What to watch for as MotoGP pre-season testing begins

When the MotoGP circus rocked up to the Sepang International Circuit this time two years ago, little did we know that the return visit would have to wait two years and come on the backdrop of such chaotic times. While we commented on the apparent ‘overreaction’ of mask-wearers in Kuala Lumpur airport and thought the pictures emerging from China wouldn’t possibly happen anywhere else back in 2020, mask-wearing and strict rules now hang over the MotoGP paddock this time around. The new normal.

But whatever the circumstances, they hardly matter to a MotoGP rider. Pre-season testing is as it always was; a crucial handful of days where engine and aero specifications must be determined before pre-round one homologation beckons a development freeze for all marques, barring concession-enjoying Aprilia.

For non-Aprilia riders and non-rookies, pre-season testing is just five days condensed into the one week, with two days at Sepang this weekend followed by three at Indonesia’s new Mandalika track next weekend. There’s no time to dither, no time to freight new development ideas from home base to the next test. Oh, and this year there’s no freeze on engine development – so, the workload for engineers back at their respective factories has been flat out over the winter.

In reality, manufacturers have been working on their 2022 prototypes for a long time. Suzuki rolled out a 2022 engine prototype at the Qatar pre-season tests last year, while two days of testing at Misano mid-season and at Jerez after its conclusion offered better glimpses of what a complete package may look like for each marque. The Jerez test also raised several questions which need answering, as the 2022 campaign begins its prologue.

Perhaps the most prevalent questions surround Yamaha. Reigning world champion Fabio Quartararo couldn’t hide his disappointment last November when the 2022 prototype M1 the Japanese marque rolled out of the trucks was hardly the step forward it needed to be, particularly regarding its engine package.

Top speed has long been an issue for Yamaha, but a very well-rounded package around it in 2021 allowed Quartararo to romp to five victories and secure his first MotoGP title with two rounds to spare. However Ducati, with title runner-up Francesco Bagnaia at the helm, emerged from the dust of the 2021 campaign with arguably the most complete bike on the grid.

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Fabio Quartararo, Yamaha Factory Racing

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

Not only does the raw horsepower of the Desmosedici and its strong braking stability remain, the bike can now turn corners. Over one lap and over a race distance, the bike is an absolute weapon. In the hands of three riders in 2021 – Bagnaia, Jack Miller and Jorge Martin – the GP21 scored seven wins and helped deliver Ducati back-to-back constructors’ crowns.

Troublingly for the rest of the field, there will now be eight Ducatis on the grid in 2022 spread across the factory, Pramac, Gresini and VR46 squads. Five of those Ducatis will be the latest-spec machines, while the rest will be 2021 bikes.

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Whereby in the past Yamaha didn’t need to risk upsetting the balance of its sweet-handling chassis by strapping a Ducati-troubling engine to it, Quartararo’s problems in the Algarve GP two weeks after winning the title – where he struggled to seventh in qualifying and crashed in the race after getting stuck behind a couple of Pramac Ducatis – showed sticking to tried and tested methods was no longer an option for Yamaha.

Where he is physically is still a mystery, but the same misery that Honda faced last year should now be behind it given any input from Marquez is still worth its weight in gold

While it’s unlikely to have radically overhauled the engine, it's vital for Yamaha that a good chunk of horsepower has been over the winter and crucially, that it can be tamed by the rest of the bike. Back in November, Quartararo noted: “I will not say I’m worried, but of course they [Ducati] look super-fast. We don’t make a step, that’s sure. So, I hope for Sepang to make a step because I tried many things, and I didn’t feel really any improvement.”

Had he been strapped to a polygraph, it’s likely that statement would have been deemed not wholly accurate. But if he wasn’t worried then, he probably should be now. Speaking to Sky Italia this week, Ducati general manager Gigi Dall’Igna said the brand’s philosophy remains finding more horsepower from its engines – and suggests it has done just that.

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"We really did a lot of things, it's a completely new engine,” Dall’Igna said. “The goal was always to find more horsepower, this remains our main philosophy, while maintaining the driveability of the old engine. From this point of view, we had honestly reached a good level. Everyone has done a good job, now we expect to test it on a track where the engine counts as [much as] the one in Sepang.”

Bagnaia was adamant the 2021 Ducati was “perfect”, but that perfection had been further enhanced with the 2022 prototype back in November when he topped the two-day test outright. Coming to Sepang, Ducati appears to be in the best shape, while all eyes will be on what Yamaha rolls out of its garage.

Francesco Bagnaia, Ducati Team

Photo by: Dorna

The same is true of Honda, which looks to have been the hardest-working manufacturer on its 2022 bike for some time. Unveiling a fairly radical overhaul in aero and fairing design – with a new, Yamaha-style front air intake suggesting a re-designed engine – at the Misano test, Honda’s new package was met with general praise from all of its riders at Jerez in November.

