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Tag: Pecco
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MotoGP test: Ducati carries the pace into 2022 season?
Ducati return to the top of the timesheets as Pecco pulls clear, but there’s plenty more to see in pitlane on Day 2
Jerez, 19 Nov 2021: Less than half a second away from the all-time Circuito de Jerez-Angel Nieto lap record, Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) has ended the two-day Official 2022 MotoGP™ Jerez Test top of the timesheets, as could somewhat be expected based on the Italian’s recent form. Pecco’s 1:36.872 saw him beat Takaaki Nakagami (LCR Honda Idemitsu) to the overall top by four tenths, with 2021 World Champion Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) third. But the timesheets were far from the whole story…
Straight out of the blocks on Friday, riding a 2022 prototype – the newer engine, front fairing, air intake and more – Bagnaia went just 0.3s shy of Maverick Viñales’ all-time lap record, seemingly a sign that Ducati have gone into 2022 testing carrying the momentum they ended the season with.
With regards to the engine, a big talking point across all factories for the Jerez Test and beyond, Ducati won’t be deciding their spec until the Mandalika Test in February. As well as the front fairing and air intake, the next biggest difference seen on the factory Ducatis has been the new, much long exhaust. Both Pecco and teammate Jack Miller (Ducati Lenovo Team) were using it on Day 1 and Day 2, it will be interesting to see whether it makes an appearance at the Sepang and Mandalika Tests next year.
And the end of both days, Pecco finished 0.4s clear after a further 42 laps on Day 2, adding to his 68 on Thursday, and was very pleased with the work done in Jerez. Johann Zarco’s (Pramac Racing) opening day time sees the Frenchman sit P4 on the combined timesheets, the second quickest Ducati, and he completed another 65 laps on Day 2. After 78 already put in on Thursday, Zarco was one of the busiest riders at the Jerez Test in terms of laps.
Miller and Jorge Martin (Pramac Racing) were busy testing 2022 parts across the two days, the Australian was P9 on Friday and P10 overall, with Martin down in P18 on both. Luca Marini (VR46 Racing Team) is the other rider in the Desmosedici ranks who will be on the latest spec machinery in 2022, and the Italian was 14th on the timesheets after clocking 56 laps on Day 2. Former teammate Enea Bastianini (Team Gresini Racing MotoGP) ended the couple of days in P5 overall as the two-time premier class podium finisher got to grips with his GP21.
Ducati have two rookies in their ranks for 2022, both riding GP21s, and the fastest rookie across the two days was Fabio Di Giannantonio (Team Gresini Racing MotoGP). The Italian was an impressive 1.6s down on Bagnaia having completed 45 laps on Day 2, seeing the 2021 Jerez Moto2™ race winner lap 93 times in total. Marco Bezzecchi (VR46 Racing Team) finished 2.4s away from good friend Bagnaia after two days on the bike, a cracking effort from the Italian, who got 115 laps in the bank ahead of testing continuing next year.
As has been well documented, Honda have a brand-new bike for 2022. It’s the only machine at the test that looks completely new, with every other manufacturer having variations and adaptations from what we saw in 2021. Engine, chassis, aero, air intake, exhaust position… you name it. HRC have been working tirelessly to bring a new-look RC213V to the grid, and on first look, things are seemingly going well.
Marc Marquez’ (Repsol Honda Team) absence from the Jerez Test was bad news but the presence of Pol Espargaro (Repsol Honda Team) was very good news, the number 44 back despite his Turn 13 highside in Valencia. On Day 1, Pol Espargaro admitted that he was – unsurprisingly – riding with some pain in his ribs and wrist, with Nakagami and Alex Marquez (LCR Honda Castrol) doing all the work on the new bike on Thursday. LCR boss Lucio Cecchinello also said that at one stage, there were six bikes in the LCR garage for Nakagami and Marquez.
However, on Day 2, Pol Espargaro got his hands on the 2022 prototype. Pitlane reporter Simon Crafar confirmed that the Spaniard now has better rear grip, and the number 44 also tried different aero packages with the new bike. Nakagami was second quickest overall and seventh on Friday, with Pol Espargaro setting his best time of the test on the new bike to take fourth on Friday and seventh overall. Alex Marquez also went quicker on Day 2 as all three Honda riders head into the winter with a very good idea of what the 2022 bike needs to be faster. Overall, it seems it was a positive test for HRC.
The new Yamaha chassis seen on Day 1 sported some modifications on Friday, and despite testing that and a new fairing, as well as continuing on engine testing, Quartararo said he struggled to find any clear positive step: the laptime with the bike was too similar to the older spec. He’s searching for better power, less wheelie and more rear grip for next year. He was second on Friday and third overall, as Nakagami slots into second on the combined Thursday-Friday timesheets.
