‘Marc may be ready for victory in Qatar!’

On the other hand he was only tenth on average pace (thanks to BSB crew chief Chris Pike for this info) but that may or may not be significant.

Bagnaia said the Ducati’s biggest improvement is in the all-important braking area, where it already enjoyed an advantage. And he may further shrink his braking distance with Öhlins’ longer-travel front fork. This fork was available last year, but Bagnaia preferred to stick with that he knew, because intimate front feel is the most important thing on a race bike.

If he does switch, he may go even faster. “There is more travel, so I can brake even harder,” he added.

Martin, who battled Bagnaia throughout 2023, was two-tenths down on his best lap, but the fastest of them all on average pace. No wonder he feels confident.

“With the experience of last year let’s hope I’m the one who can try to beat Pecco,” he said.

Ducati’s GP24 has a new fairing, designed to further improve downforce for more grip by combining larger diffuser ducts in front of the bulging, Aprilia-style ground-effect sections.

“I need to try to understand how Pecco, Martin and the others ride the Ducati, then learn from them”

“At first it was a headache, because Pecco and Enea [Bastianini] liked this fairing but I didn’t,” said Martin. “It’s a bit more stable and has more downforce but it makes the bike a bit slower in changes of direction, so we adjusted the set-up and my riding style. Overall the 2024 bike is better.”

Bagnaia’s factory team-mate Bastianini had a horrible last season with the GP23 but seems back on track, thanks largely to the 2024 engine spec, which solves the engine-braking problems that hurt him last year.

Maybe Marco Bezzecchi has inherited Bastianini’s problems with the GP23, which is harder to manage into and out of corners. He was 15th, but didn’t have time to do a time attack.

Fourth fastest was Márquez. Alex, not Marc. The six-time MotoGP king’s move from the factory Honda team to the indie Gresini Ducati outfit is the story of 2024, but there were no Sepang headlines for him. The 30-year-old was sixth fastest, almost six-tenths off the top and just behind his little brother and Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaró.

Is he in trouble with the Ducati? Probably not.

On the final day Márquez did a couple of sprint-race simulations and was faster in some sections than he had been in earlier time attacks, which suggests plenty more to come.

“The way to open the gas, how to use the lines, the way to take the maximum profit from the Ducati is completely different,” he said. “With the Honda you used the front a lot, with the Ducati you use the rear more. At first I was riding the bike like I rode the Honda, so it was shaking a lot, but then I understood better. I need to focus on myself, adapt to the bike and try to understand how Pecco, Martin and the others ride the Ducati, then learn from them.”

Martin certainly has full confidence in Márquez. “Marc will be really close and may be ready for victory in Qatar! [which hosts the season-opening GP on 10th March],” he said.

Aprilia

Espargaró 5th, Viñales 12th, Oliveira 18th

Aprilia was quickly down to three men when Raul Fernandez got the Trackhouse project off to a fiery start: he crashed on his fourth lap of the first day, his 2023 RS-GP caught fire and he put himself out of action with an injured pelvis. It didn’t take the American NASCAR team long to find out that motorcycles hurt more than cars…

Aleix Espargaró was the only Aprilia rider on the pace, just four tenths off Bagnaia and mostly happy with the latest RS-GP. “The 2024 bike is much better, but the weakness is still the engine, if we are to fight for wins, we need more top speed,” he said.

The new Aprilia looks similar to the 2023 iteration, apart from the seat, designed to increase rear load in braking, a crucial factor of current MotoGP and somewhere Aprilia struggles. Meanwhile the under-seat design is a diffuser which cleans up turbulent air, helps extract hot air and reduces pressure build up which can create lift and instability at high speeds.

Espargaró says the bike is very stable. “This is good because you can maybe risk more attacking into corners, though the bike is heavier to handle. We have amazing mid-corner speed, but we need to know how to manage the bike in a group.”

That’s why Aprilia sent Espargaró, team-mate Maverick Viñales and Trackhouse’s Miguel Oliveira out together, so they could evaluate how the bike behaves while battling the wakes and vacuums caused by rival machines.

The seat-mounted pitot rake tried during the test was to evaluate airflow at the rear of the bike, no doubt to develop better seat aerodynamics.

KTM / GASGAS

Binder 7th, Acosta 9th,
Miller 14th, Fernandez 23rd

“The first test here is usually horrendous for us,” said Brad Binder before Sepang got underway. He needn’t have worried – he ended up seventh, behind Marc Márquez. Last year he was 14th. This suggests that KTM may be stronger in 2024.

The RC16 has the sweetest engine at the first touch of the throttle, with a new shorter front-bank exhaust, to balance out torque character. And the engine has good top end too.

“We’ve got a bit of speed,” said Binder. “We’re narrowing down what worked here and what didn’t – we’ve tried so many different things and now we need to put them together. If we can keep this progress we’ll do good.”

Miller was 14th, happy that the right scaphoid he broke while motocrossing in December isn’t causing him problems.

“The wrist is good,” said the Aussie. “This is the most crucial part of the season, so we need to make the right decisions when we piece all the parts together.”

Honda

Mir 10th, Nakagami 13th
Zarco 17th, Marini 19th

Honda goes into 2024 determined to bounce back from its worst season since it raced the oval-piston NR500 in the early 1980s. The number of HRC staff at Sepang certainly suggested that the beast has awoken.

Joan Mir was the fastest RC213V rider in tenth, 0.69 seconds off the top. Honda will need to make full use of its concessions to close that gap a lot more if it wants to be in the podium battle.

Mir had a vicious 2023, crashing out of more GPs than he finished. Those falls were mostly due to lack of front feeling. The latest RC213V is longer, following the trend started by Ducati, and offers more front feel.

“Last year was very, very hard for me,” said Mir. “Then I needed the handlebars set quite wide to control the bike. Now I have more feel we have moved them further in.”

Team-mate Luca Marini was 19th but happy enough with his first proper test with Honda. “The engine is stronger now, with smoother delivery, so I can feel it in my hand,” he said. “We get better every exit, so I think we are only at 60% of the potential of the bike.”

Yamaha

Quartararo 8th, Rins 14th

Like Honda, Yamaha is trying to dig itself out of a hole. And the number of freight crates in the back of its Sepang garages suggests it’s digging very hard, even though it’s only got two riders.

Fabio Quartararo was the top M1 rider as usual. He was eight-tenths down in 11th, but his average pace was much better, placing him fifth.

His never-ending pleas for more horsepower seem to have been answered, to an extent, but Yamaha won’t reveal the details. Has former Ferrari F1 engine designer Luca Marmorini incorporated variable valve timing (used in Suzuki’s GSX-RR MotoGP bike) to combine good midrange with excellent top end?

Or has he sourced special metals to allow the inline four to rev higher? This is what Honda did in the 1960s – engineers went to the USA to source special steels from Pratt and Witney turbine shafts to make stronger crankshafts for their motorcycles.

“The bike is slightly better and we have more top speed, so I think I can keep the front bikes closer,” said Quartararo. “We are fast, but not top-three fast. The engine is better but the torque feels really aggressive.”

The M1 certainly sounds the weakest on corner exits, with many more TC cuts than its rivals.

“Yamaha uses a lot of TC – I prefer to manage this with my right hand,” said new recruit Alex Rins.

Perhaps new technical director Massimo Bartolini, bought from Ducati, will fix this problem. Yamaha has also bought Ducati’s top aerodynamicist Marco Nicotra, so the company couldn’t be trying harder.