Ducati on Top Before the Season Starts.
‘Pecco’ Bagnaia topped the final pre-season test day just before the first race that will take place in Portimão, Portugal on March 26. The reigning champion made a lap time of 1:37.968 at the same circuit; it was registered as an unofficial record, given the fact that it was made during a test session.
It is interesting that Ducati has secured top place across the five practice sessions that took place in Malaysia and Portugal.
Bagnaia and Ducati are the reigning champions; making such a statement during tests certainly puts pressure on the rest of the teams and riders. However, Moto GP is known for its competitiveness, unpredictability, and close racing.
The first race does not have any clear favorites in my opinion. It is a race that could be decided in the last lap. Yamaha and Fabio Quartararo finished third, just above .300 of a second from ‘Pecco’, and .038 of Johann Zarco in his Pramac/Ducati.
Pramac Racing team is running the new Desmosedici GP23, the same bike that the official factory team, Ducati, will run for the 2023 season. This can be troublesome for Yamaha and Zarco, because the bike is incredibly fast, and its four riders are quite talented. They are all world-champion material; Bagnaia already is.
Other teams that can be troublesome are Gresini, and Mooney VR46, from Valentino Rossi, which will run last year’s bike in which ‘Pecco’ became a world champion for the first time. I point this out because teams like Repsol Honda and Red Bull KTM are not in their best shape. It seems that Yamaha is the only one that can manage to be serious competition for Ducati.
Pramac showed us what they are capable last year by securing podium finishes for both of its riders many times during the season.
Enea Bastianini managed to win races with Gresini, running the 2021 Ducati bike; despite this 'handicap', he managed to finish third in the riders’ championship, ahead of factory teams like Aprilia, Honda, and KTM. Bastianini has been promoted to the factory team, and will help Bagnaia bring the constructor’s trophy back home again. What a pair! Exciting times for the ‘tifosi’.
Suzuki leaves, GasGas enters.
The Japanese maker announced during the 2021 season that last year will be their final championship. The team had an acceptable season, and managed to win the third-to-last, and the last race of the 2022 season, in a sort of blaze of glory ending.
Despite the good spirits, the Japanese company did not yield to those late good results to change their mind about racing one more season on MotoGP. Their spot was taken by GasGas, a Spanish motorcycle company that focuses on Enduro and Motocross bikes.
During the tests, the team managed a third place on the very first session in Malaysia. Let’s see how their true pace unveils, as the season progresses. They hope to have a competitive chassis for the start of the season, just enough to help them secure valuable points in the riders’ and teams’ championship.
Their riders are Pol Espargaró, and Augusto Fernández, who is the 2022 Moto2 champion, with KTM Ajo team. GasGas has a mixture of experience, and young talent. Let's hope they have a good season so they can secure continuity in the sport.
Honda's homework
Repsol Honda, and its customer teams have a lot of work to do for this 2023 season. Hopefully they did their homework during the winter and produced a competitive chassis. They finished last in the teams’ championship; certainly, this is motivation enough to turn things around, especially if you have riders like Marc Marquez, Joan Mir, Alex Rins, and Takaaki Nakagami.
Honda will run all of its 4 bikes with the current model, the RC213V in an attempt to score as many team points as possible. It is imperative that they finish above GasGas which is a rookie team, and also KTM, their immediate rival now that Suzuki is out.
Joan Mir managed to score the best lap for all the Honda bikes, however, his teammate, Marc Marquez finished .016s behind him. Their laps were virtually the same. Marquez said that there is work to be done but that the feelings on the last day of testing were very positive.
Let’s see how things unveil in a couple of weeks’ time. The season might be as exciting as the last one. Everything might be decided on the last race! For now, we can hope Portimão will provide us with a great start to the 2023 season, with all teams looking to secure their targets.
What is the thing that excites you the most for the MotoGP 2023 season? Can Bastianini win more races now that he is with the official factory team? Can he bring Bagnaia to the edge or will he be a good teammate?
Let me know in the comments below.
Happy racing.
コメント