Rain practically interrupted post-Italian MotoGP test at Mugello, ending one of the three in-season collective testing available to the teams.
The MotoGP test day in Mugello was concluded on Monday, proving to be of little use to the riders and teams as rain appeared in the early hours of the morning, resulting in few laps being completed and Brad Binder was the fastest.
The day had begun with a brief glimpse of a dry track, but rain first spoiled the conditions somewhat and then made them completely unrepresentative, making the session’s eight-hour runtime a pointless formality.
KTM’s Brad Binder topped the proceedings on a 1m47.617s, 0.033s clear of Tech3 Gas Gas rookie Pedro Acosta and three seconds off the weekend’s pole time. Only three other riders even got into the 1m47s laptime range.
It was on his fifth lap that the South African rider set the time that stayed at the top all day while Acosta was second, 0.033s behind.
“Really, the highlight of my weekend,” said Binder after the test. “This morning I did two flying laps in the dry, came in, said to the guys ‘okay, hurry up, quick-quick, let’s go again’ to try whatever we wanted to test and then it rained.”
The test opportunity would’ve been particularly valuable to MotoGP’s European manufacturers – which have no other opportunities to test with their full-time riders – while their ‘Rank D’ Japanese counterparts Honda and Yamaha can at least make up for the lost running in private testing.
Luca Marini (Repsol Honda) was third, more than a second off the pace – and completed the most laps, with 41. The top five were rounded out by Jack Miller (Red Bull KTM) and Joan Mir (Repsol Honda).
Five riders did not take to the track at all, including Enea Bastianini, Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati), and Jorge Martín (Prima Pramac/Ducati). Marc Márquez (Gresini/Ducati) only completed two laps, none of which were timed.
A lot of the riders didn’t really bother to run in the rain according to VR46 Ducati’s Marco Bezzecchi: “The wet is very particular. It’s different in every track.
“If you ride at Mugello in wet, doesn’t mean that at Assen, if it rains, you’ll go fast anyway. Because the wet at Assen is different to the wet here.”
Trackhouse Aprilia’s Raul Fernandez of will be particularly frustrated by the weather delay given that he had planned to use the test day to get the feel of a 2024-spec Aprilia before switching from his current 2023-spec bike at Silverstone.
Now only one joint in-season MotoGP test remains, and that is scheduled for September at Misano after the grand prix.
