The third and final day of the MotoGP collective tests in Sepang also started slightly slow due to the rain that fell during the night, with the first bike, Johann Zarco’s Ducati, which took off on the track when the traffic lights green at the bottom of the pitlane had been on for about 40 minutes.
However, the sun is shining on the Malaysian track and the teams and riders are now taking advantage of it to try and close this first part of the pre-season with as much information as possible. If it was the Frenchman from Prima Pramac Racing who opened the ball, his teammate Jorge Martin is once again proving to be the “hottest”: the Madrilenian in fact commands the standings in the middle of the day (14 local) and with his 1’58″204 set the absolute best time of the three days.
After the difficulties encountered yesterday, the two factory Aprilias made a big leap forward, with Aleix Espargaro who brought the RS-GP to second position with an excellent 1’58″307 and Maverick Vinales who instead completes the top 5 in 1 ’58″645. Three of the two bikes from Noale are the two Ducati Desmosedici GP22s ridden by Marco Bezzecchi and Luca Marini, respectively third and fourth for the Mooney VR46.
But watch out for Marc Marquez: after yesterday rejecting one of the three 2023 version RC213Vs at his disposal, the eight-time world champion seems to have started to get serious and brought his Honda to sixth position, credited with an excellent 1 ’58″666. On the other hand, his box mate, the newcomer Joan Mir, remains behind, at the moment 15th in 1’59″327, which is in any case his best time of the three days.
Confirmation of Aprilia’s good potential can also be found thanks to the seventh time of Raul Fernandez on the RNF-branded RS-GP 2022, but Pol Espargaro and GasGas also continue to amaze: the rider from Granollers, who is still using the version with the fairing of the RC16 is eighth in 1’58″797. The real KTMs are far behind, however, beyond 20th position to be precise, with Jack Miller who also ran into a crash this morning.
Just as the two Ducatis of the factory team did not shine this morning, even though Pecco Bagnaia had already anticipated yesterday that there would be a lot of comparison work to be done in the Rosso garage today. Enea Bastianini is the last to break the 1’59” barrier and occupies tenth position, also behind Alex Marquez’s Desmosedici GP22. Between him and the world champion there is also the other Aprilia RNF by Miguel Oliveira, with Pecco who finds himself 836 thousandths from the summit.
However, his rival in last season’s title race is not faring better, namely Fabio Quartararo, credited at the time with the 13th position in 1’59″068. A little further back, in 17th, is his team-mate team Franco Morbidelli, who is the rider who has lapped the least (16 laps), because he waited for the track to be completely dry before getting on his M1. Staying with Yamaha, we must also record the crash of test rider Cal Crutchlow, the second for him in these tests.
MotoGP 2023 | Sepang Test, Day 3: the standings at 2pm local time
pos | Pilot | Motorcycle | Time | Turns |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Jorge Martin | Ducati | 1’58”204 | 28 |
2 | Aleix Espargaro | Aprilia | 1’58”307 | 19 |
3 | Marco Bezzecchi | Ducati | 1’58”363 | 39 |
4 | Luca Marini | Ducati | 1’58”642 | 26 |
5 | Maverick Vinales | Aprilia | 1’58”645 | 24 |
6 | Marc Marquez | Honda | 1’58”666 | 28 |
7 | Raul Fernandez | Aprilia | 1’58”710 | 30 |
8 | Pol Espargaro | GasGas | 1’58”797 | 22 |
9 | Alex Marquez | Ducati | 1’58”917 | 24 |
10 | Aeneas Bastianini | Ducati | 1’58”992 | 24 |
11 | Miguel Oliveira | Aprilia | 1’59”032 | 20 |
12 | I’m sorry Bagnaia | Ducati | 1’59”040 | 25 |
13 | Fabio Quartararo | Yamaha | 1’59”068 | 28 |
14 | Fabio Di Giannantonio | Ducati | 1’59”272 | 34 |
15 | Joan Mir | Honda | 1’59”327 | 27 |
16 | Johann Zarco | Ducati | 1’59”328 | 35 |
17 | Franco Morbidelli | Yamaha | 1’59”380 | 16 |
18 | Alex Rins | Honda | 1’59”527 | 22 |
19 | Takaaki Nakagami | Honda | 1’59”637 | 22 |
20 | Brad Binder | KTM | 1’59”737 | 22 |
21 | Augusto Fernandez | GasGas | 1’59”853 | 28 |
22 | Cal Crutchlow | Yamaha | 1’59”923 | 28 |
23 | Jack Miller | KTM | 2’00”451 | 27 |
24 | Stefan Bradl | Honda | 2’00”673 | 29 |
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