Making its debut on the WorldSBK calendar in 2020, the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya became the sixth Spanish track in the Championship history.  A permanent fixture on the MotoGP™ calendar since 1992, the fast and flowing venue has witnessed classic races across all forms of motorcycle racing.

DID YOU KNOW?
There have been six different winners out of nine races run at the Circuit de Catalunya-Barcelona. In 2022, Alvaro Bautista went from no wins to the track record of three. He is followed by Jonathan Rea on two victories in Barcelona.

BARCELONA’S HOT SPOTS WITH XAVI VIERGE

T1/ “The main straight is quite long and finally from mid-way until the end it is always going downhill, so you can reach a high speed.”
 
T5/ “If it is a little bit cold you have to take care on T5. Then you have a big corner at T6, which is also nice because the kerb is a little bit higher in the inside.” 

T10/ “You can have very hard braking into T10 but T12 is like a transition corner, to arrive at the last few corners, which are very difficult.”

What to look out for in Barcelona
After a hat-trick of victories in the Netherlands, reigning WorldSBK Champion Alvaro Bautista will be aiming to extend his lead in the standings. He holds the record of wins at the Circuit de Catalunya-Barcelona with three victories claimed in 2022 and was close to the all-time lap record pace during the private test at the track in March.

Second in the Championship standings, Toprak Razgatlioglu will be chasing his first victory at the Catalan circuit where his best result so far is a second place claimed in 2021.

Andrea Locatelli has had a strong start to his 2023 season, sitting in third place in the standings with 104 points after nine races, 20 more than the same stage last year. He will aim to continue his fine form, with four podium places claimed so far in 2023, matching his 2021 total of podiums after just three rounds this season.

It will be the home round for the Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK as their rider, Jonathan Rea, will look to bounce back after his Assen Race 2 crash. He will benefit from a test at the Catalan track before Assen hoping to close the gap to the top three in the standings.

Team HRC’s Xavi Vierge and Iker Lecuona will look forward to bouncing back at their home round after a difficult Dutch Round as they believe the Circuit de Catalunya-Barcelona can work better for them. Iker Lecuona will head from Barcelona directly from Jerez where he replaced Marc Marquez in the factory Repsol Honda.

- Advertisement -

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR