6 takeaways from MotoGP’s official Jerez test

There were seven Ducatis in the top 10 at the end of the official one-day MotoGP test at Jerez, but it was the one-year old GP23 of Di Giannantonio who went the quickest with a 1m36.405sec lap. While not officially testing any new parts, it’s understood the Pertimina Enduro VR46 Racing squad was doing some of the work for the factory squad in terms of evaluating new parts, though it’s unknown if his quickest lap was set with any of said parts fitted.

Franco Morbidelli was the next-quickest Ducati rider in third overall, with the Italian clearly benefitting from what was his first test day with his Prima Pramac Ducati squad after missing all of preseason testing due to injury.

The experienced LCR Honda rider completed a total of 88 laps with the updated prototype raced by Stefan Bradl in the Spanish Grand Prix at both his and teammate Taka Nakagami’s disposal. While the engine sounds unchanged from the current bike, the latest RC213V featured a heavily revised aerodynamics package as well as a new chassis, as the Japanese firm looks to turn its fortunes around.

Having already tested the new prototype at an earlier private test, the Repsol Honda pairing of Joan Mir and Luca Marini spent their day gaining information testing the new parts on the current-spec RC213V. The quickest Honda rider was Nakagami (83 laps) in 16th place with a 1m37.326s, which was 0.921sec slower than Di Giannantonio’s benchmark. Mir and Marini finished 21st and 23rd respectively.

The reigning world champ and Spanish GP winner turned just 43 laps during the official Jerez test. While there was nothing visibly new to be seen, the Ducati Lenovo factory pairing of Bagnaia and Enea Bastianini focused their efforts on working on the chatter problems the latest-spec Ducati has been experiencing this season.

Bagnaia finished fourth fastest, 0.184s down, while Bastianini ended his day in P9, 0.387s adrift. Marc Marquez (Gresini Ducati) used the day to become even more familiar with his one-year old Ducati, he ended the day fifth quickest after 71 laps.

Jorge Martin (Prima Pramac Ducati) had a forgettable day as his team tried to diagnose why he crashed out of the lead in the grand prix, though engine troubles and another crash late in the day wouldn’t have helped his confidence. He ended the day 10th fastest.

According to Yamaha’s Maio Meregalli, the firm used the test to concentrate on both the aero package and the chassis, as the work of the Yamaha’s new engineers starts to come to fruition.

“One [of the aero packages] we would like to homologate as soon as possible,” he said, saying that both factory riders in Fabio Quartararo and Alex Rins liked the updated bodywork. Visually similar to the KTM and Ducati fairings, the new aero package also features the ground-effect side pods which were pioneered by Aprilia.

Rins and Quartararo finished the test 14th and 18th respectively.

While Raul Fernandez (Trackhouse Aprilia) was given a 2024-spec RS-GP to test for the first time, Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing) was working on improving the Aprilia riders’ starts with an updated ride-height device fitted to his machine. There was a new ducktail on show, too, which appeared to be a hybrid of the 2023 and 2024-spec rear bodywork, while the bellypan appears to have been given more ground clearance in order to accomodate the lower ride height achieved as a result of the new start device.

The quickest Aprilia man was Maverick Vinales (Aprilia Racing) in P2, just 0.087 slower than Diggia, with Espargaro, Fernandez and Miguel Oliveira (Trackhouse Racing) seventh, 12th and 15th respectively.  

There wasn’t a lot to be seen in terms of new parts for the KTM-powered bikes aside from a couple of new aerodynamic updates. Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM) was the quickest in P6 followed by Pedro Acosta (Tech3 GasGas, P11), Jack Miller (Red Bull KTM, P17) and Augusto Fernandez (Tech3 GasGas, P22).