Marco Bezzecchi started 2023 on the right foot as he led the way on the opening day of the first MotoGP test of the year at the Sepang International Circuit.
The VR46 rider spent much of the day focussing on long run performance as opposed to posting a lead-threatening time, Bezzecchi heading into the midday lunch break sitting outside of the top ten.
Ducati stablemates Francesco Bagnaia, Enea Bastianini and Jorge Martin ensured though that the Italian marque spent the entirety of the day at the head of the standings, the latter leading the way at the mid-point of Friday by 0.120s over Bastianini courtesy of a 1:58.737s.
Bezzecchi managed to lower the leading benchmark to 1:58.470s by the end of the day with a total of 55 laps completed, while Aprilia looked strong with Maverick Vinales ending up second overall just 0.130s behind having circulated the Malaysian venue a total of 67 times.
Bastianini was third on the first of the factory Ducati machines – pipping Martin by a slender 0.005s – with reigning MotoGP world champion Bagnaia completing the top five.
Aleix Espargaro was sixth on the sister Aprilia RS-GP ahead of Pramac Ducati’s Johann Zarco, the Frenchman followed up in the standings by Gresini Ducati duo Fabio di Gianantonio and Alex Marquez.
Franco Morbidelli completed Friday tenth for Yamaha as the Japanese factory continued to put its new and more powerful inline-four engine through its paces, the Italian only one of three riders not running Ducati’s in the top ten.
Vice-champion of 2022 Fabio Quartararo was 11th on the second factory Yamaha having completed just a sole lap less than his team-mate with 58, while Marc Marquez was 12th on the fastest of the Honda’s.
Miguel Oliveira narrowly led RNF Aprilia team-mate Raul Fernandez for 14th overall despite a minor crash earlier in the day, while KTM had a quiet run with newcomer Jack Miller leading the Austrian manufacturer’s contingent in 16th just over 1.4 seconds adrift of Bezzecchi, with ex-Suzuki duo Joan Mir and Alex Rins ending the day 17th and 18th on their Honda’s.
The bottom three positions on Friday’s leaderboard belonged to Honda, with Takaaki Nakagami completing the joint-lowest laps of the day with Aleix on 49, his laptime marginally clear of Yamaha test rider Katsuyuki Nakasuga and Honda tester Stefan Bradl.
