Smith, Aprilia to test at Misano

Following KTM's recent private test at the Red Bull Ring, Aprilia will hold its first MotoGP outing since the coronavirus lockdown on June 10-11 at Misano.

Crash.net has been told that factory test rider Bradley Smith will be present for the initial outing, described mainly as a shakedown,while a further test at the end of June will see Smith joined by race rider Aleix Espargaro.

Smith, Aprilia to test at Misano

Following KTM's recent private test at the Red Bull Ring, Aprilia will hold its first MotoGP outing since the coronavirus lockdown on June 10-11 at Misano.

Crash.net has been told that factory test rider Bradley Smith will be present for the initial outing, described mainly as a shakedown,while a further test at the end of June will see Smith joined by race rider Aleix Espargaro.

Team-mate Andrea Iannone is still awaiting the outcome of his appeal to the CAS against an 18-month ban for failing a doping test at the Malaysian Grand Prix, with Smith set to take the Italian's place if he is unable to race this season.

Aprilia's all-new RS-GP made an impressive debut at the Sepang and Qatar tests, albeit with some engine reliability concerns.

But those worries became magnified when MotoGP's new cost-cutting technical freeze on engine and aerodynamic development was announced since it would have immediately stopped Concession teams Aprilia and KTM from continuing their normal development, thus preventing Aprilia fixing the reliability issues.

Fortunately for Aprilia, the Grand Prix Commission recently announced that the final 2020 engine design for the Concession manufacturers will now be frozen at the end of June, rather than in March 'Qatar spec', as was the case for Honda, Ducati, Yamaha and Suzuki.

The MotoGP Concessions package (for factories without multiple podium finishes in recent seasons) includes the right to test at any circuit, with race riders, as long as it's not within 14-days of a GP event to be held at the same track.

Race riders from non-Concession manufacturers are not expected to ride their grand prix machines until a test day on the Wednesday prior to the proposed Jerez season opener, in mid-July.

 

Latest 2020 MotoGP Calendar (including free weekends)

Round

Date

Race

Circuit

 

8 March

Qatar (MotoGP cancelled)

Losail

 

17 May

France (postponed)

Le Mans

 

31 May

Italy (postponed)

Mugello

 

7 June

Catalunya (postponed)

Barcelona

 

21 June

Germany (cancelled)

Sachsenring

 

28 June

Netherlands (cancelled)

Assen

 

12 July

Finland (cancelled)

KymiRing

 

30 August

Great Britain (cancelled)

Silverstone

 

25 October

Australia (cancelled)

Phillip Island

 

18 October

Japan (cancelled)

Motegi

1

19 July

Spain (proposed)

Jerez (rescheduled)

2

26 July

Andalusia (proposed)

Jerez

 

2 August

 

 

3

9 August

Czech Republic

Brno

4

16 August

Austria

Red Bull Ring

 

23 August

  
 

30 August

  
 

6 September

  

5

13 September

San Marino

Misano

 

20 September

  

6

27 September

Aragon

Aragon (rescheduled)

7

4 October

Thailand

Buriram (rescheduled)

 

11 October

  
 

18 October

  
 

25 October

  

8

1 November

Malaysia

Sepang

 

8 November

  

9

15 November

Americas

COTA (rescheduled)

10

22 November

Argentina

Termas de Rio Hondo (rescheduled)

11

29 November

Valencia

Ricardo Tormo (rescheduled)

 

6 December

 

 

 

13 December

 

Mid-December seen as cut-off for races outside Europe

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