MotoMatters.com | Kropotkin Thinks

Aerodynamics was a main focus for most of the teams (and coincidentally, also the easiest thing to spot), and almost all the manufacturers rolled out some interesting parts. Aprilia have taken a leading role recently, picking up after Ducati and in some aspects, overtaking them. At Sepang, they rolled out a new front wing, pictured here (my phone photo) on Maverick Viñales' bike.

As you can see, the front wing now is now a triplane and not a biplane, with three wings instead of two. If you compare it with the photo of the standard front wing (below, picture by Cormac Ryan Meenan), you can see that the upper wing has been split in two to create something similar to the original, while an extra wing has been added below, curving up before reaching the fairing.

There was a great deal of excitement when this unusual prototype bike (my shoddy phone camera photo) was spotted in the Repsol Honda garage at the Sepang test. Was Honda the latest factory to try out a ground-effect fairing? The obvious answer was yes, but this misses the point entirely. This bike spoke volumes about what HRC was up to at Sepang. And it had very little to do with aerodynamics. Or at least, it had very little to do with ground effect.

The changes at HRC – former Suzuki engineer Ken Kawauchi replacing Takeo Yokoyama as Technical Director – have see Honda go back to basics. At Sepang, Honda sent Marc Marquez out to ride the Honda RC213V with just a plain fairing, no aerodynamic wings fitted at all. "The new technical manager arrived in HRC, and he wants to understand many things about the concept," Marquez explained. "I was not asking about why this, why that. I was just riding."

Look beyond the ground-effect fairing on the strange prototype, and this bike too looks more like HRC going back to basics. To understand what Honda are up to, let's go through a few photos and parts, one by one.

You can read a lot into what we saw at the Sepang MotoGP test. But it wasn't just about how the physical parts the now five MotoGP manufacturers brought to the test. The parts they brought, and how they tested them, revealed a lot about their approach to testing. And consequently, also about where they see themselves in their respective development processes. A few highlights and insights, with photos from Tom Morsellino, Cormac Ryan Meenan, and shoddy phone pictures by me.

Let's start with Ducati. It is hard to escape the impression that Ducati learned a very hard lesson at the start of the 2022 season, where they were testing parts all the way through practice for the opening round at Qatar. Though there were plenty of new parts at Sepang for the factory-backed riders to try – a new engine, new swingarms, new chassis, new aero – the approach to testing was far more conservative. A few highlights.

It would have been at Estoril, in 2011. Casey Stoner had left Ducati at the end of the previous year and joined Honda, and was immediately fast. During a press debrief, technical journalist Neil Spalding asked Stoner a simple question.

"Long and low, or short and high?"

Stoner did not hesitate.

"Short and high."

I was reminded of this brief exchange at the Sepang MotoGP test. In the context of 2011, Stoner's answer made perfect sense. After spending four seasons wrestling with the long and low Ducati, the bike getting less competitive every year, it was a revelation for Stoner to get on the RC212V, the 800cc Honda. He could now brake, load the front as much as he wanted, pitch the bike into the turn and then fire it out again. No more battling with the front end of the Ducati.

Why was short and high better? Because it allowed for better weight transfer under braking, allowing riders to load the front tire before entering the corner. As the riders braked, the forks would bury the front wheel into the tarmac, the rear wheel lifting, putting the entire weight of the bike onto the front tire.

Especially beneficial in the Bridgestone era, with a solid front tire that would give unlimited grip as long as you loaded it sufficiently.

Three days and 60% into MotoGP preseason testing, and what have we learned? I will be taking a much longer look at the test in a series of articles over the coming days, but here are a few quick thoughts at the end of a very long weekend.

The top of the timesheets is a relatively good reflection of the coming Sprint race era of MotoGP: seven Ducatis in the top ten, plus two Aprilias, the first non-Italian bike Marc Marquez in tenth. But the timesheets don't tell the whole story. Occasional rain and damp track conditions disrupted testing sufficiently to force teams to upend their test programs. Some riders dropped plans for race simulations, others dropped plans for fast laps.

On the other hand, the timesheets do give a sense of the relative strengths of the factories, and where they are. So here's a rapid rundown of where each factory stands after three days at Sepang.

Ducati

The thing that should worry any riders with ideas of challenging for the 2023 MotoGP crown is that the 2022 champion is looking eminently relaxed at Sepang. Ducati's approach to the winter tests is the polar opposite of 2022. Last year, they were throwing parts at the riders all the way through practice for the first race, leaving them bewildered, confused, and frustrated, and leaving them struggling for the first five races before they wrapped their heads around that year's bike.

Wet weather is bad news for everybody when testing is so severely restricted. Well, not quite everybody. For those who have a bike which already has a year’s worth of setup data to support it, there is an upside. With practice reduced to make room for the sprint race on Saturday, there is little time to work on setup, so any rider who has a strong base setup is at an advantage. They have a starting point to work from, whatever happens during practice.

That is very much not the case for factory teams who have brought a lot of parts to test and who are looking for a direction. A damp morning and heavy rain in the afternoon scuppered plans for Honda, and made life harder at KTM. Things planned for today have been moved to tomorrow, and low priority items scrapped from the list.

One thing that affects everybody is the race simulation. Many riders were scheduled to do not one but two race simulations: a sprint race simulation on Saturday, followed by a full race simulation on Sunday. But losing the best part of 5 hours of practice to the conditions means they are going to have to choose.