250cc – IRTA Jerez Preview Test – Everyone chasing Jorge Lorenzo

The 250cc will open the intense and significant week of IRTA (team association) testing in Jerez. An honor for the quarter-litre, which on Monday 19 and Tuesday 20 February will have the opportunity to test in Andalusia for a total of 16 hours, enough to make up for any time lost this month and prepare as best as possible in view of Losail. Hoping for good weather and acceptable track conditions, everyone, absolutely all of the 250cc protagonists will find themselves on the track for the first official tests of 2007, a season with an ancient flavor of the good times gone by. The presence of at least 6 potential world champions takes us back a decade: with due proportions, it seems to dive back into the period of Biaggi, Romboni, Capirossi, Harada and Waldmann, when 250cc was truly the premier class.

Today, although according to the manufacturers the two-stroke has had its day and there are already those who are thinking of a 450 four stroke or a 600 in Supersport mode as "MotoGP 2", the 250cc has found a fair amount of interest from the Piaggio Group, Honda and KTM, the manufacturers that will fight for the title. Everyone is chasing Jorge Lorenzo, once again ahead of everyone in the latest collective tests in Barcelona, ​​where he showed the #1 for the first time. The closest contender remains our Andrea Dovizioso, forced due to flu to miss a day of testing in Valencia, as well as having to develop the 250 Honda RSW2007 late.

Aprilia therefore has the advantage, with in addition to Lorenzo the availability of De Angelis, Barbera, the Gilera Locatelli-Simoncelli duo and the rookies Bautista and Luthi: a true "dream team". Honda and KTM will try to beat the Noale battleship starting tomorrow in Jerez, the first real tests of 2007.

250cc – IRTA Jerez test – The program

Monday 19/02: 10.00 – 18.00 Free Practice 1
Tuesday 20/02: 10.00 – 18.00 Free Practice 2

Alessio Piana