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Phillip Island is just around the corner and preparations have already begun for the first round of winter testing at MotorLand Aragon in mid November. The Spanish circuit will host the first round of testing for WorldSBK teams with only a handful attending the first event. All testing will be carried out in Spain and Portugal over the winter, as temperatures stay mild, allowing for the best possible working conditions for teams to develop bike settings and improve setup.

The first two-day trials will see Honda World Superbike Team, Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team, Kawasaki Racing Team and Aruba.it Racing – Ducati make the first improvements ahead of next year. For KRT duo Tom Sykes and World Champion Jonathan Rea it will be business as usual as they review their season and plan for their new title defence. For everyone else, there will be a shuffling of teams and introductions to new riders.

Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team will see Michael van der Mark try out the Yamaha R1 for the first time, while the Honda World Superbike Team welcomes Stefan Bradl to the squad, as he says goodbye to MotoGP™ the weekend before in Valencia. Over in the Ducati garage, Chaz Davies will reunite with his old teammate Marco Melandri. Bradl and Melandri will be looking to gain as much information as they can on their new machines, as they’ll want to get up to speed as quickly as possible to begin helping their teammates with bike development.

After two days at Aragon, the WorldSBK paddock heads to Jerez where most teams will test between the 21^st and 25^th of November before the new year. Then in January, testing will be ramped up as they return to Jerez from the 21^st of January with some teams heading straight to Portimao after the Spanish test, on the 28^th of January. The final opportunity for teams to get last minute track time in before the 2017 season opener in Australia, will be at Jerez again on the 1^st and 2^nd of February.

First winter trials begin on the 16^th and 17^th of November ahead of a busy off-season. Stay up to date with the latest news and developments in testing only on WorldSBK.com.