KymiRing Test Concludes with MotoGP Riders Critical of the Track

The first official test at the Kymiring has wrapped up, the second day of testing taking place under much better conditions than the first day on Monday. The day started dry, though action didn’t start until 11am, the riders losing an hour of time as the test was cut short by the weather.

On a dry track, times were considerably quicker than on Monday, when the track was both wet and dirty. Where riders were circulating in the 2’10s on Monday, Bradley Smith managed to get down to 1:47.540 on the Aprilia. 

Different riders were on different programs, though the focus was mainly on trying out the track rather than testing new parts.

Some riders did have updates to test: Jonas Folger was testing parts for Yamaha, while Stefan Bradl continued his work for HRC. Michele Pirro tested a fairing which looked very similar to the fairing used by Danilo Petrucci and Andrea Dovizioso at the Brno test and Austria.

Mika Kallio for KTM, Sylvain Guintoli for Suzuki, and Bradley Smith for Aprilia did not have any parts to test, instead focusing on the track. 

The test was cut short when rain started in the afternoon, conditions deemed not to be safe enough with parts of the track still under construction. Yamaha were the biggest victim of the rain, the plan being for Jonas Folger to spend more time on track in the afternoon.

The riders were broadly critical of the layout of the track, saying that the infield section was too tight and twisty. The main straight is long enough for the riders to hit over 350 km/h, and the first sector contains some good corners, according to a candid interview given by Michele Pirro to GPOne.com.

Pirro felt there was only really one hard braking point at which riders could try to pass, and with a lot of changes of direction, it looked a lot like Austin and the Sachsenring, two tracks where Marc Marquez has dominated in the past. 

No date has been announced for the race, though it is expected to take place some time in July 2020. 

The times below were obtained from an independent source, and should be considered unofficial. They should be broadly accurate, however.