Let's admit it, we would have liked Luca marini finished first in this MotoGP test in Portimão, just to continue its momentum after Valencia and Sepang. But ultimately the eldest member of the Mooney VR46 Racing Team had to settle for 4th time, which in itself already allows him to present an excellent report from his off-season!
What's more, the brother of Valentino Rossi was today handicapped by a technical problem which caused him to lose around twenty laps, stuck in the box. Who knows if without that...
Anyway, during pre-season testing Luca marini took a leap forward aboard his Desmosedici 2022 ex-Francis Bagnaia, something that he will now have to confirm during the races, long or Sprint, hoping however that these do not come down to a Ducati Cup...
Today, the Italian improved his time by 7 tenths, going from 1'39.005 yesterday to 1'38.310, which represents a gap of three tenths compared to Francis Bagnaia (1'37.968), like a sort of passing of the baton that we find in his words...
Luca marini : " Overall, I am satisfied with the pre-season: there is a good atmosphere within the team and we have worked hard. I had fun, I feel good and I enjoyed every ride on the bike. Today was probably the hardest day, I had bad luck and too many technical problems. In the end I gave it my all, did the last 20 minutes and set my best time. I feel good, I can fight for the Top 6 in qualifying and in the Sprint with the software. For racing, I think I will opt for the medium rear, the performance is not much different, but it performs better over a long distance. The track conditions during the test were completely different from what they will be on the race weekend in a few days. The current times are therefore worthless compared to the race weekend. We are all on the same level, only Pecco seems to have a little more. His 2023 motorcycle is virtually flawless and the electronics are of a high standard. For our part, we still have work to do. »
Paul Grandson, Team Manager: “ We have to be satisfied, not so much with this test as with the whole pre-season. In Malaysia we worked well and here we continued in the same direction. We are ready to face the race in the best possible way. Ducati and the whole team have done a lot and we are a very strong team with two very fast riders. All we have to do now is discover the new weekend format, the last real unknown. »
Final ranking of this second day of MotoGP testing in Portimão:
Classification credit: MotoGP.com
