Ducati urge caution: “Bagnaia told us one weak point, Bastianini said the same…”
The MotoGP Sepang test appeared to be largely positive for the Italian team, especially compared to last year, as they bid to resume their place on top of the sport.
Bagnaia was second-fastest on Sunday behind VR46 Mooney rider Luca Marini, while Marco Bezzecchi went quickest on Friday then Pramac’s Jorge Martin topped the timesheets on Saturday.
Ducati team manager Davide Tardozzi has urged caution: “We are doing exactly the testing plan as we scheduled. Some things were good, other things were not.
“We are quite happy with the overall performance of the Ducati riders.
“The new bike will be decided only in Portimao. So we have to wait.
“We worked on the 2023 bikes for one-and-a-half days. We stepped back on the 2022 bike just to see what the difference was.
“Marini and Bezzecchi and the Gresini riders showed that it is still a good bike!
“Pecco told us that there are good points on the 2023 bike, but one main weak point compared to the 2022, which we must work on.
“It gives us only a small amount of time in Portimao to fix it. We must suit the world champion’s request.
“Enea made the same comments. It is something that doesn’t make him comfortable with his riding style.”
Bagnaia had previously said: “I feel great with the bike and in that moment I’m quite sure that I will follow, and I really want to follow the work with the 2023 [bike] because it’s a step in front."
He also said on Sunday: "Until the first exit after lunch I was struggling with the elevation because it was very nervous and it was very difficult to open full throttle because the bike was moving a lot and sliding a lot.
"In the same moment that we solved it we changed that part of elevation and everything was like using the 2022 bike but with more speed.”
Bastianini said on Saturday: "Yeah, the new bike is fast. But for me, at the moment it is difficult to bring the speed and to exit fast from the corner because I’m not really confident with the rear, with the new bike.”
James was a sports journalist at Sky Sports for a decade covering everything from American sports, to football, to F1.
