manufacturer to be preserved to date in MotoGP.