Rain spoils play at Mugello MotoGP Test but some find it fruitful

2024 MotoGP World Championship
Mugello Test – June 3, 2024

Unfortunately, wet weather cruelled the opportunity for MotoGP Teams and riders to make any serious progress on Monday at Mugello.

Sunday’s race winner Francesco Bagnaia and his Factory Ducati team-mate Enea Bastianini didn’t bother to turn a wheel on Monday, nor did fellow Ducati riders Fabio Di Giannantonio, Marco Bezzecchi or current championship leader Jorge Martin.   The Spaniard instead using the opportunity to sign up with Aprilia for 2025…

The only Ducati riders who ventured out were Franco Morbidelli and the Marquez brothers. Although Marc did not complete a timed lap.

Topping the time-sheets, for what it is worth, were Brad Binder and Pedro Acosta.

The pair sported new aero on their RC16 machines and finished almost 1.5-seconds clear of Luca Marini. The Repsol Honda rider put in by far the most laps of any rider during the day at 40.

Sebastian Risse – KMT/GASGAS Technical Manager

“Well, we had a very good plan! There were development items for the short, medium and long term and we also wanted to work on some of the issues and settings we have in the last few races. Of course, even when it’s wet, the conditions are never really consistent, depending on how much water there is on track and it’s hard to draw conclusions on test items so we focused on the areas that we could and found a few positives with electronics. Now we’re keen to introduce it. We have some weeks now to make the best possible plan for Assen and Sachsenring.”

Jack Miller split the Repsol Honda pairing to wrap up the test in fifth place, half-a-second clear of Joan Mir.

Jack Miller

“We played around with Traction Control strategy and a few other things that I felt we needed to for the wet, like the geometry. We just tried to make the most of a lacklustre day. We needed good conditions…but we didn’t get them. We’ve changed a lot recently but we couldn’t change the weather!”

Aleix Espargaro took the day off, which left his Aprilia team-mate Maverick Vinales to lead the Noale charge. The Trackhouse Racing duo also took to the track.

Wilco Zeelenberg – Trackhouse Aprilia Team Manager

“Our test day in Mugello was quite short. We had a mix of rain and dry phases and nobody was really able to do decent comparisons, including us. We have to be realistic and face the fact that it wasn’t the best day to test. Anyway, the weather is the weather and we can’t do anything about it. We prepared a lot of things for this test of course and now we need to incorporate testing those ideas and parts in the coming races. Obviously, it’s difficult to test things during a race weekend, but we will try, starting from Assen.”

Alex Rins was seventh quickest but along with team-mate Fabio Quartararo the Yamaha pairing did not record many laps. Yamaha have a two-day private test at Valencia next week.

Massimo Meregalli – Monster Yamaha Team Director

“Unfortunately, our bad luck with the weather during tests continues. It seems like the rain is following us… It was a shame that today’s wet conditions prohibited us from carrying out our original testing plan, but we learned something during this test regardless. We made the most of the situation by working on the electronics control, gathering good information for the future. It’s a bit disappointing, but we are lucky in the sense that we have a private test coming up shortly, so there’s still another opportunity to get the work done.“

Castrol Honda LCR’s Johann Zarco took advantage of the wet conditions to try different wet set-ups which Johann Zarco deemed fruitful.

Johann Zarco

“We’ve been testing some setups for the rain sessions. Ultimately, it was good because trying different balances gave us feedback on how the bike moves and reacts in wet conditions. Honestly, I’ve gotten more confidence, and it was beneficial”.

Mugello Test Times

1. BINDER Brad RSA Red Bull KTM Factory Racing 1’47.617 (17 laps)
2. ACOSTAPedro SPA Red Bull GASGAS Tech 3 0.033 (17 laps)
3. MARINI Luca ITA Repsol Honda Team 1.434 (40 laps)
4. MILLER Jack AUS Red Bull KTM Factory Racing 1.614 (32 laps)
5. MIR Joan SPA Repsol Honda Team 2.171 (24 laps)
6. VINALES Maverick SPA Aprilia Racing 7.361 (18 laps)
7. RINS Alex SPA Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP 10.035 (16 laps)
8. ZARCO Johann FRA LCR Honda 10.476 (29 laps)
9. OLIVEIRA Miguel POR Trackhouse Racing 10.665 (6 laps)
10. NAKAGAMI Takaaki JPN LCR Honda 10.883 (29 laps)
11. SAVADORI Lorenzo ITA Aprilia Test Team 11.680 (29 laps)
12. FERNANDEZ Raul SPA Trackhouse Racing 11.764 (6 laps)
13. FERNANDEZAugusto SPA Red Bull GASGAS Tech 3 12.435 (15 laps)
14. QUARTARARO Fabio FRA Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP 14.758 (15 laps)
15. MORBIDELLI Franco ITA Pramac Racing 18.198 (8 laps)
16. MARQUEZ Alex SPA Team Gresini Racing MotoGP 19.063 (3 laps)

Mugello Test Images

MotoGP Championship Standings

2024 FIM MotoGP World Championship calendar (Updated)

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