Rennie Scaysbrook | May 1, 2024
Fabio Di Giannantonio (Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team) topped the post-race Jerez MotoGP test today. The Italian’s 1:36.405 was enough to head Maverick Vinales (Aprilia Racing) by 0.08 of a second, with Franco Morbidelli (Prima Pramac Racing) third on his Ducati Desmosedici GP24, 0.12 of a second adrift of Di Giannantonio.
Being on a GP23 machine, Di Giannantonio didn’t have any new parts to test and was thus focusing on fast laps, the Italian circulating 70 times over course of the day. Morbidelli was busy working on ergonomics as the Italian took part in his first Ducati test since Valencia last year. Morbidelli lapped 82 times, two off Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo, who circulated 82 times on a heavily revised Yamaha YZR-M1.
Quartararo ended the test 18th, some 1.03 seconds off Di Giannantonio. The Yamaha team had a sizeable aero update for Quartararo and Alex Rins to put through its paces. This updated consisted of a triple-element front wing in a similar style to what they have now. New aero on the side fairing was also seen, and a new chassis was tested, too. Rins ended the test in P14, his best lap coming at the end of his 73-lap outing.
The factory Ducati duo of race winner Francesco Bagnaia and Enea Bastianini were quiet, with minimal new parts to test: Bagnaia finished fourth and Bastianini ninth.
Marc Marquez (Gresini Ducati) was fifth at the test after 71 laps, his younger brother and teammate Alex Marquez eighth after 73 laps.
Red Bull KTM KTM’s race was troubled by persistent front chatter problems and, thus, the team focused on a new aero package, with Binder going sixth quickest. Jack Miller finished the day in 17th, having completed 73 laps, with the Australian admitting that they didn’t fully find a solution to KTM’s chatter/vibration issues. It appears more work needs to be done in that department by the Austrian factory ahead of the upcoming Le Mans race.
At Repsol Honda, having tried the updated RC213V in a private test in Barcelona prior to the Spanish GP, Joan Mir and Luca Marini focused on other things in the Jerez test. The latter was busy with one of the new chassis that test rider Stefan Bradl was testing, but Marini was using it with Honda’s standard aero—not the new one. The Italian also changed back to Honda’s lower-profile rear wing that they were using at the beginning of preseason testing.
Mir had two standard-spec Hondas on his side of the garage and between the factory duo, 134 laps were fulfilled. Mir said they tried a “different concept” of bike, but is undecided if that’s the direction the team will take.CN
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