Luca Marini leads the Misano test and Honda disappoints

MADRID, 11 Sep. (EUROPA PRESS) –

The Italian Luca Marini (Ducati) dominated this Monday the MotoGP test held in Misano, witness last weekend of the San Marino Grand Prix of the Motorcycle World Championship, all in a crucial day for Honda, which tested its motorcycle for 2024 , and for Yamaha.

The brother of the legend Valentino Rossi set a time of 1:30.602 on his 47th of the 49 laps given in the afternoon session to command the time table ahead of the Spanish Maverick Viñales (Aprilia) and the South African Brad Binder (KTM) , which finished two and three tenths away, respectively.

Meanwhile, at Repsol Honda, the sensations were bittersweet with the 2024 bike, from which Marc Márquez expected “much more.” The eight-time champion, who stated that he has “plan A, plan B and plan C” for the future, and Joan Mir, had one of the motorcycles that test rider Stefan Bradl used during the weekend with a new chassis, the new tail and the new exhausts.

They are more optimistic at Yamaha, which tested a new chassis, new aerodynamics and a new engine. One of the bikes of Frenchman Fabio Quartararo, sixth this Monday, had the greatest aerodynamics for a couple of runs, before testing another aerodynamic package with a combination of the first 2023 aerodynamics with more better ones tested by Franco Morbidelli in the Portimao test .

In Ducati, the current world champion, Francesco ‘Pecco’ Bagnaia, Enea Bastianini, Michele Pirro, Marco Bezzecchi and Fabio di Giannantonio were not present, while Jorge Martín, winner of both the sprint race and Sunday’s, rode the two bikes with larger side fairings instead of the ‘downwash’ duct configuration used in recent tests.

In Aprilia, Aleix Espargaró tested a new chassis, softer and that handles bumps better. Meanwhile, Dani Pedrosa, fourth on Sunday, did not participate in the test with KTM, and in the GasGas Tech3 Factory Racing neither Pol Espargaró – who crashed – nor Augusto Fernández had any news.