Maverick Viñales has set the pace in the MotoGP post-season test at Valencia while Marc Marquez finished fourth on the timesheet on his Ducati debut.
Riders took to the Circuit Ricardo Tormo for their 2024 teams but not colours, in the case of those changing allegiances.
Among the latter was Marc Marquez, who rode a predominantly black Ducati Desmosedici GP23 in his first outing for satellite team Gresini Racing.
The six-time MotoGP world champion was top of the timesheets at 0.250s clear of the field when he set a 1:29.460s and then a 1:29.424s with about 90 minutes remaining.
Aprilia Racing’s Viñales would subsequently clock a 1:29.253s on his 73rd lap of a day-high 86, which proved the fastest time of the day.
Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Brad Binder took second on a 1:29.281s on his last completed lap before a late crash, and Marco Bezzecchi was third-quickest on a 1:29.246s on a VR46 Ducati.
Marc Marquez completed a somewhat low total of 49 laps while Raul Fernandez finished fifth-fastest on a 1:29.516s, officially riding for Aprilia Racing, per the timesheet.
Fernandez had raced for the CryptoData RNF MotoGP Team in 2023, but it was expelled from the championship on the eve of the test due to “repeated infractions and breaches of the Participation Agreement.”
Gresini’s Alex Marquez finished sixth and now former team-mate Fabio Di Giannantonio seventh for fellow Ducati team VR46.
Enea Bastianini was first of the factory Ducati Team riders in eighth on a 1:29.796s, as the Bologna marque tested a new chassis and new engine.
Jack Miller was charged with riding a zebra-camouflaged KTM sporting new aerodynamics and a new air intake, ending up ninth-fastest on a 1:29.901s.
Luca Marini was first of the Honda riders in 10th in his debut for the Japanese marque, which rolled out an RC213V with a new chassis, a new swingarm, new aero, and new exhausts.
2023 world champion Francesco Bagnaia took 11th on his Ducati Team entry while fellow Desmosedici pilot Jorge Martin (Pramac Racing), who took the title fight to the very last race of the year, crashed twice and was classified 15th all-told.
Meanwhile, as floated mid-year, MotoGP has announced a new concession system whereby factories are classified into four groups – A, B, C or D – depending on the percentage of the possible maximum constructor points they have accrued in each of windows: the first event to the last event of the season, and from the first event after the summer test ban to the last event before the summer test ban of the following season.
The system – which covers test days and riders, wildcard appearances, the number of engines, engine specifications and freezes, aero updates and even the number of tyres supplied for testing – is designed such that manufacturers can more quickly lose or gain concessions compared to the now superseded rules.
2024 pre-season kicks off with the Sepang Shakedown on February 1-3.
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