2023 Valencia MotoGP Test Results, Ricardo Tormo
Final lap times from Tuesday’s post-season MotoGP test at Valencia where Marc Marquez, Luca Marini, Alex Rins, Johann Zarco, Franco Morbidelli, Fabio di Giannantonio and rookie Pedro Acosta were riding with their new teams.
Marc Marquez was smiling after his opening stint with Gresini, when he was sixth fastest, then jumped to second by the end of only his third run.
Marquez's rise was complete when, at 3:20pm local time, he moved to the top of a MotoGP timesheet for the first time as a Ducati rider.
The eight-time world champion improved further but Aprilia's Maverick Vinales - on pole at the grand prix - struck back to put the RS-GP fastest with one hour to go, where he remained.
VR46's Marco Bezzecchi squeezed between Vinales and Marquez as the final hour got underway.
Brad Binder then broke into second place (+0.028s) for KTM in the final ten minutes and was challenging Vinales for P1 when he was caught out by the cool and windy conditions, falling at turn 5.
Raul Fernandez (being run by the Aprilia test team while a replacement is found for the RNF grid places) claimed an encouraging fifth on his debut with the 2023 machine, ahead of Alex Marquez and former Gresini rider Fabio di Giannantonio (VR46).
Enea Bastianini, Jack Miller and Luca Marini completed the top ten.
Newly crowned double world champion Francesco Bagnaia (11th) and team-mate Bastianini rode a prototype GP24 Ducati with a revised engine.
Joan Mir featured in the top ten on the 2024 Honda prototype, while new LCR rider Johann Zarco suffered a mid-afternoon fall for 17th, but only +1.030s from Vinales.
Pramac Ducati's title runner-up Jorge Martin suffered an early fall, topped the timesheets, then fell again on his way to 15th.
Yamaha had a new engine, chassis and aero (including a square rear seat wing) for Fabio Quartararo (12th) and new team-mate Alex Rins (19th) to try.
KTM had a striking black-and-white zebra-style livery to disguise the details on a new fairing for Jack Miller, who saved a front-end scare in the final hour.
Wide-eyed rookie Acosta was 18th (+1.223s) and appeared to enjoy his debut, making some big powerslides on the RC16 and was still smiling despite a late fall.
Due to a worsening in the condition of his injured left leg, Aleix Espargaro has halted testing and headed straight to the Clinica Dexeus in Barcelona for a CT scan. He will then fly to Germany for a wind tunnel test.
Lorenzo Savadori took over the remainder of Espargaro's testing work, including laps on the new carbon fibre chassis.
Michelin also had some new front tyres to try today, for 2024 and 2025, in addition to the standard race weekend allocation.
The Valencia test was the last chance for official MotoGP laps until Sepang in February.
Testing took place from 10am-5pm…
2023 Official Valencia MotoGP Test - Tuesday (FINAL) | |||||||
Rider | Nat | Team | Time | Lap | Speed | ||
1 | = | Maverick Viñales | SPA | Aprilia Racing (RS-GP) | 1m 29.253s | 73/86 | 330.5 |
2 | ^13 | Brad Binder | RSA | Red Bull KTM (RC16) | +0.028s | 51/51 | 337 |
3 | ˅1 | Marco Bezzecchi | ITA | VR46 Ducati (GP) | +0.093s | 58/62 | 337 |
4 | ˅1 | Marc Marquez | SPA | Gresini Ducati (GP) | +0.171s | 46/49 | 335.4 |
5 | ^1 | Raul Fernandez | SPA | Aprilia (RS-GP) | +0.263s | 58/64 | 333.7 |
6 | ˅2 | Alex Marquez | SPA | Gresini Ducati (GP) | +0.385s | 53/56 | 332.1 |
7 | ˅2 | Fabio Di Giannantonio | ITA | VR46 Ducati (GP) | +0.409s | 51/60 | 330.5 |
8 | ˅1 | Enea Bastianini | ITA | Ducati Lenovo (GP) | +0.543s | 53/56 | 333.7 |
9 | ^9 | Jack Miller | AUS | Red Bull KTM (RC16) | +0.648s | 56/62 | 330.5 |
10 | ^6 | Luca Marini | ITA | Repsol Honda (RC213V) | +0.703s | 68/72 | 328.9 |
11 | ˅3 | Francesco Bagnaia | ITA | Ducati Lenovo (GP) | +0.717s | 35/51 | 337 |
12 | = | Fabio Quartararo | FRA | Monster Yamaha (YZR-M1) | +0.769s | 59/63 | 332.1 |
13 | ˅4 | Joan Mir | SPA | Repsol Honda (RC213V) | +0.798s | 58/69 | 333.7 |
14 | ˅4 | Augusto Fernandez | SPA | Tech3 GASGAS (RC16) | +0.824s | 66/72 | 327.4 |
15 | ˅4 | Jorge Martin | SPA | Pramac Ducati (GP) | +0.899s | 36/51 | 335.4 |
16 | ˅3 | Franco Morbidelli | ITA | Pramac Ducati (GP) | +0.953s | 60/69 | 332.1 |
17 | ˅3 | Johann Zarco | FRA | LCR Honda (RC213V) | +1.030s | 45/61 | 330.5 |
18 | ˅1 | Pedro Acosta | SPA | Tech3 GASGAS (RC16)* | +1.223s | 70/70 | 332.1 |
19 | ^2 | Alex Rins | SPA | Monster Yamaha (YZR-M1) | +1.311s | 45/54 | 330.5 |
20 | ˅1 | Cal Crutchlow | GBR | Yamaha Test Rider (YZR-M1) | +1.512s | 63/74 | 330.5 |
21 | ˅1 | Takaaki Nakagami | JPN | LCR Honda (RC213V) | +1.723s | 54/63 | 328.9 |
22 | = | Aleix Espargaro | SPA | Aprilia Racing (RS-GP) | +3.059s | 8/17 | 328.9 |
23 | = | Lorenzo Savadori | ITA | ApriliaTest Rider (RS-GP) | +3.431s | 8/27 | 325.8 |
* Rookie
Official Ricardo Tormo MotoGP records
Best lap: Maverick Viñales 1m 28.931s (2023)
Fastest race lap: Brad Binder 1m 30.145s (2022)