Obviously, the three days of shakedown were useful for Marco Bezzecchi, since the rookie of the Mooney VR46 Racing Team proved to be the fastest of the beginners at the end of the first day of the official MotoGP test of 2022 at the Sepang International Circuit, in Malaysia.
After 49 laps to continue to take the measurements of the new category and his Ducati Desmosedici GP21, Marco Bezzecchi entered his name in tenth position in the classification of the first day, first rookie with a time of 1'59.468, a little over by a second from the very first drivers (A. Espargaró, 1'58.371).
Perhaps more revealing, the Rimini rider is only 8 tenths behind the first Ducati, in this case that of Enea Bastianini: enough to be satisfied for 3rd in the 2 Moto2021 championship!
The final day of testing in Malaysia is scheduled for tomorrow, before flying to Indonesia to discover the Pertamina Mandalika international circuit.
Marco Bezzecchi: “ I'm very happy, we continued the work started during the shakedown and I certainly can't complain about today. In the end, with the new soft tire, I also achieved a very good time. We are doing a good job with the whole team and I feel better every day on the bike: it is more and more mine. Compared to Moto2, there is more power to handle, different styling and even the tires are completely different. However, it is a day to remember: riding on the track with the drivers that I had until now only seen on television was exciting! »
Pablo Nieto: “ We finished the first real testing day of the 2022 season, for the first time on the track with all the MotoGP riders. We had a difficult start this morning, we had some technical problems at the start, things that can happen with a new bike, but we finished positively. The drivers and the whole team are doing a good job and tomorrow we will be able to take another step forward. Marco arrives after three days of testing here at Sepang, he certainly already has more pace than the others and today he was very fast, just one second off the new track record. Luca was forced to return to the garage for technical problems, but he did well in the second part of the afternoon. »
Sepang MotoGP Test rankings on Saturday:
Classification credit: MotoGP.com
