MotoGP | Jerez test: Di Giannantonio stands out, many new features at Yamaha

The MotoGP teams and riders worked particularly hard on the day of collective testing which took place today in Jerez de la Frontera, the day after the Spanish Grand Prix. There was great anticipation especially for the new features that Honda and Yamaha had promised, but it was the Ducatis that shone above all, once again confirming their feeling with the Andalusian track, occupying seven of the top ten positions.

The fastest in the end was Fabio Di Giannantonio, who with the Ducati GP23 of the Pertamina Enduro VR46 lapped in 1'36″405, therefore with a time approximately four tenths higher than the track record set by Pecco Bagnaia on the day on Fridays.

The Roman rider preceded the Aprilia of Maverick Vinales by just 87 thousandths, who climbed the lead a few minutes before the checkered flag, after having used the day above all to try to make his two RS-GPs more similar in behaviour, after he had had problems with one of the two specimens over the weekend. A practice that he seems to have successfully resolved, identifying the problem in a component that was too far in mileage.

The step forward made by Franco Morbidelli seems interesting, as he took advantage of his first real day of testing aboard the Prima Pramac Racing Ducati GP24 to try to build a basic setting, given that he had been forced to miss the entire pre-season due to injury. The Italian driver completed 83 laps, being the most active today, but he also did so with the third fastest time in 1'36″527.

Behind him are the two riders who competed for victory on Sunday, with Pecco Bagnaia once again getting the better of Marc Marquez. The world champion didn't have any major new features to test, but the Ducati technicians carried out setting tests to try again to overcome the vibration problem that bothered him in the first races of the season. The Gresini Racing rider instead worked to try to exploit the index lever of the rear brake, considered an important element for performance on the Red.

Sixth time for Brad Binder's KTM, who also moved up thanks to a time attack carried out in the last ten minutes. The work in the garage of the Mattighofen company today focused on some engine developments, but a new fairing also made its debut with which, however, there were some delays due to fixing problems, which prevented us from “exploring” it until in conclusion. A shame, because the idea would be to approve it as soon as possible.

In seventh position is the other Aprilia of Aleix Espargaro, who got busy with a tail that we could define as “hybrid”, because it embodies both the concepts of the 2023 one and the one with the F1-style diffuser ( in the photo above). The Granollers driver also evaluated a slightly different aerodynamic layout, as well as concentrating his efforts on trying to improve starts. In the garage of the Noale manufacturer there was also the test driver Lorenzo Savadori, 24th at the end, who instead tested a new chassis and above all an engine with a view to 2025.

Following there is a trio of Ducatis with Alex Marquez's GP23 preceding the two GP24s of Enea Bastianini and Jorge Martin. The rider from Rimini suffered a crash without consequences in the morning, while the day of the world championship leader was more troubled, as he first suffered a fire on his Desmosedici GP and then was also the victim of a fall at turn 9.

Immediately outside the top 10 is Pedro Acosta, who also tested the new KTM aerodynamics, and is followed by Raul Fernandez, who instead had the opportunity to ride the Aprilia RS-GP24 for the first time. Behind the Spaniard is the only Ducati that missed out on the top 10, that of Marco Bezzecchi, with the Pertamina Enduro VR46 rider who crashed without consequences at turn 5.

14th time for Alex Rins' Yamaha, but in the garage of the Iwata manufacturer there was more interest in the many innovations introduced today than in the performances: for the Spaniard and for Fabio Quartararo, 18th at the end, there were a available a completely revised aerodynamic package, but also a new chassis. Material that was still pending from the aborted test in Portimao due to bad weather which, despite the positions, seems to have given favorable indications.

Alex Rins' Yamaha YZR-M1, Yamaha Factory Racing

Photo by: Lorenza Dadderio

Differentiated work at Honda, with the best of the RC213Vs being that of Takaaki Nakagami in 16th position. The two Team LCR bearers in fact worked with the version of the bike that was used by test rider Stefan Bradl over the weekend. The two official riders, however, took a different path, as they had already discarded that bike in the previous private test in Barcelona. The performances, however, were not too encouraging, as Joan Mir placed 21st and Luca Marini 23rd.

At the end there was also the fall of Augusto Fernandez at turn 7 and the day ended decidedly badly for the GasGas Tech3 driver, who was also forced to make a trip to the medical center for checks.