Marco Bezzecchi finds braking with lean angle the biggest change with 23 bike

Although Marco Bezzecchi was stronger at the Qatar MotoGP test, the Italian took a while to get up to speed during pre-season testing.

After jumping off the 2022-spec Ducati which he won with on four occasions, including three grand prix’, Bezzecchi started the Sepang test struggling with braking in particular.

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Not so much braking in a straight line, but instead braking with the bike leaned into the corner.

Much has been made of the new 23 and 22-spec bikes behaving differently which is why Bezzecchi was caught out.

“I was struggling to stop the bike, not in a straight line but more with [lean] angle compared to the old bike,” Bezzecchi told MotoGP.com in Qatar.

“This bike has a different style so I had to change my riding a bit. Because of this I needed a bit more time but also we made some changes on the bike that helped a lot. This was the biggest step.”

Team manager of the Pertamina Enduro VR46 team, Pablo Nieto was impressed with how Bezzecchi overcame the early problems.

“Marco started to get a really good feeling with the bike,” said Nieto. “We have to work a lot on the electronics with him because it is completely different to last year.

“It is important to get a good set-up and be ready for the first race.”

In contrast, Bezzecchi’s team-mate Fabio Di Giannantonio had no such issues adapting to the 2023 bike.

Di Giannantonio gelled instantly with the 23 bike and could start the 2024 season achieving the best results on that bike.

The opening round in Qatar was Di Giannantonio’s first MotoGP win last season and Nieto admits the Italian likes the Lusail circuit ‘a lot’.

We know that Fabio was very fast last year here, and he likes this track a lot.” Nieto told MotoGP.com.