Bezzecchi back on top after Jerez Test – New chassis for HRC

Jerez MotoGP Test

MotoGP riders headed back out on Monday at Jerez to close out a busy four days at the Spanish circuit, and this time there was some new developments being tested, some obvious, and some not so obvious.

Fabio Quartararo was the early pacesetter before being best by Luca Marini, who was then knocked off P1 late in the day by Marco Bezzecchi, who made it a Mooney VR46 Racing Team 1-2. at the top of the time-sheets. Bezzecchi’s 1m36.574 around four-tenths off the all time lap record.

Marco Bezzecchi

“In the end it’s a test, but it’s always nice to go home with good sensations. We started strong this morning, without letting ourselves be conditioned by yesterday’s race and I did about 30 flying laps and as many starts. I struggle with the clutch, I had to train my sensitivity and I worked on that. I’m not perfect yet, but happy with the step forward that I hope to put into practice already at Le Mans.”

Luca Marini

“A test with no big things to try that we dedicated to some Ohlins settings which look good to me. In any case, I would like to try them again in a normal track conditions because here, today after the race, there’s really a lot of grip and it’s difficult to give a real evaluation. In general, the problems of the weekend remained, we weren’t able to make a step on this point. I can’t get the bike to turn at turns 4 and 8, but I confirm that the race bike, among the settings tested over the three days, is the one I liked more and this means that we have done a good job with the Team since Friday.”

Fabio Di Giannantonio (Gresini Racing MotoGP) had a good day in fourth, with reigning Champion and Spanish GP winner Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) in sixth. Jorge Martin (Prima Pramac Racing) was ninth, Alex Marquez (Gresini Racing MotoGP) tenth and Johann Zarco (Prima Pramac Racing) 13th.

Francesco Bagnaia

“We approached the test day very calmly, focusing mainly on testing different setup configurations. On Friday, here in Jerez, we had some difficulties with our basic setup, so we worked on finding a compromise that would allow us to avoid similar situations in the future under certain conditions. Today’s 44 laps were enough, and we have already found a good solution. In general, I am happy with our work, and in Le Mans, I hope to confirm the feelings we had in this test.”

Fabio DiGiannantonio

“An excellent day: we had a very dense programme and we managed to complete everything and with excellent results. We now need to see how these solutions perform in different conditions, as during the test the track has a lot of grip. We’re growing and my feeling with the bike improves, especially on the front-end.”

Alex Marquez

“We opted to work on the race pace, choosing the medium compound at the rear in order to focus on setup and cornering, which we kind of lacked yesterday on the track. We gathered some good data ahead of Le Mans and I think we’ll get there better prepared and with more options.”

The sole novelty at Ducati, the home of novelty – a moniker now seemingly under threat from KTM – was a new belly pan on Zarco’s Prima Pramac, with a small inlet on the bottom.

At Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP, there were two different chassis for Fabio Quartararo and Franco Morbidelli. Pitlane reporter Simon Crafar was confident he’s seen the “different” one before, as it gets tested, tested again and then shelved. Quartararo also rode the weekend with the newer swingarm – and had that at the test on both machines – having previously gone back to a previous version.

RelatedPosts

MotoGP, Moto2 and Moto3 Entry Lists for 2025 season

November 22, 2024

Catalunya MotoGP Test roundup – Quotes – Images – Times

November 20, 2024

Some interesting wings also sprouted on Morbidelli’s machine, and the sidepods were bigger. Meanwhile, Quartararo tested a new exhaust in the afternoon, taking it out on a couple of runs. Quartararo was third overall and top until the latter stages, with Morbidelli down in P16.

Massimo Meregalli – Monster Yamaha Team Director

“We had a productive day at the Jerez Test. We had a few updated items to try, one of them being the exhaust. We also tried some aerodynamic parts, wings, and a new chassis. Besides that, we tried different options to fine-tune the settings little by little. Both our riders not only did a lot of laps, but also a lot of short stints to evaluate the various possibilities. We collected good information, and this helps us prepare for the upcoming French GP in two weeks‘ time.”

Fabio Quartararo

“I tried the new exhaust. The feedback is good. The noise on the bike changed quite a lot. I also tried a new chassis. We are working in the same direction, but we still need to figure out which one was better, because they were similar. We tried different aeros and different wings. We are trying to understand which one is best for us. I tried to work on the time attack for two laps. The ideal lap time was pretty good. Our pace was amazing today, but there was no massive difference on the time attack, so we are trying to improve this.”

Franco Morbidelli

“It was a busy test, and we tried many things. We collected data on the aero. For those parts it was more about the direction we were taking, and I would say we found something interesting. Then we tried some other things, but the differences were less big. Some things worked in one area but not as well in another. But our engineers are working well. We need to keep digging.”

At Aprilia Racing, it looked like the focus was more on fine-tuning what they have and working with set-up. It also looked like both sides of the garage were more than a little preoccupied with practice starts. Maverick Viñales especially was taking every chance to try a launch, and team-mate Aleix Espargaro put in a fair few after he also lost out at Turn 1 four times in a row this weekend. Viñales was fifth, and Espargaro seventh.

