MotoGP | Sprint Simulations: Marquez is not far from the GP24s

In very hot and humid conditions, the Malaysian track welcomed MotoGP riders on Thursday for the last time this pre-season, ahead of the Grand Prix to be held in the South-East Asian country on the weekend of November 3.

The fastest driver on Thursday was none other than the two-time world champion of the last two seasons, the Italian Pecco Bagnaia, who set a spectacular record time of 1'56″682 on the eighth of the 47 laps completed on the final day. Bagnaia took advantage of the cooler temperatures in the morning to carry out his time attack.

The same strategy was used by last year's runner-up, Jorge Martín, who on the ninth of 47 laps (identical number for both) stopped the clock at 1'56″854. Enea Bastianini, Pecco's teammate in the team official from Borgo Panigale, was 61 thousandths slower with a 1'56″915 on the eleventh of the 35 laps completed today.

The common denominator of these “big three” of MotoGP is that they all ride an identical bike, the Desmosedici GP24, with a new engine and a new aerodynamic package. The fourth rider to enjoy this privilege, Franco Morbidelli, suffered a head injury in a private test on the Panigale V4 in Portimao and will not return to the track before March.

Alex Marquez of Gresini Racing was added to this stellar Ducati trio, who will hopefully keep the fight for the title open until the last corner of the final lap of the final race in Valencia, on Thursday, riding a Desmosedici GP23 he managed to stop the clock at 1'56″938. The driver from Cervera completed a very serious test and was always in the leading group.

Why was Márquez's pace one of the best?

But just as important, if not more, than the flying lap is the race pace. This Thursday, at the culmination of three days of pre-season testing in Sepang, many drivers simulated what a Sprint race would be like at this circuit, lining up 10 laps.

We took the times of Bagnaia, Martin and Bastianini, the fastest of the whole test on the flying lap, and compared them with those of Marc Marquez, who was sixth in the time table, but in the pace table he would have been much more at the top, behind Jorge and Enea, but ahead of Pecco and also his brother Alex.

But other riders, such as Fabio Di Giannantonio, who covered the 10 laps with the best time, Aleix Espargaró and Pedro Acosta, were also very fast in the sprint simulation and today they would have been fighting for an imaginary podium.

Marc himself explained that, on one single lap, he feels far from the big three. “We will see whether I will be able to reach their level or not. At the moment I am not at the level of the top three or four, which here in Malaysia are Bagnaia, Martin, Bastianini and my brother Alex,” he said.

Bagnaia did a simulation of ten laps all in the same second, five in medium 58 and another five in high 58. His best lap was 1'58″414, with four laps in 58″8. It should be noted, however, that at the end of the day the Piedmontese revealed that he had suffered a problem with his Ducati, which slowed him down in the simulation.

The best pace was that of Martin, who was the only one to go below 58 (1'57″892), with six low 58s, two medium and two high. Enea came close, but his best time it was 1'58″019 and on the ninth lap he failed to dip below 1'59″380, completing six low 58s, two medium and one high, as well as a low 59.

Marc Marquez, on the Ducati GP23 and making his fourth appearance aboard the Gresini bike this pre-season, completed the Sprint with three low, five medium and two high 58s, which would have put him in contention for the race podium with Bastianini. Di Giannantonio, as mentioned, also completed a Sprint simulation and his times were among the best.

The driver from Cervera, on the fastest lap, is perhaps half a second behind the “big three”, but believes he has a good pace. “Yes, it's true, in terms of fastest lap I'm half a second away, but it's true that in terms of pace I'm not that far away,” he said.

Last November, the Malaysian GP Sprint took place in very different conditions and was won by Alex Marquez. The Spaniard's best lap was 1'59″013, with a true metronome pace that kept him in 1'59″ for nine laps.

Sepang test: the Ducatisti's Sprint simulations

* The timing sequence of last year's Malaysian GP Sprint winner Alex Marquez.

Marc Márquez, Gresini Racing

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images