Day one times, speeds, anecdotes, quotes and images from Portimao MotoGP Test

2023 MotoGP Testing Portimao Day One

Reigning Champion Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) topped the time-sheets overnight after the first day of the final two-day pre-season MotoGP test at Portimao.  The benchmark 1m38.771s for the day was set on Bagnaia’s penultimate lap, demoting countryman Luca Marini to second late in the day.

Both sides of the Ducati Lenovo Team garage have the updated aero package and Bagnaia continued with the downwash ducts rather than the “ground effect” fairings seen previously. Bastianini was the same. The single wing-nut setup on the left handlebar, used for the hole-shot, was on all machines.

Back to Marini, and the Italian’s super run in pre-season kept rolling on the penultimate day. He was second, with team-mate Marco Bezzecchi in seventh.

Luca Marini – P2

“I’m happy with my first approach to this track because I struggled a lot last year. It’s only the first day, but the work done can already be significant for the GP. In the morning we focused on adapting the bike to this track, which is very different from Valencia and Sepang, and in the afternoon I felt good with the adjustments I tried in terms of electronics and suspension settings. I rode with the soft and I have to say that I suffered from the compound drop on the left side of the tire. It won’t be a problem for the sprint, but for the 25-lap race it has to be evaluated“.

Marco Bezzecchi – P7

“I’m happy, we did a good job today. We didn’t focus on the time attack, but I’m happy in any case. In Malaysia we started with a more significant advantage: I was strong at the GP and we already had a basic setting. Tomorrow we will work on the sprint race, the real unknown for 2023. I have made some progress, but now we have to put everything together. I would like to be cleaner, more fluid, even if the rear of the bike is moving a lot at the moment“.

Meanwhile, Gresini Racing MotoGP’s Ducati newcomer Alex Marquez slotted into fourth as he continues to impress, and his team-mate Fabio Di Giannantonio ended the day in P9. Diggia suffered a crash and headed to local hospital for a further check up.

Completing the top ten was Jorge Martin (Prima Pramac Racing). He was seen with a different chassis, one that’s been spotted before and could be part of an ongoing experiment from Ducati. Martin went the opposite way to the factory duo, putting in a whole lot of laps with the ground effect fairings. Team-mate Johann Zarco was P13, not far off Martin by the end of Day 1. He had a different front fairing and air intake to the rest, and the wings were a little different too. The Fernchman was the only Ducati with this set-up, previously tested by Michele Pirro last season.

Aero updates and innovations were the name of the game down in the Aprilia Racing garage. The Noale factory had a few small aero pieces, including a wing bolted onto the swingarm, some wings that are attached to the front forks and a new rear wing.

A glance at the time-sheets makes for pretty reading for them too. Viñales was a consistent threat at the summit, as was Miguel Oliveira (RNF MotoGP Team). The Portuguese rider has been given a few Aprilia goodies to test in Portimao, one noticeable one being some aero that hangs off the side of the front wheel.

Oliveira ended the day in P6, one place behind an upbeat Raul Fernandez (RNF MotoGP Team), who took a little longer to pounce up towards the pointy end of the time-sheets, but heading into the final couple of hours climbed to P5. That made it three Aprilias inside the top six, with Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing) ending Saturday’s action in P11.

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Both the Spaniard and team-mate Viñales crashed in the early hours of testing, and Espargaro hurt the ankle that he previously damaged at Silverstone in the small off. Espargaro also struggled with arm pump on Saturday, “not a disaster”, but far from ideal.

Alongside Ducati, Aprilia appear to be the factory that are looking most comfortable heading into the final day of testing. Fernandez and Oliveira both showing impressive speed.

Raul Fernandez – P5

“I’m really happy about the work we did today. This morning was a bit complicated, but my team did an amazing job. They tried one solution for me, which worked out nice. I could start to enjoy riding again and I’m very happy to end today in fifth. My pace was good and this is very important for us at the moment. Now I have to continue to understand the bike even better, I’m not at 100 per cent yet.”

Miguel Oliveira P8

“Today was a great day. I feel really good on the bike. We didn’t do any time attack, but we are still very competitive. Therefore, I’m really looking forward to tomorrow. I’ll try to get even more speed out of the Aprilia RS-GP and try to get even more comfortable aboard the bike.”

The most notable upgrade we saw in the Yamaha box on Day 1 was a radical new piece of aero on one of Franco Morbidelli’s (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) bikes. There’s a new set of wings just above the side-pod and below the standard set of wings. Morbidelli was also continuing to lap with two different chassis.

In Fabio Quartararo’s (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) corner, both of his YZR-M1s were fitted with Yamaha’s larger aero, suggesting that’s the direction he prefers. The 2021 World Champion was trying different front-end set-ups as he explores what can be done with the bike now the aero is – seemingly – decided.

