Ducati completed its domination of the Sepang MotoGP test on Wednesday as Francesco Bagnaia shattered the unofficial lap record once again, while Desmosedici’s claimed six of the top eight places.
With Pramac’s Jorge Martin and the 2023 Malaysian Grand Prix victory Enea Bastianini taking turns to lead the standings on the first and second days of the opening test of the 2024 season, Wednesday signified the rise of reigning world champion Bagnaia.
The Italian achieved an astonishing 1:56.682s effort during the morning to go quickest, a tour nearly a full second quicker than the official lap record he managed last year. It was also half a second faster than the record-breaking effort team-mate Bastianini managed on Tuesday, showing the prowess the latest evolution of Ducati’s premier class challenger possesses.
Wednesday therefore marked the first time a MotoGP bike had lapped the 5.5-kilometere circuit in under 1:57s, a feat managed by four of Ducati’s pilots. Bagnaia’s 2023 title rival Martin ended the test second overall, while Bastianini ended an encouraging three days in third as he gelled with the GP24 significantly better than its predecessor.
Gresini’s Alex Marquez also showed strong speed at the circuit he secured pole position and the sprint win last term, the Spaniard ending up fourth quickest on a 1:56.938s. Brother and team-mate Marc Marquez continued to adapt to his new machine as he ended up sixth by the end of the week, the six-time premier class champion looking forward to the final two-day test in Qatar before the opening round of the campaign.
Ducati’s squadron of pilots worked hard to come up with a final aerodynamic package specification to begin the season with. It has gathered tons of data in this area over the three days, as well as with its more powerful 2024 engine. The manufacturer will crunch the numbers ahead of the Qatar test to find the best way forward.
Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro was the best of the non-Ducati contingent in fifth, the two-time 2023 race winner lapping 0.409s adrift of Bagnaia’s benchmark. Brad Binder was quickest for KTM in seventh, the South African moving clear of impressive rookie Pedro Acosta late on in the day. The reigning Moto2 world champion was only half-a-tenth away from his more experienced KTM stablemate in ninth.
New VR46 recruit Fabio Di Gianantonio was a solid eighth by the end of play, though he managed to achieve the fastest sprint race simulation effort. His searing race pace carried him to his maiden series win in last year’s Qatar GP.
Joan Mir ended Honda’s encouraging Sepang in tenth, just under seven-tenths away from Bagnaia. The Honda riders were left satisfied by the progress made by the Japanese marque since last year, particularly in the engine stakes, though there is still work left to do on used tires.
Yamaha meanwhile seemed to suffer from the same single-lap woes that have afflicted the marque over the last year or so. World champion of 2021 Fabio Quartararo ended the test only 11th and over eight-tenths from the front, while new team-mate Alex Rins was 15th and 1.197s from the top of the times.
The brand’s M1 at least showed decent speed trap figures, Quartararo clocking in a best of 335.4 km/h compared to the fastest man Binder, who reached 338.5 km/h. It focussed on improving how the electronics worked with the machine, though it seems more needs to be found going to Qatar.
Marco Bezzecchi completed the most mileage on the final day with 56 laps completed, though a late crash brought his Sepang test to a subdued close. The VR46 racer was 17th in the order, by far the lowest classified Ducati and behind LCR Honda duo Takaaki Nakagami and Johann Zarco.
Honda’s Luca Marini also struggled over a single lap, the Italian ending the day in 19th just behind Trackhouse Aprilia’s Miguel Oliveira.
