The first pre-season test of the year is always an exciting time. It signals the return of MotoGP for the next 11 months, and it offers us our first chance to begin to put together the pieces of the puzzle for the coming season.
More often than not, learning anything meaningful as to how the war will be won from the first test is difficult. And while that is still the case this year, the competitive landscape in MotoGP has changed so dramatically in recent seasons that the Sepang test reveals bigger clues than you might think.
Ducati turns a corner
One thing that appears certain is that Ducati has turned a corner with their 2018 Desmosedici – quite literally. The biggest change Ducati riders have demanded over the years as a new season dawns is a bike that can actually turn.
The bike has improved in this area somewhat in recent years, but the '18 chassis seems to be the breakthrough Ducati has been longing after. With a package that can carry speed into the corners, get through them without issue and blast away with a smooth but powerful engine, Ducati could well have a real weapon on its hands.
Jorge Lorenzo heaped praise on the bike after the first day, crucially finding it allowing him to maximise his cornering style, in the process addressing a major 2017 weakness.
“The most important thing is that the bike is working, it is giving me a good feeling and it's improved in a lot of areas compared to last year,” he said. “As I said on the first day the bike has improved and it's more suited to my riding style and I can take profit of my strong points.”
Lorenzo demonstrated just how strong the new bike is by setting an unofficial lap record of 1:58.830s on the final day of the test – a time that likely would have been closer to a 1:58.5s had it not been for a mistake at Turn 2 on the lap. Wary that more work still needs to be done, the signs are at least promising that the Lorenzo of old has returned.
Team-mate Andrea Dovizioso was similarly impressed with the new bike, saying that he “didn't expect such clear improvement in the first test”. With pressure on him now to deliver another title challenge after proving his capability last season, the bike's improvements will come as a great relief for the Italian. And Ducati is yet to truly show its hand; a new chassis is incoming for the Thailand test, while it is yet to reveal its aerodynamic package.
Honda still with questions over engine
While it was all smiles at Ducati, there were some worried faces at Honda, chiefly from reigning World Champion Marc Marquez.
HRC came into this test with the engine as its primary focus, which is far from surprising given the troubles the marque has endured over the past few seasons. Marquez, Dani Pedrosa and LCR's Honda-contracted Cal Crutchlow each had three new engines to try; a '17-spec, the '18 version tested at Valencia and a brand-new one.
All three appear to have reached the consensus that the latest version is the best, with it offering more power through the rev range. Happy enough with the upgraded motor, Marquez remained concerned that it was still aggressive, and that Honda may not know where the engine is really at until the Qatar test.
“At the moment, it's still a little bit aggressive that engine,” the Spaniard admitted. “And it's where I'm a little bit more worried, because normally here the engine always has one step, two steps, three steps even less power. And it's where I'm trying to understand well, because now we go to Thailand, it will be more or less the same conditions, and then when we arrive in Qatar there is no time to change.
“You try the engine, it's good or no good, but there's no time to change it for the race. It's there where we need to work with the electronics to try to find a good balance.”
Yamaha perplexed by fluctuating form
The mood at Yamaha was a confused one. After the first two days, the '18 YZR-M1 chassis, engine, electronics and aero fairing were met with critical acclaim from Monday pacetters Maverick Vinales and Valentino Rossi. The bike felt good again, the new engine was more powerful, while the rear tyre stayed intact across a long run. It appeared the horror show that was 2017 was truly over the hills and far away.
However, the duo failed to improve on their laptimes on Tuesday's final day, amid struggle for grip on fresh rubber; and the trouble is, they didn't change the bike radically for the final day.
“We are a little bit worried, we need to understand why, because in the Valencia test after the last race happen exactly the same,” Rossi said. "On Tuesday me and also Maverick have a good feeling with the bike and the tyres. Our pace was 1m30.5s for example and our position was third and fourth. Next day, same bike, same tyres, same temperature we lose three-four tenths and we don't understand why.”
Mercifully, long run pace was still positive, and the overall feeling from the Sepang test was the same. So, while there are evidently still some slight kinks to resolve, the team is still far from panic stations – a crucial fact, with Yamaha keen to secure Rossi's signature for 2019 as soon as possible.
Gain – and pain? – elsewhere
In the Tech3 box, Johann Zarco found the '17 chassis was good over a long run, but he was unable to ride it how he'd like to extract a quick laptime. Working with the '16 frame he raced last year on Tuesday, the Frenchman has decided to stick with it for the rest of the pre-season while also running Yamaha's '18 aero fairing. Tech3 also ran Yonny Hernandez as it strives to find a full-season replacement for Jonas Folger.
At Suzuki, the future looks bright. A new engine has delivered the GSX-RR more power, and has improved the bike's cornering, according to Alex Rins. The Spaniard, injury-free this time around, and with a year's experience under his belt, was enthused by the progress the team had made over the winter, and there is still more to come as the new motor took priority.
It was imperative that Suzuki hit the ground running in 2018. KTM made massive strides in its debut year in '17, slashing its deficit to the front from 3.5 seconds to just eight-tenths in the space of a season. With the seemingly infinite backing of Red Bull, KTM pose a massive threat to Suzuki's fourth place in the standings.
KTM evaluated numerous parts on the updated RC16, though notably not a new engine. Keen to develop a solid base for a more structured development path this year, KTM is essentially picking up where it left off in Valencia last year rather than going back to square one.
Pol Espargaro was forced to sit out the final day of running after a nasty 250km/h crash on Monday, but Bradley Smith and test rider Mika Kallio were able to complete the team's program for this test, and the mood is positive in the Austrian camp – even if the latter was not pleased at the team's 1.5s deficit at the end of the test.
The mood at Aprilia seems to be one of slight frustration. The Noale factory's new RS-GP has given Aleix Espargaro the means to corner better, but the new engine still lacks grunt and speed. A new one is coming, but not until the Qatar test. For Espargaro, the new bike is only “75 percent” complete.
