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Ten more days to go, and the Superbike will be back in action for the second round of the season on the Barcelona track. In view of the Catalan race, teams and riders will already be busy this week in a two-day test scheduled for Thursday and Friday.
We'll be seeing all the factory teams at Montmeló, as they're called to pick up where they left off Phillip Island. Those like Johnny Rea will be aiming for a breakthrough in a complicated start to the Championship, since the Cannibal didn't score a single point in Australia. And, along with the points situation, the rider from Northern Ireland will also have to solve all the problems he has at hand that have still gone unanswered.
On the othere hand, there's Andrea Locatelli. He's become a full-fledged reference for the beginning of this season in Yamaha, to the extent that he's charted the road to follow.
The rider from Bergamo proved to be a guarantee on the R1, while those who were surprising in the first stage of the new year were Nicolò Bulega and Andrea Iannone. Both will be on the track in Barcelona riding the Panigale V4 along with Alvaro Bautista.
The Montmeló track is the Spanish rider's turf and, as a result, we're convinced that he'll want to re-establish the hierarchies after a start in pursuit. On the roll call we'll also find Danilo Petrucci, on the podium in Australia with Barni's Ducati, along with Sam Lowes and Michael Rinaldi, and also Michele Pirro, at his debut with the Superbike test team.
Among the teams that will be participating in the two-day event is BMW with Toprak Razgatlioglu, the protagonist of a start to the World Championship that has left him with a bittersweet aftertaste. The Turkish rider wants to burn bridges and, with the German bike, he's proven that he's raised the bar high enough to be able to battle it out for the top positions. However, we'll have to see how reliable the M 1000 RR will be after the two engines that went up in smoke in Australia.
Kawasaki will also be present with Axel Bassani and Alex Lowes, the latter leading the World Championship thanks to a double win in the Superpole Race and Race 2 on the Victoria track. Then Hondas will be there as well, forced to turn things around after a winter in which Vierge and Lecuona were in great difficulty as they tried to shorten the gap with he competition.
We obviously can't forget GRT with Aegerter and Gardner, and also Bonovo with Redding and van der Mark, and then Öttl and Ray.
Apparently, they'll have plenty of fish to fry, with a taste of what's to come starting Thursday in Catalonia with the first results, while we wait for the curtain to rise ten days from now on the second race weekend of the season.
Below is the complete list of participants.
