VR46 Ducati’s Luca Marini topped in the MotoGP post-race test at Misano, which served as a crucial event for the Japanese manufacturers Yamaha and Honda.
Marc Marquez and Fabio Quartararo are two exceptional riders who are not happy with Yamaha and Honda, as both manufacturers provided them 2024 prototypes to test out in Misano.
However, in Honda’s case, the Misano test did not include a prototype 2024 engine; instead, it was only the chassis, which tester Stefan Bradl had already raced as a wildcard during the weekend. On the other hand, Marquez was not particularly impressed with the new chassis after it presented several challenges.
Pramac Ducati rider Jorge Martin, who won both the Misano sprint and the San Marino Grand Prix, took the lead in the afternoon’s four-hour session with an hour remaining after Marini dominated the morning’s 4h45m session.
Despite the absence of both of its works riders, Martin allegedly piloted a prototype Ducati Desmosedici, according to MotoGP.com. However, championship leader Francesco Bagnaia was ultimately held off for the test despite the fact that his Barcelona incident did allow him to race at Misano.
Meanwhile, his Ducati teammate Enea Bastianini is currently in the midst of what is expected to be yet another extended injury absence.
A similar situation was the case with Marini’s teammate Marco Bezzecchi, who was suffering from hand discomfort brought on by the same incident Bastianini had initiated in Barcelona. Additionally, another Ducati satellite rider, Gresini’s Fabio Di Giannantonio, missed the event owing to shoulder discomfort.
In the last hour of the afternoon test session, three riders overcame Martin, and Marini finished first ahead of Aprilia’s Maverick Vinales and KTM’s Brad Binder.
The carbon chassis that wildcard/test rider Dani Pedrosa raced so well on Saturday and Sunday was thought to have been tested by both Binder and his KTM teammate Jack Miller, who found a laptime over half a second faster than he’d run during the weekend.
Yamaha’s Quartararo finished sixth, barely 0.002s behind Miller. He has, however, also acknowledged that he was unimpressed.
Both Pol and Aleix Espargaro had to make jumps from their individual bikes at high speeds during the test, resulting in corcern for the brothers.
Around the same area of the track, Aprilia rider Aleix lost the rear and had to dismount on the way to crashing into the wall, while Pol, riding a KTM RC16 with Tech3 Gas Gas branding, experienced a brake failure as a result of a significant shake in the preceding turn.
Aprilia had a new chassis to test out, although it was not the carbon chassis Lorenzo Savadori was rumored to be testing a while back.
2023 MISANO POST-RACE TEST CLASSIFICATION
1. Luca Marini, VR46 Ducati, 1m30.602s
2. Maverick Vinales, Aprilia, +0.234s
3. Brad Binder, KTM, +0.552s
4. Jorge Martin, Pramac Ducati, +0.566s
5. Jack Miller, KTM, +0.573s
6. Fabio Quartararo, Yamaha, +0.575s
7. Miguel Oliveira, RNF Aprilia, +0.630s
8. Franco Morbidelli, Yamaha, +0.699s
9. Alex Marquez, Gresini Ducati, +0.735s
10. Raul Fernandez, RNF Aprilia, +0.760s
11. Aleix Espargaro, Aprilia, +0.779s
12. Takaaki Nakagami, LCR Honda, +0.832s
13. Johann Zarco, Pramac Ducati, +0.890s
14. Marc Marquez, Honda, +0.973s
15. Augusto Fernandez, Tech3 Gas Gas, +1.084s
16. Joan Mir, Honda, +1.085s
17. Pol Espargaro, Tech3 Gas Gas, +1.242s
18. Stefan Bradl, Honda, +1.544s