The ’COVID years’ of MotoGP have been particularly challenging for Honda. Losing its star rider in Marc Marquez for the entirety of 2020 due to a badly broken right arm, Honda registered its first winless season in MotoGP since its full-time return in 1982. A below-fitness Marquez won three races in 2021, but only team-mate Pol Espargaro managed to get another Honda on the podium last year – when he was a career-best second at the Emilia Romagna GP behind Marquez.

The key issue concerned a lack of rear traction, which meant the RC213V wasn’t coming out of corners very well – and nor was it entering them brilliantly. Former KTM rider Espargaro had been used to jamming on the rear brake on corner-entry, but couldn’t do this at all on the Honda. But that missing rear grip was seemingly found last autumn.

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Honda went into the off-season with a solid foundation to build on. But crucially coming into 2022, it will have Marquez on the bike from the very start. His lack of input in the pre-season of 2021 undoubtedly contributed to Honda’s woes last year, as did the fact he was still recovering from his arm injury when he finally did return in the Portuguese GP. After a winter of uncertainty regarding a double vision issue caused by a concussion while training ahead of the Algarve GP, Marquez was given the all-clear to return last month.

Where he is physically is still a mystery, but the same misery that Honda faced last year should now be behind it given any input from Marquez is still worth its weight in gold. The Ducati onslaught should also prove to be of little concern to Honda in 2022, as it previously was able to match the Desmosedici for horsepower.

Unlikely to make any radical shifts will be Suzuki. It’s never been the philosophy of the Japanese brand to revolutionise its motorcycles. Testing its 2022 engine prototypes all the way back in February of 2021 could well prove to be a canny move, even if it did perhaps mean the marque took its eye off the ball of the package it needed to race with last year.

The GSX-RR which carried Joan Mir to the 2020 world title saw little evolvement in 2021, and as a result a disgruntled Mir slumped to third in the standings having amassed just six podiums, while team-mate Alex Rins scored just one in a crash-strewn campaign. Whether the absence of Davide Brivio as team manager contributed to Suzuki’s difficult 2021 or not, Mir made little effort to hide the fact that – Brivio or no Brivio – Suzuki’s form was simply unacceptable.

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Joan Mir, Team Suzuki MotoGP

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

A lack of a satellite team won’t do Suzuki any favours in terms of speeding up development, but the GSX-RR remains a solid package and Mir was encouraged by the noises that were coming out of Japan about how it was working. One key area where Suzuki currently lags behind the rest is with its ride height adjuster. While it raced with it in the second half of last season, it was still unrefined. Getting that right is likely to a priority of this winter for Mir and Rins.

For MotoGP’s two lowest ranking constructors in 2021, KTM and Aprilia, being consistent frontrunners this season is the main target. That was expected of KTM in 2021 after a breakout 2020 when it scored three wins.

Despite two victories as part of a brief mid-season surge for Miguel Oliveira and Brad Binder, 2021 was a largely difficult year for the Austrian marque. Binder wilfully admits KTM came up against a wall in trying to figure out its problems – seemingly brought about by some missing rear traction, but also not helped by a front tyre allocation that was often too soft for the RC16 – in the second half of last year. Oliveira meanwhile believes the steps forward its rivals made in that time caught KTM off-guard.

Losing its status as a concession manufacturer, and thus the ability to freely test, also hindered progress. But now versed in working in a way where unlimited testing mileage cannot be factored into the equation, KTM should be better-prepared for this pre-season phase.

Aprilia won’t be tied down by an engine development freeze come the first round. But there’s also a sense that Aprilia’s project still isn’t quite being taken seriously by onlookers and it will want to alter this perception from the off

Having made significant gains in 2021 to the point where it can now class itself as a podium finisher, Aprilia comes into its first season since its return as a true manufacturer team – having previously run its effort out of Gresini Racing’s garage – not chasing its tail.

The overhauled RS-GP still needed work as 2021 concluded, with Aleix Espargaro coming up against drop in form in the final races he couldn’t quite explain. Still running as a concession manufacturer, Aprilia won’t be tied down by an engine development freeze come the first round. But there’s also a sense that Aprilia’s project still isn’t quite being taken seriously by onlookers and it will want to alter this perception from the off.

Having already been on track during the shakedown, Aprilia is also about to find out how useful Maverick Vinales is going to be as a development asset in 2022. Contesting five of the final six races of last year on the RS-GP following his ousting from Yamaha, Vinales has had time to get to know the Aprilia – though admitted last November that he still needs to adapt his style more.

With all manufacturers once again allowed to fully develop their motorcycles, coupled with the generally viciously competitive landscape of MotoGP now, never has pre-season testing been this mouth-wateringly exciting – even if it is bound to simply leave us with more unanswered questions than we did coming into it.

Maverick Vinales, Aprilia Racing Team

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images