The MotoGP circus heads south from Barcelona to the Andelusian circuit of Jerez this coming weekend for the second official IRTA test, the last pre-season test before points-scoring competition begins in just over two week's time. It is the last chance for the teams to extrapolate and download vital information from the riders before hanging it out in racing trim on April 10th, at the same venue, for Round one of the 2005 MotoGP World Championship.

The Mardi Gras of Spanish-based action kicks off this Friday, March 25th, and at the business end of proceedings, it's the usual suspects who will once again be looking for that all-important edge over their rivals. The likes of Biaggi, Gibernau and Rossi will all be looking for that perfect mindset, and will all be looking to leave the winter testing schedule as the man to beat going into the season proper.

Sete Gibernau is looking to take his sublime form from the Barcelona test and make it a Spanish double in terms of being the fastest man on track in his home country two weeks in succession. The first half of that mission was completed in emphatic style last weekend when the double Vice-Champion stole the show with his BMW-winning lap during the televised 40-minute "official" session. A machine-punching Rossi and a mechanically disrupted Biaggi were beaten back by Gibernau on the day.

However, that lap from Gibernau, and other soft-tire-assisted wonder laps, were just the icing on the cake, as the real deal went on during the Free Practice sessions prior to that dash for the 1-Series BMW. As I've mentioned here before, as nice as it is to see your name at the top of the timing sheets after nailing a hot lap on a super-sticky qualifying tire, it's the depth chart where race rubber has been used and set-up time put to best use that tells the real story.

At Barcelona last weekend, the numbers show that yet again, along with Rossi, Edwards and Barros, and with Melandri, Hayden and Tamada knocking at the door, Sete Gibernau is once more looking like a serious challenger for the MotoGP crown, and the numbers don't lie.

Gibernau was highly consistent and built his weekend momentum nicely, with race pace (or expected race pace) on a slightly revised Catalunya layout, looking set to be run at a strong 1:43 tempo when we reach Round 6 of the championship in May (future development notwithstanding).

The Catalan racer completed 53 laps in the 1:43 bracket during the weekend, with the pace intensifying from the sighting day on Friday, through to the completion of the third Free Practice session, where Rossi also came to the fore and led the lap count at "race pace."

In direct comparison to Sete's figures, Valentino ran a total of 51 laps around the same 1:43 bracket over the three days, with Camel Honda man Alex Barros also figuring well in the consistency stakes, the Brazilian up there with 44 laps (Alex actually led the fast-lap stats on Saturday).

Telefonica Movistar rider, Marco Melandri, recorded 46 laps at the same pace; the former 250cc world champion led these particular stats on Friday, and Biaggi, Tamada and Hayden all took turns knocking at the door of solid consistency behind him with Biaggi outright quickest on the first two days.

Of course it's not just a solid race pace that counts at a test. There was the usual developmental work to complete with evolutionary parts, tire testing, comparison tests, engine and fuel mapping tests to run. It isn't all race simulation, and for Sete, 50-plus laps at this pace from a total of 212 proves that.

But, the numbers do at least tell us who is rounding into form personally when it counts and who has a motorcycle and tire package that will at least keep them within a shout for a decent points-haul throughout the year.

Someone who impressed when you look at the figures, although he didn't set the overall timing list alight, was Texan Colin Edwards. With Yamaha factory rider Edwards having 80% of his weekend taken up with tire testing for Michelin (evolutionary profile being put through its paces), Colin recorded 45 laps at the aforementioned pace.

Impressive numbers when you consider many of the other riders enter into tire evaluation only as a part (a very important part) of working on their own personal set-up programs, but nowhere near the level of intensity Edwards faces at times as Michelin's go-to guy.

Colin didn't get in anywhere near the overall personal-package-assessment time as most of the field at Barcelona did last weekend, yet the former WSC champion figured importantly inside this competitive bracket. That has to be a plus for the Yamaha riders as a whole in terms of tires for the season, and for the Gauloises squad in terms of Colin's consistency.

Colin has commented that he has a set-up in the bag, so to speak, from previous tests and has the added attraction of being able to use Rossi's set-up (more keenly worked on than Edwards' own) because the pair have an almost identical telemetry overlay, their styles matching in many areas. Colin and Valentino are able to blend ideas and impressions and come back to them should other duties (tires for Edwards) take precedent over personal data acquisition. Edwards will have that base as the teams arrive at Jerez and will be looking for a bit of selfish application to cement his own plans for a strong MotoGP championship challenge this year.

These figures from the Gauloises garage are in direct opposition to the feeling on the ground that we were made aware of, if you read between the lines, after reading comments from both Valentino Rossi and Davide Brivio in the team press releases, certainly on Friday and Saturday.

"We are struggling", came the call from Rossi, but with "The Doctor" in the seat, struggling is a relative term. It tells me that the perfectionist streak that runs through that garage, with Jeremy Burgess leading the way, is coming to the fore again for this season with the 2005-spec YZR-M1. They want the bike set up to such a degree that they have a broad base setting that works pretty much for most circuits, and then tweak the machine to suit the characteristics of any individual layout on the calendar when the series arrives at said destinations-a bold task to undertake.

Of course, the best-laid plans don't always work. At Rio last season, the Yamaha performance was patchy to say the least, a blip you might say, although blips are to be expected when you are racing the most advanced racing prototypes on the planet with all the nuances that they provide.

