In the duel which opposed this year Luca marini in Marco Bezzecchi within the Mooney VR46 Racing Team, the honor is except for the eldest, and one year more experienced, brother of Valentino Rossi : 120 points against 111 to the one who won the title of Rookie of the year. And if this mutual emulation allowed the two representatives of the very young Italian structure in MotoGP to appear regularly in the Top 10, it also bore fruit during the first 2023 test which took place last Tuesday at the Ricardo Tormo circuit in Valencia.
Luca marini shone there by establishing himself as the fastest but Marco Bezzecchi is far from unworthy by finishing 3rd, 0,230 seconds behind his teammate after completing 78 laps of the four-kilometer track. The rider from Rimini discovered his Ducati Desmosedici GP22 there for the first time, in this case that of Jack Miller, that is to say the same motorcycle as Luca marini which will not have a GP23 next year and will have a GP22 with the latest specifications.
No new engine, therefore, for the two drivers who clearly have two opponents in sight for 2023, the Pramac drivers Johann zarco et George Martin who will ride GP23s and finished the championship 8th and 9th, compared to 12th and 14th for the two drivers in yellow.
While waiting for this expected confrontation, Marco Bezzecchi appreciated his new frame and was full of praise: “ I'm happy, I didn't expect the third time. I really like motorcycles. I felt better from the start, but it took me a while to understand the details because the bike is a little different. There are more differences than I expected. The framework is the same, but it works better with different settings. As a result, I had big improvements in braking, after having had big problems in this area during the race weekend. But during the test, I completely fixed all the problems without changing the settings. It was very impressive. The engine is also different, it's a bit faster, I have a good feeling, but obviously there are many aspects we need to work on. It's very early to tell, but this bike has won a lot of races this year, so the bike is undoubtedly a competitive bike. I will need more time on this bike because I also have to try it on other tracks. The Ducati is of course very strong and that's why I hope I can reach the top with this bike. We are working at our best, especially from a physical point of view during the break, and then I can't wait to get to Sepang. »
Paul Grandson : " The first test of the 2023 season is over. I am very satisfied, because we have taken another step forward. We have two identical bikes for both riders, this means we can still improve and this is a key aspect we want to work on for next season. We can share data, compare more and make both teams work even closer. After only one day of testing it's obviously not easy to say what the new bike really changes, but it was important to feel comfortable and Luca and Marco were both very, very fast. This is the world champion's bike, a great base to start working hard before the Sepang test next February. »
Final result of the MotoGP test in Valencia :
Classification credit: MotoGP.com
