We were ready for drama on the timesheets but instead we got it on track. Jorge Martin (Aprilia Racing) faces an uphill start to his title defence after a huge highside on Day 1 sees him ruled out of the remainder of the Sepang Test, and Fabio Di Giannantonio (Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team) and Raul Fernandez (Trackhouse MotoGP Team) join the reigning Champion on the sidelines.
For Martin it’s fractures in his right hand and left foot, for Fernandez a fracture in his left hand and a broken toe on his right foot. For Di Giannantonio, it’s a left collarbone fracture. All are heading back home for surgery and to recover fully.
That drew some spotlight from the timesheets, but Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) remains fastest after he also topped the Shakedown. Not even Marc Marquez (Ducati Lenovo Team) could quite depose the 2021 Champion, coming up short by 0.051.
Alex Marquez (Gresini Racing MotoGP) completes the top three ahead of rookie teammate Fermin Aldeguer, who was the fastest debutant on Wednesday. Franco Morbidelli (Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team) was fifth as the GP24s made their presence felt, with Diggia P7 on the GP25. The lowest Ducati was two-time MotoGP champion Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team), 17th on the timesheets on his GP25. But it’s early days.
As well as Quartararo on top, Yamaha also had a strong presence in the top ten with Jack Miller (Prima Pramac Yamaha MotoGP) in eighth and teammate Miguel Oliveira tenth. There were three bikes each for Quartararo and teammate Alex Rins, and from there the Pramac duo will get more to try too.
Sixth was a solid day for Honda. Joan Mir (Honda HRC Castrol) put in a 1:58.115 to get within nine thousandths of test rider Aleix Espargaro’s Shakedown best already, and Johann Zarco (Castrol Honda LCR) makes it two Hondas in the top ten in P9. One novelty for the factory was a new seat unit. Luca Marini (Honda HRC Castrol) was P15 and rookie Somkiat Chantra (IDEMITSU Honda LCR) further back, but the Thai rider felt some good improvements on Day 1.
At KTM, Pedro Acosta (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) was P11 but crashed at Turn 13, rider ok, with Brad Binder just 0.111 off his new teammate. Even closer on the chase was Maverick Viñales (Red Bull KTM Tech3), just 0.045 off Binder as ‘Top Gun’ switches over. Enea Bastianini (Red Bull KTM Tech3) was a little further back as he adapts to his new bike.
For Aprilia, the Martin and Raul Fernandez story dominates the day’s headlines. Rookie Ai Ogura (Trackhouse Racing) was P16 overall – although ahead of Bagnaia – and Marco Bezzecchi (Aprilia Racing) was just behind the #63. It’s all eyes on them now to provide some feedback over the next two days, for more on that see some of Aprilia Racing CEO Massimo Rivola’s debrief below.
Aprilia Racing CEO Massimo Rivola debriefed the dramas of the day.
How is Jorge?
“You know, Jorge, after the concussion, the protocol keeps him in hospital for 24 hours and when he’s released tomorrow afternoon, he’ll fly back to Barcelona as soon as possible to get surgery on the right hand and on the left foot. It’s always difficult with these kind of heroes because with a normal human, you can’t even think about the first race but with maybe we can see him in the test in Thailand… I’m sure Jorge will do his best and we’ll support him but I think some time is needed.”
How likely is the Buriram Test?
“Today is a bit difficult to be optimistic but it’s a bit early as well. Let’s see how the surgery goes; I’m sure he’ll be in super professional hands. We must be positive.
“We said that also, at the team launch, that phase 1 is the most important to get to know each other and the bike. Maybe, having zero time to do it makes the challenge trickier and more interesting but we’re not a team that starts crying forever. Jorge is the same and we’ll fight for sure.”
Championship hopes?
“This is not the thought before the test and it’s not the goal now, obviously. The goal is to know each other as well as possible and this is a problem for sure but also, Raul, again at Sepang, was so unlucky. He’s going to fly soon to get surgery; there’s a lot of work on the shoulders of Marco on our side and Ai on the Trackhouse side.”
On Marco’s importance and pressure to steer the project:
“To be honest, I’m pretty happy about the job he did today. We’re quite impressed about his method and his feeling was quite sensible and he was fast. We did a different programme to the others but we’re quite happy. These two more days are very important as Jorge needs to get the benefit of Marco’s work.”
