Marc Marquez’s former stand-in Stefan Bradl’s return to MotoGP action this weekend at the Spanish Grand Prix in his usual role as Honda’s test rider marks the return of wildcard guest entrants for the first time since 2019.
The traditional practice of MotoGP manufacturers occasionally entering extra one-off bikes was banned for 2020 to reduce the number of people in the paddock amid the coronavirus pandemic.
But in 2021 each team is once again allowed to bring a test rider for three races – with the exception of concession status Aprilia, which can turn up with three riders for six races.
With a development freeze (also caused by the pandemic) limiting the amount of engine modifications possible for this year, it also means a frantic flurry of R&D activity is to be expected in the coming months ready for 2022 developments.
So with that in mind, we look at what we most want to see from all six manufacturers’ guest bikes.
Honda – Let Bradl race!
For the past nine months, Honda has caused something of a controversy among rival manufacturers by using test rider Bradl as Marquez’s replacement rider without really letting the German race.
With Bradl completing all grand prix sessions, it quickly became apparent that HRC was making the most out of the huge amount of extra R&D track time its designated test rider could get rather than trying to win races with him.
What makes it even more galling is that when Bradl was finally allowed to put aside his test rider duties and concentrate on himself rather than the RC213V as a thank you for a long hard year, he delivered an excellent seventh place in the season finale at Portimao.
So the question is, with a ton of development work already completed this year, which Bradl will Honda allow to ride at Jerez?
Unfortunately, it’s likely to be once again the tester and not the racer, as Honda looks to put the final touches to the 2022 bike.
Ducati – More weird Gigi Dall’Igna innovations
Traditionally, Michele Pirro’s Ducati wildcards come at the team’s home races at Mugello and Misano, and traditionally they involve Ducati Corse engineering chief Gigi Dall’Igna bolting all sort of weird devices onto the test rider’s Desmosedici to keep us guessing about what innovations are coming next.
From weird aerodynamic devices on the front of the bike to solid rear wheels and under-hanging track measurement sensors, we’ve seen all sorts in recent years and 2021 will surely be no different.
In fact, after a year of testing behind closed doors for Pirro, it’s possible that there’s a veritable catalogue of oddities to try out.
However, if you’re watching from home there’s one thing to be wary of. While Ducati likes to try oddball solutions to problems, there’s a school of thought in the paddock that many of these distractions are exactly that – a magician’s trick to divert attention away from something small but more important elsewhere on the bike!
Suzuki – The game-changing new 2022 spec engine
We’ve already had a sneak preview of what Suzuki is set to bring to its wildcard appearances when Sylvain Guintoli gets to race later this year thanks to pre-season testing in Qatar.
It’s a 2022 spec of engine that The Race’s sources in the paddock hint at potentially being something of a game-changer for the world champion team.
Suzuki’s always a team with a sweet-handling chassis but never the fastest bike on the grid for straightline speed.
It seems that the new powerplant (developed by the 2014 World Superbike champion Guintoli but tested by both Alex Rins and Joan Mir in Qatar) made an instant impact, and could close the gap to Suzuki’s V4-powered rivals even further.
But we didn’t quite get an idea of the new engine’s capabilities at Losail simply because we didn’t know when it was in use.
With development advanced enough that Mir and Rins have already tried it, though, it’s a given that Guintoli will take advantage of the engine rules to run it in anger on his wildcard outings – and to give us a sneak preview.
Aprilia – In a word: Dovizioso
There’s only one thing we want to see from Aprilia wildcards in 2021: Andrea Dovizioso returning to MotoGP.
However, it’s not as simple as simply seeing him jump on the bike, with more than one hoop still to jump through before he’s back in action.
The first (and most minor of those) is next month’s test at Mugello. A chance for him to try out the RS-GP for the second time, at a different circuit and with significant changes made to the ergonomics of the bike to better suit him, it’ll give us a much better idea of how ready for MotoGP success he really thinks Aprilia is.
But a second successful test alone won’t be enough to sway him back into action.
He wants, more than anything, a full-time ride for 2022, be that with Aprilia or someone else. If he believes the bike is strong enough to compete on and if there’s an offer for next year on the table, why not take the six races offered by Aprilia’s concession status as free testing time?
But if the bike isn’t up to scratch, if a contract isn’t forthcoming or the money isn’t right, then we might never see Dovizioso riding the RS-GP in anger.
KTM – Has Dani Pedrosa still got the speed?
It’s crazy to think that it’s almost three years since we saw Dani Pedrosa last race a MotoGP machine, after being a fixture of the paddock (and the Repsol Honda team) for well over a decade.
Yet we’re likely going to see him back in action on a different orange bike later this year, with KTM bosses confirming to The Race that a wildcard deal is close to being finalised.
But here’s the key thing: if Pedrosa returns to MotoGP action, he won’t be there to score points and win races. Instead, having working since he joined KTM to build a bike almost entirely to his own spec, it’ll be to try out the final version of that product and see what’s in store for KTM’s factory riders in 2022.
With Pedrosa having already done great work on the 2020 bike that took three wins, it’ll be interesting to see what KTM’s future might hold when its bike is something that Pedrosa’s really happy with.
Yamaha – Cal Crutchlow’s incredible 60th anniversary livery
Of course it’ll be great to see Cal Crutchlow back in action and of course it’ll be interesting to see him riding a Yamaha after a long time away from the Japanese brand.
But let’s be honest here: most people are more interested in seeing the gorgeous Yamaha Speedblock livery he’ll be sporting to celebrate the firm’s 60th anniversary.
Unveiled earlier this year but so far only used in testing, the design was an instant hit with fans, and there’ll be eager anticipation of seeing it in anger when Crutchlow makes his first appearance in a race – something not yet confirmed but definitely on the cards according to The Race’s sources.
Of course Crutchlow, only very freshly retired from racing and still very fast, won’t just be riding around at the back of the grid to make up the numbers.
What he’s capable of on the M1 won’t just give us a hint of that bike’s future but might also show us just where the Honda RC213V he jumped off is really at too.
