With 2022’s MotoGP schedule now in full swing, each of the six manufacturers – Aprilia, Ducati, KTM, Yamaha, Honda and Suzuki – have a list of items to tweak and improve for today’s test day at Jerez de la Frontera, courtesy of MotoGP’s official website and MotorycleSports.
Curious what that list is? As they say, ‘no rest for the wicked’…so let’s dig in.
Yamaha
Fabio Quartararo, iconic winner of last year’s Motogp and a member of the Monster Energy Yamaha team, is eager for more power – especially after the ‘season-long engine spec freeze.’
For the next few crucial days of testing, Quartararo and his team will be compensating for the loss of ponies ‘elsewhere’ – likely a tweak in the rear grip department, to create better friction and handling in the YZR-M1.
Suzuki
Sunday’s run for Suzuki’s Alex Rins and Joan Mir didn’t exactly break any records – all the better reason to look under the proverbial hood and make sure the GSX-RR’s better balanced for the next round.
For today, MotoGP highlights “a request from Rins for a higher downforce aero package” to better fight the wheelies that other brands are already getting under control.
Does this mean something brand new from Suzuki? Hell hasn’t frozen over for the brand in a hot minute, so stay tuned and keep your toques close.
Honda
Honda’s request for the day is a tad long; beyond the prayer for the brand spanking new RC213V to behave, Friday’s drastic tweaks mean today will see the team settling the machine into a better rate of consistency for the next round of racing – and with Marc Marquez being picky as ever, stakes are high.
We wish them the best of luck.
KTM
KTM’s also wanting a piece of the consistency pie for today. The Austrian manufacturer tends towards big lists of part checks on test days, so it’s likely this test will be highlighting the current irregularity of the R16, and seeking to balance the bike out a wee bit better.
With this also comes news of something potentially new for the brand. MotorycleSports states that “Francesco Guidotti – Team Manager – said yesterday that KTM has ‘interesting things’ to test”…and that “there will be some kind of news for Miguel Oliveira and Brad Binder.”
Ducati
Ducati’s multitude of teams are seeing consistency in their machine, though rear tire slippage is a more negative consistency that the manufacturer will be working on for the testing phase that starts today.
Dialling in the fully-fledged and completely bonkers GP22 should be a fun bit of business, though not as big an improvement as that of some of the other manufacturers.
Aprilia
With Aprilia having lost concession status at the Spanish Grand Prix, the manufacturer will be looking to squeeze any mandatory tweaks into today’s test.
That means time is of the essence, with MotoGP noting that it’s likely we will see “Aleix Espargaro firing out of pitlane on a regular basis as he looks to improve their clutch following another sluggish start.”
For Maverick Viñales, sprucing up his one-lap pace will be the main focus, as they’ve been a tad more sluggish than usual (if you can even use that term for the brand’s cutting-edge RS-GP).
Aprilia will also be handing over some interesting media fodder if Espargaro or Viñales get their hands on the “very different” RS-GP that was ridden by test rider Lorenzo Savadori at the Spanish Grand Prix.
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