To see all the most anticipated protagonists on the track we will have to wait for Saturday, but in the meantime the MotoGP today has restarted the engines for the first time in the 2022 season, with the first of the three days of the Sepang Shakedown reserved for rookies and test drivers.
The fastest at the end of this inaugural session was Raul Fernandez, confirming that the Spaniard who arrived at KTM Tech3 will certainly be one of the names to watch this year. The vice-champion of the Moto2 world was the only one capable of breaking the wall of 2’01 “. In absolute terms his 2’00” 898 is a high time, given that the best pole signed by Fabio Quartararo in 2019 is 1’58 “303, but Raul has shown a certain consistency in the span of 46 laps he completed today and this too should not be underestimated.
Behind him, 144 thousandths of a second behind, we find Ducati test rider Michele Pirro, who today continued his work on developing the GP22, using the long exhaust that had already been seen during the November tests in Jerez. 59 laps completed by the Apulian, but split between two different bikes.
Third time for another test driver, that of KTM Mika Kallio, who closed with a gap of 352 thousandths. The same applies to the Finn as well as Pirro, as he alternated driving two different RC16s, with a total of 51 laps.
There are even four RS-GPs on which Aprilia test rider Lorenzo Savadori has climbed. The rider from Romagna set the fourth fastest time of the day with a 2’01 “676 achieved in the best of his 53 laps. From tomorrow he will also be joined by Maverick Vinales (today already at the observer wall), with the Noale manufacturer he wants to exploit his concessions and Aleix Espargaro will join the couple on Wednesday.
From fifth place we return to talking about rookies, with the second KTM branded Tech3, that of the reigning Moto2 world champion Remy Gardner. The Australian son of art closed with a delay of just under a second towards his teammate, but we must not forget that he has just had a wrist operation due to an injury remedied in training.
At the end of the day Marco Bezzecchi also managed to find an improvement, sixth with the Ducati of the Mooney VR46 Racing Team. The rider from Romagna set a time of 2’02 “012, so he is the first to have paid a delay of over a second, even if with his 38 laps he was among those who did fewer laps today.
The exact same mileage completed by Fabio Di Giannantonio, who is more spaced with his 2’02 “596, but had problems related to the time zone. The Gresini Racing driver explained that he was unable to fall asleep and therefore took advantage of this first day mainly to get rid of some rust, without pushing too hard.
Darryn Binder and Sylvain Guintoli also entered in front of him. The Yamaha RNF rookie did not fare badly, setting a time quite similar to that of Bezzecchi, also because we must not forget that we are talking about a rider who is making the direct leap from Moto3 to MotoGP. The French veteran, on the other hand, was Suzuki’s only standard bearer on the track today, as the other test driver Takuya Tsuda appeared on the time monitor, but he never came out of the pits.
As for Yamaha, as a tradition on these occasions, the Iwata manufacturer did not indicate the names of the riders who took turns driving its prototypes. What is certain, however, is that the two Japanese test drivers, Kohta Nozane and Katsuyuki Nakasuga, were busy today. The European test team, on the other hand, is expected on Wednesday, when Cal Crutchlow will also be on the track.
Unfortunately, the Honda was not seen in action today, because Stefan Bradl’s RC213V 2022 did not arrive in time from Jerez, where the German test driver had lapped last Friday. Tomorrow, however, he will most likely take delivery of one of the bikes of the starting riders to start work in view of the expected return of Marc Marquez, set for Saturday.
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