Quartararo’s teammate Franco Morbidelli also had a new front fairing, with the same ‘wings’ but a different, more smoothly rounded fairing. The side fairing was also different, likely to aid cooling – seemingly a similar goal to Suzuki.
Andrea Dovizioso (WithU RNF Yamaha MotoGP) is now on the 2022 Yamaha, but not quite the same as the Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP line-up. The Italian was positive about his riding in the afternoon although said it wasn’t yet instinctive, and reported the new bike has better braking, enabling the riders to brake harder, and a bit more power but the same DNA.
Teammate Darryn Binder, barring an out lap crash that slowed progress somewhat, was positive about his test too. The South African rookie started working on different tyres, electronics and traction control as he settles in.
The word on the street from Suzuki was almost singular up and down pitlane: their 2022 engine is reportedly decided, although Joan Mir (Team Suzuki Ecstar) was more coy in his debrief. The 2020 Champion said a huge focus was on electronics with that new engine, and work continued on the chassis side.
There were also some aero updates on show on Day 2, as promised, with different side fairings breaking cover for Alex Rins (Team Suzuki Ecstar), although Mir said he’d also tried them on Day 1. A new swingarm was put through some more paces too.
Rins ended the day in third after 59 laps, and sixth overall. Mir was sixth on Friday after 73 laps, and ninth overall. Test rider Sylvain Guintoli added another 56 to the Hamamatsu lap count on Friday too.
Maverick Viñales (Aprilia Racing Team) was once again the fastest Aprilia, slotting into fifth on Day 2 and P8 overall. He was trying a new fuel tank cover, and working on body position to be more comfortable. 82 laps later, and having tried a chassis different to that of the Valencia GP, the number 12 said they had a clear direction. Viñales also said the new exhaust spotted at Aprilia was a similar feeling, which he also said was a positive after it was test back-to-back with the previous version.
Viñales’ teammate Aleix Espargaro put in another 55 laps on Friday too, and aero remained on show at Aprilia overall. Test rider Lorenzo Savadori had another new-look set of ‘wings’ that were different again, making it three aero packages on show from Noale. Their overall 2022 package will reportedly only be finalised at the Mandalika test.
Both Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Brad Binder and Miguel Oliveira were back out on a new aero package, but slightly different to the one seen on Day 1. The two both spent a lot of time on it, and MotoGP™ Legend and KTM test rider Dani Pedrosa was also back out – and also using the aero.
The Austrian factory were the most publicly coy of all. “Positives and negatives” were reported from both Brad Binder and Oliveira, and they’re expecting more to test at Sepang. Binder was 11th on Friday and 13th overall, with Oliveira 14th on Friday and 16th overall.
On rookie watch at Tech3 KTM Factory Racing, Raul Fernandez retained the upper hand on newly-crowned Moto2™ World Champion Remy Gardner… by just 0.037. Diggia pipped both to fastest rookie honours by the end of the test, with Fernandez 0.163 off the Italian. The number 25 ended the test in 20th on both Friday and overall, and the number 87 in P22 on both too.
That’s a wrap on the first glimpse of next season… but we’re not going anywhere! Keep up to date on everything happening over winter break and 2022 pre-season
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Francesco Bagnaia takes maiden pole: Barwa GP
Doha, 27 March 2021: Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) has taken his maiden MotoGP™ pole position in serious style at the Barwa Grand Prix of Qatar, the Italian slamming in a 1:52.772 – the fastest-ever two-wheel lap of Losail International Circuit – to take the honour. Bagnaia beats second place Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) by 0.266s, with Quartararo’s fellow Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP rider Maverick Viñales. Fourth? Top Independent Team rider Valentino Rossi (Petronas Yamaha SRT) as the Doctor made it a Yamaha armada just behind Bagnaia… in more ways than one.
Before the final battle though, there was Q1 to contend with. Reigning World Champion Joan Mir (Team Suzuki Ecstar) found himself having to fight for his place in the pole position shootout at the season opener and it wasn’t a walk in the park as the number 36 faced some stiff competition from two rookies: Jorge Martin (Pramac Racing) and Enea Bastianini (Esponsorama Racing). Both took turns leading the session, with Mir returning to P1 by just 0.005s with his best lap of the weekend.
Martin then crashed unhurt on his last lap and was out of contention, and Bastianini was unable to improve. Out of nowhere, Takaaki Nakagami (LCR Honda Idemitsu) was then the man setting the timing screens alight though and the Japanese rider snatched P1 on his final flyer to demote Bastianini out of Q2 promotion. The Beast’s 0.005s deficit to Mir proved to be the difference. And so Mir edged through to Q2 by the skin of his teeth, and later received a fine and had his first but not fastest lap deleted for leaving pitlane early.
