Reigning double champion Francesco Bagnaia may have been delighted with his initial taste of the 2024 Ducati, but Gigi Dall’Igna admits to feeling a mix of ‘adrenaline and anxiety’ during the first MotoGP tests of each year.
Repsol Honda team manager Alberto Puig is in no doubt that Ducati remains ‘a step ahead’ with one pre-season test remaining before the start of the 2023 world championship.
The last time Repsol Honda signed a ‘dream team’ of two MotoGP world champions, Marc Marquez romped to his sixth title (with a new all-time points record) in 2019 but team-mate Jorge Lorenzo slumped to a career-worst 19th.
The MotoGP World Championship has produced four different title winners - Marc Marquez, Joan Mir, Fabio Quartararo and Francesco Bagnaia - on four different brands of bike, in the past four seasons.
All six manufacturers won MotoGP races over the past two seasons, but some feel the technical sophistication of the current machines has reduced rider impact.
After finishing the MotoGP season in pain from a broken finger at Sepang, Fabio Quartararo then suffered a further fracture to the same left hand in a motocross training accident in mid-December.
Monster Yamaha has become the first MotoGP team to unveil its 2023 colours with Fabio Quartararo and Franco Morbidelli taking the wraps off this year’s livery in Jakarta, Indonesia.
The main change to the familiar Monster Yamaha MotoGP livery unveiled by Fabio Quartararo and Franco Morbidelli in Jakarta today was the addition of a new camouflage effect.