Adrian Huertas got his first taste of MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship machinery on Tuesday at MotorLand Aragon as he deputises at the Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK outfit for their first of two testing days at the Spanish venue. The 2021 WorldSSP300 Champion has impressed in WorldSSP since his graduation with MTM Kawasaki and KRT Team Manager, Guim Roda, explained why Huertas is testing for the team at Aragon.

The 20-year-old made his WorldSSP debut in 2022 and has worked his way into being a regular top-ten finisher, with a best result of fourth, although the elusive first podium still waits for the Madrid-born rider. His WorldSSP debut came in 2022 after he secured the 2021 WorldSSP300 title with six wins in 16 races, beating Tom Booth-Amos (Motozoo ME AIR Racing) and teammate Jeffrey Buis to the crown in a dramatic season-long fight.

Huertas has now been testing Kawasaki’s WorldSBK-spec machine at Aragon as a reward for his evolution, jumping straight into WorldSBK action with the factory team that has enjoyed so much success in recent years with Jonathan Rea. The Spaniard will test for one of the two days before race riders Rea and Alex Lowes return to their seats, with Huertas riding alongside KRT’s development rider, Florian Marino, on Tuesday.

Explaining why KRT opted to call up Huertas, Roda said: “We have a plan to test two days to take the opportunity from the track reservation, but we cannot test with Jonny or Alex due to the rules. We only have one day available with them, and we decided to use this day on Wednesday. Because we were already here and working like this during the year, we’re going to use Florian as a test rider. He’ll test some ideas and check some items to see how they work, and then implement them with Jonny and Alex.

“At the same time, we’re using the opportunity with one day extra and one crew chief available. At Most, we spoke with Kawasaki Europe about giving Adrian a chance to test the bike as a gift for the good job he’s done and how he’s evolving. We’re curious about how he’s able to ride the WorldSBK bike. There are more teams aside from Kawasaki with the possibility to bring through young riders. This is more about giving him a gift and then, after that, we can decide in the Kawasaki family whether we can continue helping him to grow up as a rider.”

Huertas has enjoyed a rapid rise through the ranks inside the WorldSBK paddock, turning into a consistent challenger in WorldSSP in just over a season – including some time he spent recovering from a back injury sustained in Australia at the start of 2023. The test caps off a memorable couple of seasons for the #99 and he will be hoping he puts in a strong showing for Kawasaki as he looks to continue his climb through the paddock.

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