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Regardless of a difficult pre-season and hard begin to the 2022 season, the Ducati ended the marketing campaign as by far the most effective bike on the grid.
After the primary three days of testing of 2023 in Malaysia final weekend, the Italian marque seems to have taken a step ahead with the GP23, with Bagnaia second total on the mixed timesheets behind VR46’s Luca Marini on a 2022-spec Ducati.
Bagnaia says he was “proud” of the work Ducati had performed over the take a look at, particularly its means to enhance the acceleration of the bike.
Nevertheless, he admits the dealing with now must be improved as it’s “extra aggressive” than the 2022 bike.
“I’m completely happy and happy with the work performed, sincerely, as a result of yesterday I used to be contemplating the job was performed yesterday at an excellent stage,” he stated.
“However in the present day [Sunday] we had been turning across the issues, and it was nonetheless there in each space we labored.
“Sincerely, within the final hour of the take a look at we did a giant change on the electronics facet, we did an infinite step in entrance.
“It’s fairly clear from the session on the lap time, as a result of with used tyres with these modifications I did 1m59.1s, 1m59.0s, 1m59.0s, and every little thing was solved. So, I’m completely happy about that.”
Francesco Bagnaia, Ducati Workforce
Picture by: MotoGP
He added: “After lunch, I used to be combating the acceleration as a result of it was very nervous, it was very troublesome to open full throttle as a result of the bike was shifting so much and sliding so much.
“The identical second we solved it, we modified that a part of the acceleration, every little thing was like utilizing the 2022 bike however with extra pace.
“So, it’s already on an excellent stage. Now, my focus might be to have one other step in entrance.
“The one factor that’s lacking is the dealing with, as a result of the dealing with of the 2022 bike was a bit simpler.
“This one is extra aggressive, extra nervous. However it’s one thing we are able to deal with in Portimao as a result of it’s a monitor the place the dealing with is essential.”
Ducati topped all three days of the Sepang take a look at, with Marco Bezzecchi and Marini on 2022-spec bikes and Jorge Martin on the Pramac-run GP23 sharing the spoils.
