Valencia test: Marini goes on vacation in the lead 

No respite for pilots MotoGP who met this Tuesday for the first 2023 pre-season test on the Valencia circuit. The opportunity for manufacturers and teams to define the directions to follow during the winter before the next run planned in Malaysia at the beginning of February. 

In the Ducati clan, many new features have been seen, such as a new fairing whose design is reminiscent of that of the Aprilia. Johann Zarco was the first to try it before being copied by his teammate Jorge Martin and the two official representatives, Francesco Bagnaia and Enea Bastianini; note that the latter fell at the end of the afternoon, without seriousness. At VR46, Luca Marini, riding the GP22, was the fastest with a lap in 1'30.032. Bagnaia was credited with the 12^e time while Alex Marquez, 15^e, showed a beautiful smile at the end of the day. 

The Yamaha riders had high expectations from this Valencia test. On today's menu: a new, much more imposing fairing, a chassis and a new engine. fabio quartararo was among the most diligent with more than 90 laps completed. The Frenchman took the ninth time more than half a second from the benchmark and said he was rather disappointed with his day, while Franco Morbidelli signed the 14th.^e time.

For Honda, it's complicated. If Joan Mir and Alex Rins discovered the Honda RC213V, Marc Marquez did not hide his disappointment during his press briefing. According to him, the 2023 prototype is not sufficiently advanced to win. The eight-time world champion only completed 50 laps during the day. Mir, Nakagami and Rins ranked 18th respectively^e, 19^e and 20^e. 

As for Aprilia, the new teammates of the RNF team, Miguel Oliveira and Raul Fernandez, have accumulated kilometers with their new Aprilia RS-GP. After four years at KTM, the Portuguese did not take long to find the keys to his Aprilia as he set the fourth fastest time of the day ahead of his counterpart from the Noale factory Aleix Espargaro. Renowned for his performances in winter testing, Maverick Viñales set the second time, more than two tenths behind Marini. 

Finally, at KTM, Jack Miller made his debut on the RC16. The Australian finished 17^e while his teammate Brad Binder, who tested a new prototype, finished the day in seventh place. At GasGas/Tech3, Pol Espargaro, who is not allowed to speak to the press, had difficulty concealing his joy at finding the RC16 on Tuesday morning. For his teammate Augusto Fernandez, it was a matter of making contact. The Moto2 world champion makes his MotoGP debut. 

Valencia Official Test Ranking

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