The 2018 Moto GP season began just days after the final race of the 2017 season. It actually started a while ago for some teams as KTM and Ducati both had wildcards in the Valencia GP and the Ducati test rider Pirro managed to out qualify every other Ducati on the grid. As for testing itself it followed the script of most of 2017 the top 5 featured both Repsol Hondas, both factory Yamahas and Johan Zarco on the Tech 3 machine.
Repsol Honda
The Honda boys called the new RC213V the prototype bike. With how well both riders did in the testing session it would make sense for this to be the foundation for next seasons bike and what a great foundation it seems to be for them. It was visible to see that the bike had a few changes made to it the main one being the new exhaust system. It is lower and doesn’t feature a coil something which should add a hint of power but that could make the difference between a first or a second or a podium. The two riders also got a new engine that gave them more power in the bottom and at the top according to Marquez. Honda have struggled though in the past to get this power to the backend without it spinning up the rear and effectively costing them time. With the new exhaust though, it could help that power be more manageable. Ultimately, the Honda boys will be at the sharp end of the pack this season as they always are.
Factory/Tech 3 Yamaha
Vinales, Rossi and Zarco all had separate plans at this test. Zarco spent both days on the 2017 machine and really did put some pressure on the factory boys as he was lapping very quickly. Rossi had a 2016 bike and 2017 bike and used both to see what he could do on them. That was until the nine-time world champion destroyed one of them on day one of testing. It just happened to be the one that had the 2018 engine in it, so Rossi wasn’t able to get much of a chance with the new engine. Vinales, also had 2016 and 2017 bike and he also had a chassis and faring that was built with clear winglets that caused quite the stir in the paddock. Especially with the Ducati team manager after they were told they could not use their winglets and what Yamaha had was something that certainly did push the borderline of winglets and I sympathise with the Ducati manager for that. The Yamaha camp had a little bit of crisis though as Vinales topped the timing sheets on day one of the 2016 model of the Yamaha similar to the bike which Rossi used for the final round of the season. Zarco, on the other hand, finished the first day sat second on the 2017 bike. So it is clear why Yamaha have a bit of a headache brewing.
Ducati
The factory Ducati boys had a few new parts to test but nothing significant as such. Ducati are waiting to roll out the Desmosedici GP 18 next year in the January and February test. For now, Dovizioso, Lorenzo, Jack Miller and Danilo Petrucci will all have to make do with an evolution of the Desmo GP 17. The bike they were testing seems to be a half and half between the Desmo 17 and 18. So the testing and data they were getting will have been primarily for setup when Valencia comes around next season as the season finale.
New riders in new places
Jack Miller jumped straight on the Pramac Ducati that Scott Redding struggled with most of the season and recorded the fifth quickest time overall. Will Miller make as much of impact that Petrucci did in the early part of this season certainly Pramac will be hoping so, but it is still early days for the Aussie. Tito Rabat finished in an impressive 13th after a very disappointing season last season he will be hoping that changing from the Mark VDS Honda to the Avintia Ducati that his fortune could change as the former Moto 2 world champion will be looking to establish himself as a serious contender in the Moto GP. Franco Morbidelli was the highest finishing new comer to the class after finishing the test in 16th but it wasn’t so simple for the Italian as he did have his first crash on a Moto GP bike on the second day of testing. Morbidelli was followed by fellow Moto 2 graduate Takaaki Nakagami who has followed the same footsteps as Morbidelli making the move up to the Moto GP with his team form Moto 2. Nakagami finished testing at Valencia less than one tenth behind Morbidelli which is nothing turn your nose up at as they were both less than one tenth from the full factory Ducati of Andrea Dovizioso. Scott Redding had a much more difficult day on his new Aprilia which he called stiff at first. As the testing went on he started to bring his lap time down, but it did give Redding an insight into how much work his new teammate Aleix Espargaro does to get the Aprilia the finishes that he does manage. Redding will certainly be looking to improve on last season with this fresh start. The final newcomer to the Moto GP was Xavier Simeon who will be team mate to Tito Rabat and so far, it appears that he is struggling to get to grips with the demands of riding a Moto GP machine. On day one he was over four seconds from the front and was the only rider in 1:34’s. on day two though he made great progress and was just over two and a half seconds from the front.
Alvaro Bautista was scheduled to ride in this test, but he had a strange crash on day one coming out of turn one where his Pull Bear Ducati appeared to just spit him from the bike in uncomfortable fashion. The crash did rule the Spaniard out of testing for the rest of day one and day two. Not the best start to the 2018 Spaniard.
To summarize, nothing out of the ordinary happened really in testing. Marquez was the quickest and no one else could really get near him. The biggest talking point moving on to the Jerez test and Sepang test is the “winglets” that Yamaha have introduced and whether they will become banned anytime soon because if no action is taken then you can guarantee that engineers will be trying their best to find a way around the rules to make sure they can have a set of winglets on their machine.
Motorcycle Sport 