Submitted by David Emmett on
Testing is underway for the 2022 MotoGP season, and the track has been busy from the outset. With little rain over the past few days, the track is in good condition, and so times are already very fast. Aleix Espargaro is close to the best times of qualifying for the 2019 race, and not far off the outright lap record held by Danilo Petrucci from the 2019 season. Espargaro has the advantage of an extra day on the track during the shakedown test.
After a quick run of familiarization on the old bikes, everyone is out on new machinery. The Repsol Honda garage is focusing completely on the 2022 bike, while Yamaha are swapping between the 2021 and 2022 machines. Ducati are also concentrating on the GP22, with only Johann Zarco spending much time on the old bike. The Red Bull KTM factory team are on 2022 bikes, while the rookies in the Tech3 team work with last year's bikes. Understandable, given their task is to get to grips with riding a MotoGP machine.
Times at noon:
| Pos | No | Rider | Bike | Time | Diff | Prev |
| 1 | 41 | Aleix Espargaro | Aprilia RS-GP | 1:58.371 | ||
| 2 | 23 | Enea Bastianini | Ducati GP21 | 1:58.638 | 0.267 | 0.267 |
| 3 | 42 | Alex Rins | Suzuki GSX-RR | 1:59.340 | 0.969 | 0.702 |
| 4 | 36 | Joan Mir | Suzuki GSX-RR | 1:59.415 | 1.044 | 0.075 |
| 5 | 12 | Maverick Viñales | Aprilia RS-GP | 1:59.426 | 1.055 | 0.011 |
| 6 | 20 | Fabio Quartararo | Yamaha M1 | 1:59.667 | 1.296 | 0.241 |
| 7 | 89 | Jorge Martin | Ducati GP22 | 1:59.949 | 1.578 | 0.282 |
| 8 | 63 | Francesco Bagnaia | Ducati GP22 | 2:00.027 | 1.656 | 0.078 |
| 9 | 21 | Franco Morbidelli | Yamaha M1 | 2:00.112 | 1.741 | 0.085 |
| 10 | 44 | Pol Espargaro | Honda RC213V | 2:00.202 | 1.831 | 0.090 |
| 11 | 30 | Takaaki Nakagami | Honda RC213V | 2:00.211 | 1.840 | 0.009 |
| 12 | 88 | Miguel Oliveira | KTM RC16 | 2:00.250 | 1.879 | 0.039 |
| 13 | 35 | Cal Crutchlow | Yamaha Test M1 | 2:00.272 | 1.901 | 0.022 |
| 14 | 93 | Marc Márquez | Honda RC213V | 2:00.276 | 1.905 | 0.004 |
| 15 | 72 | Marco Bezzecchi | Ducati GP21 | 2:00.315 | 1.944 | 0.039 |
| 16 | 4 | Andrea Dovizoso | Yamaha M1 | 2:00.342 | 1.971 | 0.027 |
| 17 | 25 | Raul Fernandez | KTM RC16 | 2:00.547 | 2.176 | 0.205 |
| 18 | 33 | Brad Binder | KTM RC16 | 2:00.647 | 2.276 | 0.100 |
| 19 | 73 | Alex Márquez | Honda RC213V | 2:00.724 | 2.353 | 0.077 |
| 20 | 5 | Johann Zarco | Ducati GP22 | 2:00.774 | 2.403 | 0.050 |
| 21 | 43 | Jack Miller | Ducati GP22 | 2:01.149 | 2.778 | 0.375 |
| 22 | 40 | Darryn Binder | Yamaha M1 | 2:01.405 | 3.034 | 0.256 |
| 23 | 50 | Sylvain Guintoli | Suzuki GSX-RR | 2:01.456 | 3.085 | 0.051 |
| 24 | 87 | Remy Gardner | KTM RC16 | 2:01.587 | 3.216 | 0.131 |
| 25 | 49 | Fabio Di Giannantonio | Ducati GP21 | 2:01.754 | 3.383 | 0.167 |
| 26 | 10 | Luca Marini | Ducati GP22 | 2:06.251 | 7.880 | 4.497 |
Records:
| Year | No | Rider | Bike | Time | Session |
| 2019 | 20 | Fabio Quartararo | Yamaha M1 | 1:58.303 | Q2 |
| 2019 | 46 | Valentino Rossi | Yamaha M1 | 1:59.661 | Race |
| 2019 | 9 | Danilo Petrucci | Ducati GP19 | 1:58.239 | Sepang Test |
Comments
Enjoy David! Must be good.
Enjoy David! Must be good.
Bastiannini! Nice.
Quartararo was hitting top speeds of 327 ish km per hr - close to the Suzuki. 10km/h from the Ducati. This is nudge better than via rookies and testers.
Someone will interview Honda riders...
From day one
it looks like Bastianini is throwing his hat in the ring for the fight over the factory seat in 2023?
Aprilia is three days ahead in their testing schedule, so i guess overall their will be 1.57's and the end of the test?