Luca Marini: 'Perfect' test, lap time ‘incredible’, 'ghost fight'

The VR46 Ducati rider progressed from 13th on day one, to 7th on day two, then became one of only two riders – alongside Ducati’s reigning champion Francesco Bagnaia - to break the 1m 58s barrier to lead day three.

“Great way to start this season. It was a fantastic test. I think the programme that we made is amazing and I’m really happy that we tried everything we needed to try,” Marini said.

“We improved the bike, the engine braking, the traction area, the feeling also with the bike with the setting, the front feeling: really a perfect test in my opinion. We worked really well.

“The lap-time is also incredible, as is the classification. Franco [Morbidelli] is 20th and only one-second from me.

“I think 20 riders in one second is something unbelievable and a ‘bad’ sign in my opinion for us, because the level this year will be incredible and every rider can win but also it will be very important to stay ‘there’ each weekend.”

It wasn’t only Marini’s one-off lap time that was impressive, he was also one of the few riders to do a ‘Sprint race’ simulation. All of Marini’s laps during that 10-lap run were in the 1m 59s, with an average of 1m 59.446s and best of 1m 59.144s.

The only other rider do a Sprint simulation on Sunday was LCR Honda's Alex Rins, who set an average time of 1m 59.927s and best of 1m 59.646s.

For comparison, in October’s full (20-lap) Malaysian Grand Prix, only five riders dropped into the 1m 59s, with a best of 1m 59.634 by Jorge Martin (Pramac Ducati).

'Ghost fight'

“My pace in the Sprint race simulation was good and I am really satisfied because riding in 59 low every lap was good,” said Marini, who also revealed he had tried to mimic some last lap battles:

“I also tried to make some overtakes to some ‘ghost’! Especially in the last lap I tried to ‘fight’ because I think the Sprint race will be very different compared to riding alone.”

In terms of average lap time over all three days, Chris Pike’s analysis put Marini third behind Bagnaia and Martin:

Marini is remaining on a GP22 this year but crucially switching from the ‘full’ 2022 engine spec he used last season, to the hybrid ‘21-22’ spec homologated by Bagnaia and Jack Miller at the factory team.

“This is a good package because, in the end, Pecco won the championship with this bike and I’m very happy to ride it this year while hoping they don’t bring too many good new parts to them [factory guys] because it looks like they made a huge step, the GP23 looks ready…”

Although still being refined Bagnaia, Enea Bastianini and Jorge Martin all put the new GP23 inside the top five on the final timesheets with Marini’s team-mate Marco Bezzecchi was eighth fastest +0.474s.

Marini will attempt to complete a clean sweep of the 2022-2023 MotoGP winter tests at Portimao on March 11-12.