A late time attack saw Quartararo climb up to eighth, 0.8s away from the top, with Morbidelli finishing P21 having completed 95 laps – five more than Quartararo. A very busy day for the Iwata factory, with another coming up on Sunday.

Fabio Quartararo – P8

“We did a lot of work. We tried a bigger aero wing. Tomorrow we will try another set. Let’s see which one we will end up using. But for the moment, I think that the one we tried today will be the one we will use for the race. Other than that, we didn’t try many things today. We just tried to find a good base for our bike. We’re working more on the settings than on trying new items.“

Lots of things were going on at HRC as they tried to finalise the directions they want to be taking in 2023. Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) was doing a lot of work on Honda’s updated wings and air intake, as well as a new chassis that has been brought to the Portimao Test.

Marc Marquez also suffered a small crash during the afternoon, but the eight-time World Champion was perfectly okay. A P19 finish doesn’t make for outwardly positive reading, but 78 laps suggests it was a day of working things out – and yet more proof the fitness is there. Marquez confirmed the afternoon rhythm was disrupted by testing ‘big concepts’, so Sunday’s outing will be focused on getting the best out of what Honda already have.

Marc Marquez – P19

“In the morning our pace and rhythm was not so bad and we were able to work well with the base setup. We had a lot of work to do and in the afternoon we were trying many big things and we were not focusing on a single fast lap. The situation is not quite what it seems from the time sheets. Tomorrow hopefully we can focus a bit more on preparing for the race here in Portugal to start the season.”

14th place Joan Mir (Repsol Honda Team) was also giving Honda’s new chassis a good runout. The 2020 World Champion admitted he didn’t feel great on the opening day and struggled a bit – and a crash didn’t help in the afternoon. Fast corners and power delivery are the main areas of improvement for Mir ahead of the final day.

Joan Mir – P14

“Today we spent a lot of our time working between two different bikes, comparing them back-to-back towards the end. We have to keep on working to improve the bike in a few areas, especially in the turning. I am feeling really good in the change of direction and we are looking quite fast in some sectors and need to have this speed everywhere. There’s still one more day to go and time to keep on working to make another step.”

Regarding the chassis, LCR Honda duo Alex Rins (LCR Honda Castrol) and Takaaki Nakagami (LCR Honda Idemitsu) had the older chassis fitted to both their RC213Vs. Rins ended the day as the fastest Honda in P11 and having not much in the way of new parts to try, the two-time 2022 race winner has been focusing on continuing his adaptation to the new bike.

Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Brad Binder was the lead KTM on Day 1, in P15, but he had close company from new team-mate Jack Miller just behind him. The visible work going on was focussed on aero, with each having one bike with the ‘ground effect’ fairing and the downwash ducts and one bike with only the ‘ground effect’ fairing.

It sounded like the Austrian factory overall has switched to the engine that sounded different in Sepang, with that overheard once again.

At GASGAS Factory Racing Tech3, Pol Espargaro was down the time-sheets but likewise had the aero split seen at Red Bull KTM, and his team-mate Augusto Fernandez likewise. For the first time, the two GASGAS riders also had the same chassis, and Fernandez was a little closer as he prepares to face down his first race weekend in MotoGP.

Pol Espargaro – P22

“This first day of testing was difficult because we ran into a lot of different problems. Somehow, it is good because we would rather encounter the issues during testing than during a race weekend. In the morning, we struggled with the electronics of the bike and engine parameters. Towards the end of the day, when we wanted to do a time-attack, we had other issues so it was hard to push. The day was tough for us, but you learn from these difficult test days, and we took it all in today.”

Sunday is going to be the final day of the pre-season preparations at the Portuguese track for the MotoGP World Championship ahead of the first round of 2023, which takes place from 24th to 26th March at the same venue.

2023 MotoGP Testing Portimao Day One Times

2023 MotoGP Testing Portimao Day One Top Speeds

2023 MotoGP Calendar

1. March 26 – Portugal, Portimao
2. April 2 – Argentina, Termos de Rio Honda
3. April 16 – Americas, COTA
4. April 30 – Spain, Jerez
5. May 14 – France, Le Mans
6. June 11 – Italy, Mugello
7. June 18 – Germany, Sachsenring
8. June 25 – Netherlands, Assen
9. July 9 – Kazakhstan, Sokol (Subject to homologation)
10. August 6 – Great Britain, Silverstone
11. August 20 – Austria, Red Bull Ring
12. September 3 – Catalunya, Catalunya
13. September 10 – San Marino, Misano
14. September 24 – India, Buddh (Subject to homologation)
15. October 1 – Japan, Motegi
16. October 15 – Indonesia, Mandalika
17. October 22 – Australia, Phillip Island
18. October 29 – Thailand, Chang
19. November 12 – Malaysia, Sepang
20. November 19 – Qatar, Lusail
21. November 26 – Valenciana, Valencia

MotoGP 2023 Rider Entry List