The comments tell me that Rossi and Burgess are honing the bike to be competitive in areas that the Honda riders perhaps take for granted with the RC211V, front-end stability under engine braking being one such area. Engine braking on the 2005 version of the RC211V seems all but sorted if you listen to comments from Sete Gibernau and Nick Hayden, however, it appears to be a slight concern in the Yamaha garage with regard to the M1. The "skittish" nature of the front end, not having it planted with full conviction and balance, needs to be resolved.

The Honda has always been overall a more complete package, although not changeable to any great degree, chassis for instance, while the Yamaha is infinitely more adjustable and more adaptable to that change (in the right hands). Just which bike of the two will take to its 2005 evolutionary changes more fluently will be born out in the fullness of time but, as of now, the Honda of 2005 looks to be a much more consistent animal in relation to the 2004 model, rear-linkage and tire-profile problems looking to have been resolved for this season.

For Yamaha, Jerez is a perfect circuit to work on front-end stability with its mixture of corners, high speed and low speed, and numerous braking point differentials giving the motorcycle a thorough workout. Colin Edwards should get more personal-data-acquisition time this weekend, although you can guarantee that Michelin will have acted on Colin's feedback from last weekend and will again roll up with a truckload of product for all concerned to benefit from, Edwards included.

"We are struggling" certainly seemed to apply to Ducati last weekend, or maybe it was more a case of "Which direction is best" after the smoke had cleared on a frustrating Barcelona test. With a new engine braking system to test, developed with special software that manages both the engine and clutch for improved stability, the Ducati Marlboro squad needed both factory riders fit and active as they tried to squeeze every scrap of advantage out of their Bridgestone-shod machines.

Carlos Checa lost a good chunk of his weekend after slipping off the Desmosedici GP-5 at Turn 2 during Free Practice on Saturday. The injuries sustained have left the Spaniard unable to participate at Jerez this coming weekend.

Competitive laptimes from Loris Capirossi never materialized and the early pre-season form appeared to have evaporated at the Montmelo circuit last weekend. Using the same bracket of time as the riders mentioned above, Capirossi recorded only five laps inside the 1:43 mark after three days.

Evaluation aplenty may have been the case with the GP-5, but after finishing the BMW session 1.6 seconds back of Gibernau's impressive 1:41.851, the Ducatisti and the Bridgestone technicians have a lot of work ahead of them at Jerez to put them in the hunt for podiums this season.

If the game of numbers is to be believed and the form of people like Gibernau continues in its current rich vein, Capirossi and Checa may find the launch control system on the GP-5 and the excellent qualifying tire from Bridgestone not quite enough in the long run, certainly not over 25 competitive laps.

Once the statistics and lap-by-lap breakdown analysis pages are released post-weekend, it may be possible to see a definable pattern of consistent lap times to compare the Desmosedici with the RC211V and the YZR-M1. Something you don't get when you just rely on a list of ultimate times that can be, as opined previously, misleading. One must wonder if this is the right time to be introducing this engine-braking system.

The same can be said about the factory efforts from the Eckl-led Kawasaki outfit racing the Ninja ZX-RR machine, and the Paul Denning-managed works Suzuki squad, running the revised GSV-R bike. Both are Bridgestone-shod, and there have been mixed results of late for both factories.

Kawasaki has allowed Shinya Nakano to make a choice in the engine department. Two versions of the "big-bang" engine have been assessed by the Japanese at Sepang II, at private tests at Jerez and Valencia and last weekend in Barcelona. Nakano, with help from Technical Director Ichiro Yoda, has plumbed for the engine spec that suits his style and the development of the package as a whole and the team will now focus on that engine.

German rider, Alex Hofmann, who has been testing a revised "screamer" engine based on the 2004 configuration, should have a big-bang engine, in-line four of course, for this weekend's test at Jerez if it is logistically and mechanically possible. At Barcelona, Nakano ran just three laps in the 1:43 range, and 31 laps in the 1:44 bracket all weekend.

Suzuki appears to have made some progress on race tires during the first IRTA test, John Hopkins is looking most at home on the 2005 revised GSV-R machine--V4 powered, of course. Hopkins ran 11 laps at the 1:43 pace, and 18 in the 1:44 bracket over the course of three days at the Circuit De Catalunya.

Former 500cc Champion, Kenny Roberts, faired less favorably with just eight laps at the pace the front men were running, and 25 laps in the 1:44 region, a clear indication of the level the Suzuki effort appears to be at as we approach the start of the season. Again, these laptimes are under non-scientific conditions, with varied time spent on different areas of development and performance. However, the data is interesting in direct comparison to the fastest riders.

Suzuki and Kawasaki clearly have work to do still, although good qualifying performances are expected, but qualifying wins you nothing come Sunday at race pace. We all wait to see if they can step up and challenge Yamaha and Honda.

The Roberts/KTM team (V4 engine) and the Blata WCM concern (V6 possibly) are again expected out on track for Free Practice One at Jerez tomorrow, both outfits continuing development with their fledgling projects.

To finish, just what will become of Camel Honda's Troy Bayliss and the Fortuna Yamaha duo of Toni Elias and Ruben Xaus? All three look in need of a leg-up, a spark from somewhere. Consistent hard work is not a problem among these guys but there needs to be an improvement if 2005 is to be anything more than "lap counting" for the three--although all three are more than capable of stringing together solid performances once on board a sorted motorcycle.

Here's the planned schedule of events for the second official IRTA test at Jerez:

Friday, March 25th - Free Practice One: 10:00 - 18:00.
Saturday, March 26th - Free Practice Two: 10:00 - 18:00.
Sunday, March 27th - Free Practice Three: 10:00 - 18:00.

Full Times and press releases will appear here over the weekend.