Pecco Bagnaia was the man to watch in these Sepang training sessions. The current world champion has been fine-tuning the Desmosedici GP23, and it seems that the last day was when he got in tune with the bike. Today it ended at 80 thousandths of the reference of Luca Marini.
The current MotoGP world champion did few laps today compared to other days, 43 in total, confirming once again his excellent feelings with the 2023 prototype that Ducati has prepared and with which Bagnaia is delighted. The Italian assured yesterday that this year’s bike is already, at least, at the level of the 2022 Desmosedici, and He only has to finish defining the new aerodynamics in Portimao before having his 2023 package ready
Positive feelings after trying the Desmosedici: “I am very satisfied and proud of the work done in these three days of testing. Honestly, today I felt that I was going around the problem without solving anything, while in the afternoon we managed to solve not all the problems, but almost, and now we are exactly at the point where the GP22 is. I also tried a couple of runs against the clock at the end of the day and the feeling was excellent. The first fast laps are the most difficult because you are not concentrating on speed with your head having had to work on so many things”.
He endorses the statements of Aleix Espargaró, who said that Ducati are the fastest motorcycles: “The Ducati is undoubtedly one of the most competitive motorcycles. The GP22 will be for at least another two years and the results of the pilots who use it also show it. As for the GP23, most of the work has been on the straight. In terms of top speed we were scary and now we’ve also fixed that in power. Still a bit lacking in handling compared to the GP22, a bit nervous coming out of the corner”.
Is the Desmosedici GP23 ready for the world championship?: “We have taken most of the elections. So it is clear that during the season we will continue to develop the bike and improve it. My objective here in the tests was to immediately return to the level of the GP22 and we achieved it.
It seems that the sensations are better than last year around these dates: “Last year the tests were much more difficult, this year my concern was only to finish the tests satisfied. We thought about the problem, but in the end we managed to solve everything, so I am very satisfied with the work done here in Sepang”.
Will more news come to Portimao? “I made my requests, although it is not something aerodynamic. I have an idea in my head, but I can only confirm it in Portimao. We will still have the GP22 available, but I think we will continue to work with the new evolution of 2023”.
We have been able to see Márquez and Bradl test the Honda without wings, something that Ducati already did last year: “I have not seen it, but last year in Qatar I also tried it. The curiosity was there, however, in reality, although the bike gains in handling, you lose a lot in speed”.
Also read: Márquez asks for solutions for Portimao: “It is not a motorcycle to win the World Cup”
Inside the box, his relationship with the newcomer Enea Bastianini seems quite affable from what Pecco says: “We interacted during the tests, especially in sharing our feelings on the bike. It was essential that we work together for development and we have always found ourselves in line with the thinking”.