Neil Morrison | February 12, 2023
Different year, but same old story? The first MotoGP test of the year at Sepang, held over February 10-12, certainly suggested as much, as Ducati picked up from where it left off in November. The winner of last year’s triple crown flexed its muscles in the blistering Malaysian heat, with Mooney VR46’s Luca Marini leading reigning World Champion Pecco Bagnaia (Lenovo Ducati) with a lap of 1:57.889. More worryingly for its opponents, seven of the eight Ducati riders occupied the first nine places.
Meanwhile Yamaha and Honda, always playing catch up to their Italian adversaries through 2022, couldn’t match the speed of the Desmosedicis here. 2021 world champ Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha) was a worrying 17th at the end of day three, while Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda) wore a face of resignation across the three days. Both will be pinning hopes on next month’s two-day outing at Portimao being the scene of a last-minute turnaround.
Here we assess the fortunes of the five manufacturers across three rain-affect days, in the order of those that can be happiest first.
Ducati
A test from the heavens for Bologna bosses. Learning from its mistakes of 2022, Ducati engineers opted against radical changes to a bike that ended its 15-year wait for the MotoGP title. Factory riders Bagnaia and Enea Bastianini, as well as Pramac’s Jorge Martin and Johann Zarco, were relieved to find the GP23 is a small evolution on last year’s model.
Luca Marini was masterful at Sepang and became the second-fastest rider around the track in history.
Development work was split across the four men, with a new engine deemed a success from the off. Martin, who topped day two, said he’s already “ready to race.” Plus, he could make fast lap times when riding “smoothly. I don’t have to be aggressive to be fast.” The only area of mild concern? According to Bagnaia, it was “the handling, the ’23 bike is more aggressive and more nervous. This is something that we can focus on in Portimao.”
Otherwise, Ducati are miles ahead of where they found themselves this time a year ago. “From the first exit with the new bike, I felt great,” said the reigning champion, who feels the ’23 bike is already at the level of its predecessor, with more still to come. Even riders from Mooney VR46 and Gresini Ducati, riding year old GP22s, look capable of getting in on the act.
Aprilia
Having made major steps forward with radical changes to its RS-GP in each of the three previous years, Aprilia’s fine 2022 meant only small evolutions were needed this winter. Aleix Espargaro was almost bummed out by this on day one. “I thought we’d have more to test,” he shrugged. But in reality, this showed the RS-GP is in need of only small tweaks.
Minor tweaks for Maverick and Aleix mean the RS-GP for 2023 is well on track.
All aspects of performance were touched in a minor way. “The ’23 bike is definitely better than the ’22,” said Espargaro, sixth fastest overall. “The cooling is much better. We have some more revs, the bike is a bit faster on the straight and its more narrow, which makes it easier to change direction. With the new aero the bike turns better. In general we made a very small step forward in all areas.” Teammate Maverick Viñales was 3rd fastest. And with another updated package and the full ’23 engine still to come at next month’s Portimao test, there’s no reason to fear the Noale factory’s brilliant 2022 was a flash in the pan.
Yamaha
Good on old tires, shocking on new ones. Yamaha man Quartararo was not happy.
Up until the final hour of the final day, things were looking rosy for Yamaha. Firstly, Quartararo had plenty to test, including two new engines, new aero packages, a new chassis and swingarm—a far cry from this time a year ago, when the M1 was unchanged. This was a new experience for the Frenchman, whose testing and development capabilities are still unproven.
Second, the bike’s huge deficiency last year—a lack of top speed—was addressed with the Frenchman was third fastest through the speed traps on day two when riding alone. He said at the close of day two, “We made a massive improvement,” said the ’21 champ.
But the final two hours of Sunday brought the Iwata factory down to earth. As both riders fitted new tires and pushed for a headline lap time, Quartararo was dismayed a sizeable improvement wasn’t forthcoming. “If I don’t see the lap time, I feel I’m riding in ’58 low. But then I look at the last time and I’m ’59 low. It’s not that I’m losing the front everywhere or I have no grip. I don’t know what is going on.” Even if pace on used tires was strong, Yamaha have a month to remedy this worrying end.
KTM
Miller was pragmatic about his position but highlighted some good work done by KTM.
The big unknown of the three days was KTM. If the timesheets were the only thing to be considered, it could be assumed KTM are in a world of trouble. Brad Binder was 14th, new signing Jack Miller 18th. But neither rider was overly fazed, and pointed to the substantial testing work that was completed as reason to be positive.
Both riders, plus satellite man Pol Espargaro, worked their way through testing two engines as well as two aero packages across the three days, plus a myriad of other parts. Fine tuning little details was still some way off. “It was purely trying things to get as much information as possible,” said Binder. “We’re now getting it narrowed down to what our package will look like.” Finding speed on corner exit remains a priority.
On the other side of the garage, Miller admitted, “we hit a wall a bit” on day three. “I’m just suffering mid-corner, with corner speed, and getting the thing off the corner.”
Honda
Marquez was mad. There’s much work to do at Repsol Honda.
There was no dressing up how disastrous 2022 was for Honda. Marquez and new team-mate Joan Mir were, therefore, entitled to expect big changes here. Both were disappointed.
HRC brought a new engine, which had a higher top speed than what it used in ’22. But the RC213V’s major deficits remain, with Marquez complaining he still feels far from comfortable when braking to enter the corner. And they remain miles off Ducati on corner exit. “More than the front I’m looking for the connection with the gas on the exit of the corner,” Marquez said.
There were some puzzling aspects of Honda’s approach here. Like, why were Marquez and test rider Stefan Bradl riding at one point on Sunday without wings? Plus, an ‘experimental’ third bike featured some old components, like the swingarm. If HRC were looking backward for solutions, it suggested there may still be some confusion at how to get ahead.
Positives included new Technical Manager Ken Kawauchi, formerly of Suzuki, bringing a better organization to affairs than before. Marquez also spoke of his physical condition being greatly improved compared to the previous five preseasons. But Honda appear as far from the top as they were in the autumn of last year. Big improvements are drastically required.
2023 Sepang MotoGP Test Final Results
| 1 |
Luca Marino |
Duc |
1:57.889 |
| 2 |
Francesco Bagnaia |
Duc |
+0.080s |
| 3 |
Maverick Vinales |
Apr |
+0.147s |
| 4 |
Enea Bastianini |
Duc |
+0.260s |
| 5 |
Jorge Martin |
Duc |
+0.315s |
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