The good - and the bad - from every manufacturer at MotoGP Sepang test

The 2025 MotoGP season has kicked off in the last few days with first the Shakedown and then the official test at Sepang, with all manufacturers on track having good and bad moments.

Ducati

It’s always best to start at the top and, for Ducati, that is where they remain in 2025.

With Alex Marquez topping the test on the Gresini-run GP24, it’s clear that Ducati has a strong base to start from this year.

Of course, having won all but one Grand Prix in 2024, the GP24 is verifiably one of the greatest motorcycles in the history of two-wheeled racing, but that presents its own challenge for Ducati: how to beat it.

The answer to this question for the Bologna brand was a new fairing, chassis, and engine. But, with a development freeze coming in 2026 the decision on the engine in particular was especially critical, and took up most of the two days.

Working through the programme was not helped by Fabio Di Giannantonio wheelieing himself into hospital on day one, but, in truth, with Bagnaia second on the timesheets and Marquez showing formidable pace in his Sprint simulation, it’s hard to find the bad parts in this test for Ducati.

If you want to reach a bit – they didn’t go any faster in this year’s test than last year’s. We’re sure they’ll get over it.

Aprilia

Aprilia’s test couldn’t really have started any worse than it did in reality. Jorge Martin, Raul Fernandez, and Ai Ogura all crashed on day one, and of those only Ogura made it through days two and three.

The Japanese rider progressed fairly well and was in the 1:57s by the end of the test, but almost all of the development work was left to Marco Bezzecchi, who had no prior experience of being a factory rider.

Bezzecchi’s final time wasn’t so impressive and he finished the final day behind the Hondas of Joan Mir and Johann Zarco, but he was only able to do a limited amount of performance runs and spent most of his time testing parts for a bike he had ridden for one day before this week.

It’s hard to conclude that Aprilia’s test was objectively positive, considering that two of its riders – including its reigning World Champion – were forced to leave the test before it was one-third complete due to injury; but the work of Bezzecchi and official test rider Lorenzo Savadori (who was brought in to fill some of the gaps left by the absence of Martin and Fernandez) at least salvaged it.

KTM

For a manufacturer in financial difficulties, KTM was able to bring a decent amount of new material to the Sepang test, most notably a new seat unit which incorporates a mass damper.

The aim of that, as with much of KTM’s development over the winter, has been to cure some of the vibration problems that were apparent in 2024 when Michelin introduced its new rear tyre.

Those vibrations don’t seem to have been solved on the RC16 as yet, and only Pedro Acosta was in the top 10 at the end of the test. But the Spaniard was able to set a reasonable pace in his Sprint simulation.

Brad Binder was at least confident that KTM is heading in the right direction in terms of its preparation of the season, but it’s hard to leave Sepang with the view that the Austrian marque is closer to the front now than it was a year ago.

Yamaha

After a seemingly endless period of apparent decline, Yamaha showed what appeared to be genuine progress in Sepang, as Fabio Quartararo put together some decent longer runs and also put in a 1:56.724 in one of his time attacks.

The Frenchman hadn’t been in the 1:56s before this week, and Yamaha were over a second adrift of the best time at last year’s Sepang test, so for the 2021 World Champion to be only a couple of tenths shy of Alex Marquez at the top of the times was surely a sign of legitimate progression.

There is the usual caveat of high track grip, and of course Yamaha had all four of its race riders on track during the three-day Shakedown that took place a few days before the official test, but Yamaha were 0.8 seconds better than in the 2024 Sepang test and there is a reasonable argument to be made that they have jumped into the KTM-Aprilia category behind Ducati. Time will tell.

Honda

Honda remains MotoGP’s worst-performing manufacturer after the Sepang test. As Luca Marini noted, while they have taken a step forward, so has everyone else, and therefore they are more or less where they were before.

The bike is reportedly easier to ride over a race distance, but still lacks grip and top speed.

Overall, you can’t call Honda’s Sepang test a disaster in the current context, but, if they were in a group at the back with Yamaha before, they seem to have been abandoned and exist as the standout manufacturer at the back of the field.