Wish the dust barely having settled following a highly dramatic Monster Energy Catalan Grand Prix, MotoGP™ riders and teams are back on track on Monday for the Catalunya Test. All six factories will be aiming to make full use of these valuable test days, and here’s a rundown of where each manufacturer will be focussing their work.
YAMAHA
Despite Fabio Quartararo’s brilliance in Barcelona, there’s still lots of work for the Yamaha squad. The Frenchman was spotted with a new swingarm this weekend, with work likely to continue throughout Monday as they aim to improve rear grip on the Yamaha M1. We also saw an updated chassis at the Jerez Test, so we can expect further evaluations to be made on that throughout the day.
Top speed will also be a key area for the Iwata factory as well, as they look to dial in the aerodynamic upgrade that we saw for the first time in Mugello. Quartararo reverted to the original 2022 aero for the Catalan GP, whilst Morbidelli remained with the upgrade.
DUCATI
We imagine that Ducati won’t have anything huge to try. We know that the request from Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) over the past few months has just been to work with what they have in order to get as comfortable as possible and extract the most out of the GP22. What we could see from the Bologna factory is their updated aero, which Enea Bastianini (Gresini Racing) has been waiting out for after turning down the chance to use the 2022 aero.
Test rider Michele Pirro will be in attendance, as he was throughout the weekend, so eyes will be fixated on the Italian’s garage to see if anything new is wheeled out.
APRILIA
Despite using an updated engine for the Italian Grand Prix last weekend, we anticipate Aleix Espargaro and Maverick Viñales will get the chance at trying yet another engine development at the Catalunya Test. Espargaro confirmed at Mugello that test rider Lorenzo Savadori is “a few steps ahead” of the factory duo when it comes to the engine and electronics, so some of that is likely to filter back to the Aprilia Racing box on Monday.
We could also see further work going in on the striking rear wing that was on Savadori’s RS-GP during Free Practice at Mugello.
SUZUKI
It’s unlikely that Suzuki will have anything new to try on Monday, which is a real shame. As has been well publicised by now, Suzuki are looking to pull out of MotoGP™ at the end of the season, which therefore means all development work back in Hamamatsu has likely come to an end. Therefore, we suspect it will be a day of working with what they’ve got and trying to find new ways to close the gap to those at the front for Joan Mir, with Alex Rins' involvement unlikely following Sunday's crash.
KTM
Finishing more than 20 seconds adrift of the race winner on Sunday was another sign that KTM have a lot of work on their hands during the Catalunya Test. The Austrian factory’s struggles have been apparent since the premier class returned to Europe and we’re likely to see Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) doing the bulk of the work on Monday due to Miguel Oliveira’s likely departure at the end of the season.
A radically new exhaust system was spotted in Jerez, so we could see further work done on that. Plus, they’ll aim to fine-tune their setup around the new aerodynamics package that was used for the first time in Mugello. But there will be plenty more than that on show by the big-budget factory as they try to turn around a faltering campaign.
HONDA
Things just go from bad to worse for HRC. After losing Marc Marquez for the remainder of the season, they decided to hand Takaaki Nakagami (LCR Honda Idemitsu) the new chassis and swingarm that the eight-time World Champion was spotted using in Mugello. However, the Japanese rider’s nasty crash on the opening lap of the Catalan Grand Prix has put his attendance in serious doubt.
That just leaves Alex Marquez to take on the bulk of the workload and spearhead the development direction of the new RC213V, as Honda continues to snub Pol Espargaro (Repsol Honda Team) because of his rumoured exit from the factory at end of the season. Stefan Bradl will have plenty on his plate, and maybe the most interesting of the new items, but the German’s testing calendar has been majorly adjusted due to Marquez’s absence. Can the famous Japanese factory defy the odds and make a breakthrough on Monday?