– Before the Italian Grand Prix, which takes place next weekend in Mugello, the nearby Misano is the current venue. First, the VR46 Academy completed a track day with superbikes over the Pentecost weekend.
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On Monday, Andrea Iannone conducted a first test with the Harley-Davidson. The Italian will compete from Mugello in the new Bagger World Cup of the US cult brand. From Tuesday, the test teams of the five MotoGP manufacturers will be active in Misano.
For two days, the development teams of Ducati, Aprilia, KTM, Honda, and Yamaha will work. The track was rented by Ducati, and the other manufacturers were invited to participate in this test.
The test riders Michele Pirro (Ducati), Lorenzo Savadori (Aprilia), Dani Pedrosa (KTM), Takaaki Nakagami (Honda), as well as Augusto Fernandez and Andrea Dovizioso for Yamaha, are in action.
During these two test days in Misano, the teams have tires from Michelin and Pirelli available. This allows work on the current motorcycles on the one hand and on the new 850cc prototypes on the other.
Especially the presence of Pirelli prevents the teams from disclosing detailed information about their programs. Therefore, this test takes place behind closed doors.
The weather forecast for these two days in Misano predicts sunshine and maximum temperatures of nearly 30 degrees Celsius. These are ideal conditions, as the recent official Monday test in Barcelona was hindered by rain.
Reserve rider for Mugello not yet confirmed
The complete starting field for Mugello is still open at the moment. Marc Marquez is on the provisional entry list. He still needs medical clearance to make his comeback after a double operation.
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His brother Alex Marquez will miss the races in Mugello and at Balaton Park to recover from the serious crash in Barcelona. Gresini has not yet confirmed who will replace him.
The most obvious solution would be Pirro. He will also work exclusively with the current 1,000cc prototype during the two-day test in Misano. He already replaced Fermin Aldeguer in the VR46 team at the season opener in Thailand.
LCR Honda has also not yet announced who will replace Johann Zarco after his serious start accident in Barcelona. Aleix Espargaro is not an option after his serious test accident in April in Sepang (Malaysia).
On Monday, the LCR team announced: “While Johann Zarco awaits his operation, the LCR team continues to work on finding a replacement rider for the upcoming races.”
“Further information will be announced shortly once everything is finalized and secured.” The most obvious solution would be Nakagami, who of course knows the team very well.
Honda has not registered a wildcard for Mugello, so Nakagami could ride to Mugello after the two test days in Misano. The two Italian tracks are about 220 highway kilometers apart.
MotoGP teams cannot fall back on Superbike World Championship riders. The production-based championship will take place next weekend at MotorLand Aragon in Spain.
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