Well the dust has settled on the First test of the season and there were not really any surprises to report. The Ducati's are still very fast (and they are also not showing all their cards just yet) as several notable outlets have pointed out. Martin was fastest for most of the test, until being usurped by Marini (who was also fastest at the Valencia test, both times on the GP22) on the final day of the test. Ducati is going to have their hands full for a while to come with all the guys they have at the pointy end right now. Martin, Bezzecchi, Marini, Zarco, DiGiannantonio etc. will make the 2 factory seats very hot commodities for the foreseeable future.
Honda had 4 different bikes in the mix for Marquez until the final day and then only 2 of the remaining 3 saw track time on the final day. Rins and Mir both made do with only 2 bikes each, likely to limit testing overload as they get familiar with the one trick pony Honda.
The Aprilias are the most compelling to me personally, still not a fan of all the Aero widgets the teams are rolling out these days, but Aprilia is the one they are all emulating right now in this department. And the sound of that thing is far and away my favorite of all of them. May have something to do with the SC Project exhaust, but I dig the sound! Oliveira and Raul Fernandez both got on well with the 22 Aprilias that RNF is now running.
Yamaha found some much needed top speed over the winter, and also tried out a bunch of different Aero stuff so maybe Quartararo can keep it together. What he really needs is a teammate to fend off the Ducati hoardes, and sorry but Morbidelli isnt it.
KTM also rolled out a ton of new Aero stuff at the test in addition to the super snorkel exhaust system I commented on a little while back. Miller seems to be getting right up to speed and Binder was actually pretty quietly in the mix at the test. Not sure about the GAS GAS Branded KTM satellite squad. Augusto Fernandez and Pol are both seeming to get up to speed so far so it might be fruitful.
If anyone is bored here is a link to a pretty decent technical gallery from the Test.
Mira todas las fotos al detalle de las novedades técnicas introducidas por los equipos de MotoGP en los test de Sepang de la pretemporada 2023.
es.motorsport.com
www.gpone.com