Nakagami and Mir then joined the fastest 10 riders from Free Practice for Saturday’s main course: MotoGP™ Qualifying 2. And in said session, it took Bagnaia just one lap to break the all-time lap record, a 1:53.273 coming in from the Italian to set us up for a phenomenal first pole shootout of 2021. Still, despite the P1 time being an all-time lap record, the timing screens were lit up with red sector times.
Bagnaia didn’t improve on his next lap, but teammate Jack Miller did and the Aussie took over at the top. Next was Quartararo and the Frenchman was an astonishing four tenths under at Sector 3, losing a little in the final sector but still talking over at the top, homing in on the 52s with a 1:53.038 – another all-time lap record. After the first couple of flying laps, it was a Yamaha and Ducati fest at the top, with Aleix Espargaro placing his Aprilia Racing Team Gresini machine next up in P6 ahead of Johann Zarco (Pramac Racing). Ahead of those two sat Quartararo, Miller, Viñales, Bagnaia and Franco Morbidelli (Petronas Yamaha SRT) as the grid rumbled back into pitlane and prepared for a final push.
This was it. Viñales was the leader on the road and the first to show us what he had left in his locker, the Spaniard making it a factory Yamaha 1-2. Attention then turned back to Bagnaia though, and he had Valentino Rossi in tow to boot. Pecco unleashed a mind-blowing lap to return to P1 by 0.266s, impervious and seemingly unbeatable, and Rossi’s effort put him P3 for the time being as The Doctor demoted former teammate Viñales off the front row. Top Gun then returned the favour though, taking third back and pushing Rossi down to fourth.
The front row would go unchallenged for the remaining seconds. Bagnaia said on Friday, “we will beat the record in Q2”, and he stuck to his word as the Italian to claimed his first premier class pole position in style with the fastest-ever two-wheel lap of Losail International Circuit. Quartararo and Viñales lock out the front row as The Doctor joins two of his three Yamaha counterparts inside the top four; a 1:53.114 by far the fastest Rossi has lapped Losail.
Joining the veteran Italian on the second row are Miller and Zarco. The two Bologna bullets will have been hoping for more in Q2 but the second row is a solid place from which to unleash Ducati’s holeshot device. Zarco is also the new MotoGP™ top speed record holder at 362.4km/h after FP4, and his last flying lap in Q2 was his best to knock Morbidelli onto the third row.
2020 runner up Morbidelli spearheads Row 3 and he’s joined by Aleix Espargaro in eighth place, an impressive feat given the top eight were all under Marc Marquez’s old lap record. Alex Rins (Team Suzuki Ecstar) is the final member on Row 3 in P9, with Mir being forced to settle for P10 – 0.910s back from pole position. Work to do on a Sunday for both Suzukis again, but if there’s one thing we learned in 2020, it’s to never discount the GSX-RR duo in race trim. Nakagami is the leading Honda ahead of the opening race of 2021 just behind them, he and Pol Espargaro (Repsol Honda Team) will fire off the line in P11 and P12. For full results, click here.
We were expecting fireworks, but we really did get some: a new all-time lap record and top speed record within an hour. It’s safe to say MotoGP™ is off to an astonishing start in the desert, as attentions now turn to race day. Bagnaia has done the hard work up until now, but can he help Ducati keep up their formidable Qatar record under the lights in 24 hours time? There’s a whole host of riders lining up behind him who are more than capable of winning the Qatar GP, and it’s going to be simply unmissable.
Q2 results:1. Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) – 1:52.7722. Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) + 0.2663. Maverick Viñales (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) + 0.3164. Valentino Rossi (Petronas Yamaha SRT) + 0.3425. Jack Miller (Ducati Lenovo Team) + 0.4436. Johann Zarco (Pramac Racing) + 0.5147. Franco Morbidelli (Petronas Yamaha SRT) + 0.5418. Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing Team Gresini) + 0.5439. Alex Rins (Team Suzuki Ecstar) + 0.71810. Joan Mir (Team Suzuki Ecstar) + 0.91011. Takaaki Nakagami (LCR Honda Idemitsu) + 0.94912. Pol Espargaro (Repsol Honda Team) + 1.158
Action from MotoGP Qatar Main Race will be LIVE on EUROSPORT and EUROSPORT HD from 19:15 Hrs (07:15 pm IST) onwards on Sunday, 28th March 2021. The same will be live streamed on discovery + app.