At CryptoData RNF MotoGP Team, Lorenzo Savadori stepped in for the sidelined Miguel Oliveira, and was unfortunately one of the few crashers on the day. Still, he put in nearly half a century of laps for some more information. Raul Fernandez, meanwhile, did over 70, and ended the day in P11.

Headlines during the race weekend weren’t enough for the Austrian factory, so they thought they’d make a few more on Monday. Some of the new aero first seen in the hands of Dani Pedrosa (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) over the weekend was put through its paces by Brad Binder and Jack Miller, a vertical panel all the way to the bottom of the fairing being spotted and it seemed as though Dani Pedrosa was evaluating a new chassis.

Brad Binder

“I’m happy with how the day panned-out. We got through our full test plan, which doesn’t always happen. We used our time wisely and now the guys can go back and look through the data to help us improve. We had some new aero to try and, as is always the case, you can gain a little bit in some areas and lose in others. It means you really change the balance of the bike as well and it can be complicated to know immediately when you test back-to-back. It takes some fine-tuning. Le Mans next. It is a bit of a special track and you never know what weather you’ll find there!”

Jack Miller

“A busy day and a progressive one. It’s fantastic when you work with a factory that is pushing so much. We had a lot of items to test and now we just need to analyse the data to know what was better and what is maybe not so necessary. We tried some aero options but we’ll wait and see what we use next. The bike is really good but we are also doing a really good job as a team. There are no specific weak points but we still have some areas that we’d like to improve. We made some steps today even though, as always on a Monday, there was a lot of rubber down and the track was fast. Our acceleration is really good and now we just want to understand what we’ll take to Le Mans.”

Binder ended the day in eighth, Miller in P14 and Pedrosa near the back of the order, not going in for any of the time attack heroics he very much proved he was still capable of during the weekend.

Francesco Guidotti – Red Bull KTM Factory Racing Team Manager

“We had a special weekend and today was another day of work: a bit more relaxed but still very busy. We were testing some items and settings that we did not have time for during the race weekend and we were able to understand some of our options better.”

Sebastian Risse – Red Bull KTM Technical Manager MotoGP

“We’ve had a very intense test day after a successful weekend and there are not many days like this during the season where you can work on things outside of the homologation, so we had a lot to do. We did a lot of test runs and gathered a lot of information and for that we’re happy with the outcome. We worked a lot on the aero side because there is a second homologation open. We also worked on chassis, electronics, torque delivery and we found some interesting aspects that we hope we can improve in the next races and take the benefit.”

GASGAS Factory Racing Tech3’s Augusto Fernandez took the opportunity to put in 69 laps as he continues to adapt to MotoGP, and he had the new aero, without the side addition, that was raced by Pedrosa. His temporary team-mate – test rider Jonas Folger – did 63 laps.

Nicolas Goyon – GASGAS Factory Racing Tech3 Team Manager

“Our first test after the start of season so it was an important day for a rookie to back-check some things and try others on the bike and with his riding style. Augusto could ride without the stress of a race weekend and this was productive for him. He also had a few aero upgrades to try, which was also positive, so thanks to the group for bringing those. Jonas was more focused on rideability but also worked with aero parts to be more comfortable on the bike and improve ergonomics. He should have a better base as a test rider. We did a positive job, over 60 laps for each rider and a slightly improved lap-time for Augusto compared to qualification at the GP. Thanks to the whole team and group.”

Eyebrows were raised at Honda, as pitlane reporters Simon Crafar and Jack Gorst spotted the long-awaited Kalex chassis in the hands of HRC test rider Stefan Bradl. Repsol Honda Team Manager Alberto Puig said initial signs were good.

Bad luck hit when Joan Mir (Repsol Honda Team) was attempting to head out on it though, with a technical problem seeing the 2020 World Champion manage only five corners of his out lap. Mir also crashed earlier in the session before that, rider ok, but completed 67 laps for P15.

Joan Mir

“It was a positive day overall. We worked to improve our base setup and we were able to try many different things like aerodynamics and some items to make me more comfortable on the bike. Crashing during a test complicates things because you have to change your plans a bit, even so we did most things. I think we have improved our base which will help for the next race. An intense but short test, now we try and relax a little bit and come back stronger in Le Mans.”

Mir had two of his normal chassis this morning but then had one of the chassis team-mate Marc Marquez had been using. Mir also tried the small aero update that Bradl had throughout the race weekend, as well as new downwash ducts.

Alex Rins (LCR Honda Castrol) was seen with a chassis used previously by Mir, as well as the downwash ducts. Honda also had a new “winglet” on the swingarm.

Rins did 82 laps and was P17, suffering a crash at the end but rider ok. Takaaki Nakagami (LCR Honda Castrol) was top Honda in P12 after 70 laps.

That was job done for the MotoGP boys but the Moto2 and Moto3 fields are back out on Tuesday.

Jerez MotoGP Test Times

Jerez MotoGP Test Top Speeds